Well after five weeks I finally have the daily driver back from the
boogieman- er, I mean bodyman. Third time is the charm I guess. As we
last left our hero he had refused to accept his generic Japanese hot hatch
back from the evil bodyman because the paint still had buffing marks all
over, there were scratches all over, and some dents had not been removed.
The body shop promised to sand and buff it some more. Our hero questioned
how that would get rid of deep scratches and dents.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the dents are still there. However,
the paint looks great now with a fairly deep shine and better than average
"hammertone" to the underlying color coat. They basically admitted that
they couldn't get the rest of the dents out but they did take all of the
rock chips out of my front bumper and mirrors which were definitely not
hail damage. So, for living with a few dents and wavy panels (only one
dent is real bad but still I expect that when a person says the dents are
removed that they are removed) I get all new paint. Total bill- 5100
dollars compared to the original 2800 dollar estimate.
Am I happy? Not really but there comes a point where you realize that this
is the best you are going to get and you kind of give up. I guess if you
look at it on a "value of services received" basis I did OK with the extra
paint and body work making up for the dents and waviness left in. However,
to anyone who knows what to look for the car is an obvious hail repair so
selling it will be tough especially around here where there are a lot of
hailed cars around.
So I gave the MGA the day off today even though it was nice out. After
five weeks of daily driver service I figured it earned a day off. During
that time I had no problems other than adjustment necessary after the
freshening- I just got it motor back in it the night before I needed it.
All in all a very good performance from a 37 year old car.
I did have to loosen the 1 and 4 exhaust valve one more time as they had
receded a little more. I gave the motor a little more mixture to keep them
cooler- they run leaner than 2 and 3 due to the Siamese intakes and neither
2 or three needed adjustment. Now it doesn't idle as good but it seems
happier otherwise. I'll keep an eye on the valve clearance but the head
may need attention next year. At least it's easier to get at.
It felt funny to be back in the other car. I felt like I was sitting on
the car instead of in it. The steering wheel felt tiny and a long way
away. I found the sound of the radio annoying no matter what was playing.
I guess this is the price of progress. It was nice having somewhere to put
my left foot however.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA taking a break for a day
95 Acura Integra with nicely painted dents
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