Originally Posted by
Germany_chris
It'll be a commuter
You mention the shop maybe not even wanting to work on it, this is obviously a red flag and all too common now days.
I would have a very frank discussion with them and be certain they have your best interest in hand. No uhh, we'll give it a shot, do our best, see what we can do, none of that. If they say anything other than "no problem, we've got this" AND your gut fully agrees, they guarantee not to damage it and will fix it if they do then walk away.
This presents an opportunity to go outside your comfort zone and develop/hone a new skill that leads to other skills that will be invaluable going forward.
I would go to the hardware store and get some high quality screws/bolts and either/and/or grind a taper on the starting end and carefully file or cut some slots along at least two sides to make a chaser to clear out the paint.
Tackling tasks like this can develop the skills to do other challenging jobs once you get after it.
