This is a continuation or a "opening a new chapter" on my restoration of my SA22. Here is the original thread.......... https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-general-discussion-207/car-went-into-body-shop-today-789351/

Wow... I finally got my black 1980 SA22 back from the body shop yesterday. As many of you know this paintjob started off last year after a minor "fender bender" to the front hood, driver side popup headlight and driver side fender. While it was in the body shop I wanted to completely paint the car... The owner of the shop said it should take about a month.... Well as anyone knows who has been following my old thread "car went into the body shop today"....this has been a nightmare!!!

I now have to move on....I got duped....screwed...taken for a ride...lied too and overall got the shaft... I have to put this behind me....the car spent 20 days short of a YEAR in the body shop!!!

Well I called yesterday and they said the car would be done by the time I got off work.... I went there after work and the car was FAR from being done... The car was not detailed, the inside looked dirty and dusty....they could not find my licsense plate or my "mazdatrix" plate frame.... Then I found two areas where they pulled tape back and had paint peeled back.....WOW...more problems!!! I told them I would take it and the owner of the shop promised he would repair the "bad" areas in a couple of weeks when I had time to bring it back...

I just wanted the car out....they finally found my licsense plate and plate frame although my "mazdatrix" frame was now badly scratched up!!! WTF..

I put the key in the ignition....this car has only been moved around the body shop only for almost a year!!

I adjusted my rear view mirrors, and I was on my way!! The car felt good and strong especially since it has set up for a year... within 5 minutes of driving I was shifting at 7000 RPM and catching those fun 2nd gear scratches!

Got the car home and decided to drive her up to the parts store... backed out of the driveway...went down the street and then proceeded to pull out into fast traffic and wam...the car sputtered and died!!

I ended up having to push the car backward about 100 feet and then push the car about 400 feet back to my house...

It seemed like the fuel pump was not working!! So I pulled out the fuel pump and powered it up with my makita battery and it worked fine.. Found out the idiots at the body shop left off a ground towards the back of the car that went to the fuel pump and rear tail lights... I repaired the ground and the pump works fine now.

The following is a list of things I have had to adjust, fix, replace, etc. since....the body shop obviously failed at putting back on right. I worked till 1 am last night and have been working all day today.

Horn did not work....wires hooked up wrong on front

Driving light mounts broke and were not hooked back up...just pulled them off...need to replace now.

Front side running lights did not work. They cut...yes cut all wires to side clearance lights and rigged the wiring back up. I repaired correctly.

Front spoiler not installed correctly and they did not install the air dam and under engine pan....went back to the body shop today...finally found the under engine pan in a junk pile at the body shop!!

I bought two new "RX-7" emblems for the front fenders...they installed one and lost the other!

There is no washer nozzle or hose...have NO idea where that is....

Winshield washer assembly was hand tight at best and the blades were so loose they would not even operate...repaired

Driver window would not roll down...they installed the gasket wrong and it was binding up....repaired...works now..

Door seals were not installed correctly and was causing the doors to bind when closing. These are new and so I readjusted them and basically put them on correctly now.

Rear louvers were installed so badly it almost fell off!!! It also rattled so bad it drove me nuts...repaired.

Rear duck bill spoiler was loose and installed wrong...installed correctly and also tightened power antenna (was loose....hand tight at best)

Rear driver side tailight cracked...(Need a replacement lens....help!!!)

Panels under rear carpet that covers where bumper bolts go to were left off... this was allowing fumes in the cabin and ended up giving me a nice headache... I found the panels...installed them and then sealed them up to prevent fumes.

The licsense plate lights were installed with the left on the right and vice versa....this aligned to gasket incorrectly.... also one light not wired up right...repaired...

Overspray everywhere....on the tires.... on various areas of the body....white specks on the freshly painted spoiler.... (still working on all this)

Couple of runs in the paint towards the rear fenders. They will have to repair.

Inner rear fender well rust not repaired correctly....I had to repair it myself...

Overspray on my NEW RB muffler and chrome tips...

They tore a small gash in my driver seat....still need to repair..


Most of the problems I have repaired... I still have blemishes in the paint...some can be easily repaired when I take it back....some I might just live with....

Now the good stuff..... the car is drop dead gorgeous!!! It is turning heads with everyone!! The car has super shiny and very deep black paint job.

People have stopped me almost everywhere I have driven and asked about the car..

One guy today followed me until I stopped at a stoplight and rolled down his window to ask about the car.....

I added seafoam into the gas tank and drove for a while...now I have filled completely up....car is running great.

Tomorrow I will take pictures and post them.... hopefully when it goes back to these idiots...they will repair the rest of the issues...

I learned my lesson...I got duped!!!

I am getting happier...the car is running great and is a total BLAST to drive!!!

 

I am sorry you went through everything but I am glad it is back nice and safe with you. Now take care of it and keep it away from the bad men. I wouldn't trust them to fix their mistakes if I were you.

 

It's nice to hear you finally got her back. If it were me, I would bring the car to them, show them the needed repairs, as well as what they broke and a list of what they screwed up that you have already fixed. Given this you should then demand they pay to have a competent and reliable body shop repair the car. Remind them of the nightmare they put you through and let them know that unless they do whats right, you'll be telling everyone you can about the horrible service they gave you. Or you can have a lawyer deal with it, but that could get even more costly than the situation already is. Need to see some pics asap.

 

Speechless, man... Just incredible.

Do they use laywers in Texas these days, or should we all just chip in for a fresh coil of rope?

I'm really glad to hear you got her back, and that you were able to clean up the bulk of those morons' idiot mistakes. At least it sounds like the paint turned out good.

Pics are anxiously awaited.

 

Took her out for a morning drive today....wow it sure was nice... Put about 100 miles on her this morning.....purred along perfectly!!! Man I forgot how 7000 RPM through an RB street port exhaust system sounds....

Pulled off at a road side park and snapped some quick pics....

Here are some lo rez pics I took... I need to figure out how to do the hi rez ones.. Do I upload the high rez to photobucket and copy and paste the link here. How do I do the pics to where you open up the thread and the pics are there??? What setting is ideal for my camera??? 1 meg, 2 meg, 7 meg???

Thanks!

 

more pics

 

more

 

Looks great from the pics. I have learned along time ago that you "get what you pay for". I don't know what you paid for your paint job, but most compitant shops will charge you around 2 grand. That is what I paid to get my FB repainted. Lifetime warranty and all. I have only found a few little blemishes and pointed them out to the shop. The owner told me to bring it back when ever I fell like it. I hate to hear about the issues you had, but I hope you get everything worked out.

 

it looks great! i wouldn't bring the car back to that shop! send your lawyer...

 

Went for a cruise in town to do errands....had fun...got some thumbs up!! WOW what a blast listening to the stock almost 30 year old Clarion radio on the 80's station!!!!

 

nice paint. looks sexy. how much did all that cost? that is one reason i rather do the work my self and allso my dad is teaching me how to do it. the only prob i get is geting dust in the paint but that can be easly fixed

 

I traded an old car that was worth about $2000 for the paint job...

 

damn. i did kind of the same thing with my teacher she got a new car and it needed rust work. and she had a car i been wanting before i found my mazda a 95 honda civic 5 speed and it was a good trade and we only had the car for 2 days but that shop should be replacing the parts that they broke and lost.

 

Looking sweet enough... steer clear of RVs!

 

the SA does look amazing! i'm not sure what i would do about the broken or missing or damaged parts on the car.. i would be very upset and would find something that i could do about the situation. most importantly though you did get your car back and it looks great!

 

That is one sexy SA. I've been following the old thread, and it is way iller than I ever expected. You should bitch slap that body shop tho. A year is ridiculous, especially since they messed all that stuff up.

 

btw, what mirrors are those? I want a set.

 

Those are old school Italian Vitaloni Baby Toronados...

Real popular in the 80's

This link seems to sell them... http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au...V=Primary&CDO=

 

thanks.

 

OK....lemme see if this works (trying to connect pictures)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/o...P1040096-1.jpg

 

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/o...P1040096-1.jpg

 

I dont get it folks...I added some high res pics to photobucket. How do I connect them to a thread so that when you click on the thread, the high res picture comes up??? Please help...

 

you press this button and you insert your link there! great to see her out!

 

Hopefully this works!

 

Thanks!!! I have been on this forum for over a year and just now have finally figured it out!!!