Rear end damage worth fixing?

[Ernie]

Sorry, I think I helped your thread go off track.

Back on the subject, I have managed a number of these repairs by being creative with Harbour Freight body hammer/dolly tools, angle grinder, and welder (to put stuff back together).

I'm thinking, I could do this job. Seems you're at a point where you should decide if you're doing it or paying someone else to do it.

I'm not an expert, but I'll help if I can. Looks like this is a car worth saving.

 

[GregS]

Just over a year ago my track car took a much bigger hit in the rear. At the top both strut towers were fine, but down low in the engine bay (green arrow) the chassis rails were buckled. And the door gaps were closed right up. I suggest checking the chassis rail from underneath for damage, but I think it will be ok by how minor the body damage is. I got my chassis straight enough so the door gaps were even again by supporting the car on the centre jacking points, and adding heavy blast in the trunks front and rear. I also had the doors off and used a hydraulic jack in the door opening to bend it straight again. Steel is very springy so you have force it

a bit past straight, then put it back on its wheels and check the door gap.
If you get the door gap ok the you just have to decide whether to cut and weld or hammers and pullers and bondo.
As mine was much worse than yours and the chassis rails buckled, I cut the whole back end off and welded a new one on. I replaced both rear quarter panels by drilling out all the spot welds and rewelding afterwards, very time consuming, I don't recommend it. Good luck.

 

[Steve Thomas]

To clarify, my question really was if anyone had dealt with the 1/4 pushing into the top of the door. It does.open & close but touches. I do believe I can get the wheel well banged. pulled & shrunk close enough but I thought I read somewhere that this kind of damage could total the car. It was definitely hit on the right rear bumper as the left looks fine.

what matters is the suspension mount positions. The measurements are in the manual.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

To clarify, my question really was if anyone had dealt with the 1/4 pushing into the top of the door. It does.open & close but touches. I do believe I can get the wheel well banged. pulled & shrunk close enough but I thought I read somewhere that this kind of damage could total the car. It was definitely hit on the right rear bumper as the left looks fine.

The door gaps on any open top vehicle (targa, convertible, etc) are very susceptible to getting closed tighter, even without any accident damage. The lack of a top structure leaves the middle of the car rather unsupported. If you remove the targa top, open the doors up, and step back to view the X from the side, you will see just how open it really is. To the extent that the center tunnel tends to crack around the area of the shifter and park brake lever due to constant flexing. Therefore it is no surprise the door is sticking after even a minor accident.

The good news is what @GregS said, due to this area being unsupported you can get the gap to widen back up fairly easily. There have been other examples of this posted in the past, doing effectively what Greg did. Jack up the car from the middle and apply some downward tension to each end of the car. You could do it with the help of a couple of "large" buddies, a bunch of bags if concrete in each trunk, or some sort of jack/portapower in between the upper door openings. Even a simple scissor or bottle jack and some 4X4 wood will work to spread the tops out.

 

[JKIDD]

Got a chance to peek underneath and found damage by the strut tower. I imagine this to be an easy pull & will look more in the spring.