Ed Hall Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 The family I rent from is gone to Alaska this week so I'm going to attempt to straighten out my Allante myself . A couple tools I've got at my disposal include a bottle jack, come-along cable puller, a bunch of rope, big hammer and a tree. This might be crazy I'm going to see if I can straighten this out myself . I figure I don't have much to loose by trying. Here are a couple pictures with the air cleaner out of the way so I can get my tools inside to straighten. It looks like all the damage is from above. I'm going to try it now and report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Background reading: Aligning: http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?act...ost&p=71022 Buying: http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?act...ost&p=70591 Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Ed, Bob Harding at http://www.allanterestorations.com/ has some Allante parts for sale if you get to that point. Also browsing http://www.dfwallantechapter.com/ I see one can check http://www.allantesource.com/ and Other sites: https://id282.securedata.net/allantestore.c...erchantmanager/ http://www.4rreparts.com/allante.htm Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Success!! Here is a before and after picture. I got this far last night but will resume this evening. More to come.... Before After Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted July 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 Update: Made some more progress and got the replacement fender and bumper on. The replacement fender actually fitted on quite well. I then took a 500 mile 4th of July trip and the car performed very well. Next thing will be to fix the hood then paint. At first, I thought I would replace the hood because of the difficulty of repairing aluminum, but the more I look at it, the more I believe I can fix it. It's starting to look a little better.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted July 6, 2006 Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 Looks really good compared to the before pictures. That was pretty clever using the chain to pull the fender skirt straight. How did you pull it straight without damaging the fender with the chain? How do you intend to fix the hood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted July 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 Looks really good compared to the before pictures. That was pretty clever using the chain to pull the fender skirt straight. How did you pull it straight without damaging the fender with the chain? How do you intend to fix the hood? To prevent any further damage to the upper frame rail, I attached the end of the cable to a piece of thick flat bar to spread out the load. I also used 2 additional ratchet straps to also help spread out the load and to give extra pull. The first couple of inches pulled out easily, but to further straighten it, I would tension the cable/straps then tap with a hammer at the buckled spots. I kept repeating the procedure until it was pulled out enough that the bolt holes lined up to my replacement fender. With the replacement fender on, washer fluid reservoir on and air cleaner installed, it hides all the damage and one could hardly tell even with the hood up. The damage on the hood is mainly on the front edge. It is also bent up in the middle on the drivers side about 1/2 inch. It is not creased so I should be able to push it back down so that it matches the profile of the fender. The front edge will be dealt with using convention body work (hammer out straight, bondo/primer). These hoods are the price of gold so I'm going to try and save it. I'm very happy with the way it is coming along. To reward myself for all the money saved ($6k+) I'm going to buy myself an $800 Fuji HVLP paint sprayer. However, the paint and hood is going to have to hold off right now until August when I return back from vacation. This is how the car looked the day I bought it. Ouch!! My pulling setup which consisted of a tree, cable-pull and 2 ratchet pull-straps. Almost where it needed to be except on the bottom which I later pulled on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.