Mazda Protege 5 Track car project : Body repairs and Barber Motorsports park prep…

Time to see the extent of the damage…

The positive part of all this is that there didnt seem to look like there was any damage hidden behind the dented panels.  My wheels are a little scrapped and damaged, but nothing structural. 

I was worried about by the headlight socket being damaged and it never fitting properly again, but visually I didnt notice anything major.  

Good news is that the new taillight fits in its place still… which is a good sign.  

Fender and bumper removed…

There was a slight crease here were the intake pipe goes through.  I managed to straighten it out with a few taps of a mallet.  It also pushed the side headlight mount back in its place as well…

Here is a photo of the side headlight mount that was pushed in slightly.  

I had a headlight shell to test fit in its place to see how much it was pushed in.  You can see its off by about 2 inches..

Took some pliers and maneuvered it back in place, so the bolt should fill in the gap..

I went ahead and started to remove the doors to get practice for having to remove doors at the pull a part..

The car doesnt have a radio and or power windows anymore.  So i just had the wires zip tied in the door, but I found out that the door wiring has a quick release at the body panel.  So it made that much easier..

 

Door off, glass , handle regulator all removed…

 

My floor in the garage was full of gravel and dirty so I put the P5 outside so I can clean up.  

I had found 2 P5s at a local Pull A Part, but they were marked black.  I had planned on getting those body panels from those cars and just having a mismatched car for awhile.  But I checked another yard that had a P5 listed, but no color.  I decided to check it first to see the condition and or if it was silver.  I was pleased to see it was silver, and all the panels I needed were still in perfect condition..

Its pretty simple to get the doors and fender off, but I did need to gut the door internals so I would not be charged for things I did not need..

Made out like a bandit..

What was left…

Since I gutted the doors, everything was only $139 out the door.  The fender itself was the most expensive part.  

The only thing I will need to do is remove the side molding later..

Upon further inspection it looked like the fender was replaced and the car was repainted at one point.  There was runs of clear on the inside of the door, and the fender was black on the inside, compared to my old one.

Fit like a glove… almost like it never happened.  

Hopefully this is the last time I have to deal with this…

Now, ill see what I can do with this damage to the quarter..

The car is gutted so I can access the dent on the back side.  I took a rubber mallet, and used it as a tool to push the crease out..

A few taps, and it was much better.  I am going to try to get some proper dent tools and see what I can do to the damage instead of just beating on it with a mallet .

Still a little bruise on the bumper…

Extremely pleased and thankful that the damage was not worse.  The panels went back on and lined up perfectly.  The only sign of damage is to the rear quarter..