[Shop-talk] amateur body work

[BJNoSHOV8]

When my dad had a body shop we used to send these types of things to our 
local frame shop.  They would pull the structure back to proper position 
then the body panels should fit properly.


> I have a 1998 GMC Safari (same as Chevy Astro) that was in pretty good shape until my son decided to butt heads with an immovable object. I have stripped all the damaged body panels (hood, bumper&cover, grill, and one fender) to asses the damage to the body structure and can only find that the radiator support was kinked inwards less than one inch. While this doesn't sound very bad it does throw off the alignment of the front fender (pass side). The Safari/Astro use unibody construction and the radiator support panel is a substantial piece of metal. Specially the horizontal piece at the top where the damage is. This part is boxed and gaining access behind the damaged area is nearly impossible without removing a LOT of junk. Do you guys have any suggestions?