How long did it take you to align the radiator, hood, and doors to the body?

[BillCNC]

Hey All,

I have a two question's for you all,

1. I received my accident repair quote from the other insurance company and they have allotted 3.0 hours for the entire process and was wondering how many man hours it took to do your's for those that have done it?

2. How many hours do you think it would take to prime, paint and polish out a rear fender?

I know it took me a hell of a lot more time than 3 hours for me to align everything all by myself the last time I did it.

Regards
Bill

[john charlton]

It took me about a day to do this on a 28 phaeton . There was always one door which did not close properly but I got it in the end . To be fair the phaeton body with 4 doors is the most time consuming . Start at the rad and work your way back then maybe local tweaks .

John in sunny spells Suffolk County England .

[dave in australia]

It took myself and my dad 2 afternoons to get his 29 phaeton right. The Australian made phaetons have a wooden subframe, so are more flexible. We started with a known straight chassis, then made the cowl, bonnet(hood) and radiator line up. this is where a lot of time is spent, as the radiator can tilt back or forward, sit one side forward from the other, tilted over sideways or even sit left or right of centre. A string and tape measure are useful here. After this we then did the rear of the body.

[Bob Bidonde]

While restoring my Victoria in 2016, it took me the better part of a week to get a hood alignment that was not perfect, but reasonable. Recently, the hood and radiator were removed to replace the engine. Friends that were helping me got the alignment perfect in about an hour of tweaking the radiator location.

[rotorwrench]

The alignment depends on several variables that can make adjustment either easy or very long a drawn out. Condition of the frame is the variable that can make a big difference. Condition of the body components also play a big part. When these cars were new and everything was still straight, it probably didn't take the line workers very long to get them together in good order. After 90+ years of use and abuse, things change.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

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Originally Posted by BillCNC

Hey All,

I have a two question's for you all,

1. I received my accident repair quote from the other insurance company and they have allotted 3.0 hours for the entire process and was wondering how many man hours it took to do your's for those that have done it?

2. How many hours do you think it would take to prime, paint and polish out a rear fender?

I know it took me a hell of a lot more time than 3 hours for me to align everything all by myself the last time I did it.

Regards
Bill

Hey Bill, let me start by telling you that I see a fair amount of collector car collision work come thru my shop, so I likely have a good feel for this. Although our location differences prohibit us from being an option for you, feel free to reach out thru e-mail anyway and I will help you any way I can.

Generally speaking, most appraisers have no real experience in writing collector car collision repair, ...and the underwriters are ok with this for a couple of reasons simply because these Adjustors will write the estimate low, and if the insured chooses to accept their low estimate number with the intention to pocket the money, then all is well. They know that if a professional shop gets involved, the shop will re-write the estimate to reflect more accurate costs. I have a Model-T in the shop right now where the Adjustor provided an estimate of a little over $7k to the owner. The actual estimate I wrote is about $18k. The difference is the scope of work the Adjustor wrote did not account for many other things including straightening instead of replacing.

I will list some thoughts below;

1) -in reality, it is hard for us to give an accurate time-allotment since we do not know the extent of why the hood, doors, and radiator need to be aligned in the first place. Is the frame damaged in any way?? The alignment of the items you mentioned is doable in the allocated time if a separate operation for proper straightening the frame has been performed.

2) -again, we do not know the condition of this fender to begin to assess a time allocation. Has it been media-blasted and in bare metal ready to be primed? Has it been straightened (bodyworked) and just requiring one coat of primer/surfacer (sealer) and then go straight to paint?? Are they paying to paint and buff just the exterior of the fender, -or both sides??? What is the condition of the paint on the other 3 fenders???? Is it an amateur paint job with orange peel and wavy bodywork, -or is it professional quality paintwork where it will require extra time colorsanding and buffing to make it 'slick' to match the paint on the other fenders.

[Synchro909]

I had someone sideswipe my '29 Phaeton a few years ago and my dealings with their insurance company reflect what Brent has said.
The impact was on the RHS front mudguard (fender). It was obvious to me that the force of the hit was transmitted through the headlight bar to the left mudguard and bent the mounting bracket for it too. It had to come off, straighten and refit. The insurance company wanted a series of photographs of the damaged car so I made sure there was one from dead ahead showing the headlights off centre and the different levels of the mudguard crowns. When they received my repairer's quote, they said they wouldn't accept there could be damage to the other side of the car, I referred them to the photos (they hadn't had the smarts to look at them) and explained what mechanics of how it happened. After several contacts from different people, I finally got one guy who saw it for what it was and the repair was approved.
They had plenty of experience with modern cars but none with car of this age. They quickly learned (were told by me) that there is a big difference. I consider myself fortunate that the alignment of the bonnet wasn't affected. I don't think they would ever have been ready for that lesson.

[w.michael]

It has taken me 55 years so far. I’m not finished yet.

W. Michael

[updraught]

Here is some documentation you can hit them with:
https://www.modelaclub.com/archives/tech-tips/1211
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58395
http://www.wescottsauto.com/WebCatal..._Technical.pdf

[Terry, NJ]

I don't like body work and am reluctant to do it. My 1930 Town Sedan is at the point of needing alignment and after some frustrating attempts, I threw up my hands. Every now and then, I get a wild hair up my nose and think it might yet be possible. I know that I must start at the cowl and work rearward. But how much? If I add 1/4" of rubber pads, what does that compress down to when the body bolts are tightened? How much torque on the body bolts is necessary? I'd imagine quite a bit considering how compressed the originals were when I took them out. Balancing/leveling operations can be frustrating at best. So if anyone can help me with this I would be grateful. TIA
Terry

[burner31]

Counting today...pushing about four years