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Old 12-04-2019, 10:21 AM   #16 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,515

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 52.71 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 52.48 mpg (US)
Thanks: 4,062
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Photo dump!




I pulled the car apart (pretty darned easy) to fix the busted mounting tabs on the headlight housing...





^ All 3 mounting tabs on the housing were busted. I scabbed them back on with wee screws and bits of sheet metal, then epoxied over the works.



I wasn't planning to do any cosmetic stuff to the car, but while I had the front end apart, I figured I might as well pull the quarter panel and try my hand at a bit of paintless dent repair.



The metal is barely thicker than tinfoil, so I just bent the panel by hand & mostly used wooden kitchen appliances to work the creases out:





It turned out OK. Good enough that the average person might not notice the small ripples left behind. I dabbed some touch-up silver where the factory paint cracked off from being bent too sharply.

Before & after!








The bumper cover is still a bit of a mess... I'll look at that in the spring. It only takes a couple of minutes to take off the car.


If the previous owner had put this through insurance, it would have been a $1500-2000 bill.
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Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to MetroMPG For This Useful Post:
mpg_numbers_guy (12-04-2019), RedDevil (12-04-2019), Xist (12-04-2019)