My last 05 Jimmy got totaled , it was in great shape with a 150,000 KM...Insurance gave me $6000 Canadian dollars .......I think that's about $25 US Dollars ...LOL....I'm serious about the 6 grand though.

 

Your assessment of repair steps is quite accurate (matches the adjusters estimate almost verbatim) additionally they want to pull the front bumper, the headlight, the front fender, and the vent window (the one between the drivers door and the quarter window) as well.

Now I've done my fair share of body work, (collision and restoration) and am pretty good at it if I do say so myself. (sorry if that comes across as arrogant it's NOT meant to) That being said, I know how "I" would repair it.........and it would not involve removing the fender or the windows for one. Also I would save a whole lot of time by Not trying to do a "blend" on the paint. (a blend might look descent for a little while but it wouldn't stay that way for long, the truck has never been painted and as such the new paint will oxidize at a different rate then the original paint) Given the amount of area that would end up being "blended" and given the areas that would be masked are the same it would make sense (at least to me) to just paint the entire side (the additional amount of paint/clear would be negligible) and be done with it.

99% of the damage is confined to the outer door skin, so just hanging a different door will actually take care of most of the repair.

At this point the insurance company does NOT have right or title to my vehicle (I did NOT permit the adjuster to "lock in" the estimate) so I'm fairly certain that I'm just going to have to drop the claim and repair the damage myself. (in the long run it's the cheapest alternative)

Don't I know it!!! I think over the years I've paid for my paint suppliers kids to go to college.

At this point (it's still early in the process) I'm trying to exhaust all possibilities but it looks as though the payout would be LESS than the salvage value. (and I REALLY DON'T want to deal with all the pitfalls of a salvage title) What that means is simply it would end up "costing me" money (out of my own pocket) just to "buy back" my own vehicle and then I'd have to come up with the additional funds to do the repairs. So unfortunately it would appear that (through no fault of my own) I've been hosed..........AGAIN!!! SAD BUT TRUE!

 

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it, and could definitely tackle the job yourself
When I was saying blend, I was referring to blending the color out, but clearing the whole panel. If you were to spray the whole side with color, you would end up running into colormatch issues from fender to hood and quarter to lift gate. As long as you get a good blend in your basecoat, it won't show back up later. Using a slower reducer in your base helps to get a good blend. If you don't blend the basecoat you'll almost never get a good match


Sometimes people do blend clear it within a panel... You're definitely right about that, it will oxidize at different rates and show back up down the road.

Hope you keep it and fix it up! You should post pics of your progress if you do

 

I totally agree with your thoughts on blending,.......but the mismatch would be temporary. (I was actually planning on doing a complete repaint) of the whole Blazer in the future but I was going to wait on that until AFTER the V-8 conversion was done.

Yes, I definitely plan on keeping it (I've had it since it was new) I've had LOTS of plans in the works for a LONG time, (not to mention all the parts that I've already collected or currently have on order) and really I was just getting started when the accident happened.

Picked up a door yesterday for $100.00 complete. It's even the same color as the blazer (I'll still completely repaint it of course)

Today I've started prepping it,........gutting the shell and doing some of the initial clean up.

 

Replacement door

 

Nice score in the donor truck!

 

I drive a tow truck and bring cars that are a "complete write off" all the time that are totally fine.

buy it back from the insurance and fix it yourself. that is not written off but in terms of value it's not worth it to them.

 

Yes it was!!! I was absolutely amazed that GM only made ONE front door for the 2nd gen s10's. Pickups and blazers both take the SAME door (2 door or 4 it doesn't matter as long as it's the front) usually you don't get that lucky. Other than a couple of door dings it's in pretty good shape although the hinge bushings were OBVIOUSLY trashed on the donor truck so I may have to do some work on the lower hinge.

Took a look at your build.................VERY NICE!!!!!

 

The initial door prep: sanding, degreasing, and closer inspection.

As I suspected earlier there was a problem with the lower door hinge,......and a REALLY HORRIBLE attempt at trying to fix it!!! (luckily it wasn't that horrible to reverse)

Not in bad condition overall,.......few parking lot dents (bout an hours worth of "clean up" before a repaint)

 

Not too shabby for a door that's almost 20 yrs old. Looks like it sanded out nicely!