More than one year since the last publication about this body work so a lot of things happened and we made good progress.
You’ll understand that my the body shop doesn’t work exclusively on the SM so it’s not progressing very fast but this is better that way because invoices do not come too fast.
So here is a summary of the work done during this past year, with pictures.
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We begin by the finishing touches on the roof
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Then there is some work on the hatch
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The exterior part will be replaced by this one
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The hatch is separated in two pieces
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Once the part replaced, finishing starts
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The hole of the door lock is filled, it was there for newer models for which the lock was not part of the door handle
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I decided to remove the side markers from the front fenders, so their corresponding holes must be filled
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The driver door needs some love
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Here is the reinforcing bar that will be installed inside the door, as for the passenger door, which has one originally installed
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First alignment tests for the body panels
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The under part of the grill, the front “skirt”, is in bad shape, it requires a lot of work
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Beginning of an extensive work on the rear fenders. Their lower half will be replaced
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Once the new piece adjusted, everything is removed to finalize the assembly
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And then everything is back onto the car
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Here is the right fender with its new lower piece and before the finishing work
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Finishing of the right fender
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Same work on the left side
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Beginning of the finishing touches
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Finishing the left fender
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The left fender back into place and finishing in progress
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Same work on the right side
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Installation of the rock panels to check that everything is at the right place
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beginning of another extensive work, on the front fenders this time. They are completely dismanteled
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Here are the pieces from the right fender, in good shape now
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Beginning of the finishing work on the front fenders
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Then this reassembling time
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And then this is time for the finishing work
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Alignment is not done yet but the result looks pretty good already
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Installation of the rear bumpers to check for alignment
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Back to the front lower skirt, to check that the grill fits correctly
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So, to summarize a little bit, the sheet metal work is almost done, some body pieces like doors, rear fenders and the hood are ready for paint, but some alignment work is still required and it won’t be an easy task.
I’m very happy with the result so far, this SM is taking shape, step by step.