Well crap! Wife in a Car Accident.

[HotRodPC]

I'm sure you've heard the acronym for Pontiac then...

Yep, but let's no go there brutha !!! No whutta mean Dawg???

 

[Frankenchevy]

Yep, but let's no go there brutha !!! No whutta mean Dawg???

see my above reply to bucket. it's nothing bad.. not sure what you guys are thinking...lol

 

[f6john]

Wrote a check for $3400.00 yesterday for parts, mostly Toyota factory parts that aren’t available aftermarket. Still have another $1000-1500.00 in parts paint and materials to go. Still haven’t got a check from the insurance company as I have to going to the court house and apply for a new title before they will let me have my end.

 

[f6john]

Pulled the frame horns back into alignment this morning. Took less than two hours not counting the tear down time. There is still a little tweaking to do and that will be done as radiator support, bumper support and fenders are test fitted before any paint work is started.

 

[f6john]

Camry close to ready for paint and final assembly. Took a few pics this afternoon and you may see some other vehicles of interest in my brother in laws shop.

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[HotRodPC]

I guess I missed that part of thread. Knowing your bro in law has the frame rack, kinda made it a no brainer to buy back on that car. You said you got enough to pay it off and buy the parts for the repairs right? So you're going to have a low mileage repaired salvage vehicle but no longer have a payment. Right???

 

[HotRodPC]

You know I'm going through this same thing right along with you, and why I'm kinda riding along in your thread too. I've been looking for this thread.

I couldn't believe how easy this Kia was to tear down both the parts donor car and my wrecked one. I had more hidden damage than I thought. I had to do some sledge hammering on the upper chassis rail that was pushed in about about 2 inches, and reshape some sheet metal as well as a fender support bracket so I could get mine back together. Using the good undamaged donor parts for alignment guides, I knew exactly when to stop and how far to go with the hammeing out of the upper chassis rail.

First 2 pics are of the donor car and the undamaged chassis rail. 3rd pic is how far it was pushed to the center of the damaged car.

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[HotRodPC]

First Pic is of the undamaged donor hidden sheetmetal and fender bracket.

Next pic is of the damage mine had. The actual chassis where the metal bumper bolt on was bent and damaged some as well.

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[HotRodPC]

Here's where I used the core support as a guide to line up the bolt holes. Also got the thin sheet metal reshaped with some channellocks, chisel and ball peen hammers. Also got the fender bracket straight as I could too. I pretty much got it right on the money with my precision set of tools and that sledge hammer and a block.

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[HotRodPC]

So here the last ones I'll muddy up and hitch and ride on your thread with. The first ones are the damage and the last one is the finished body work. You can see in the first pics how far the fender overlapped the door and was pushed up on the windshield post too.

That gap in the bumper cover is only because the donor car bumper cover was missing a clip. I have it on the old damaged bumper cover but it rode with my K10 to my dad's house 70 miles away. So as soon as I get that clip off the damaged cover, then able to run the screw into the bumper cover to the fender, then that line will look alot better and be right on the money.

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[f6john]

I guess I missed that part of thread. Knowing your bro in law has the frame rack, kinda made it a no brainer to buy back on that car. You said you got enough to pay it off and buy the parts for the repairs right? So you're going to have a low mileage repaired salvage vehicle but no longer have a payment. Right???

Yes, financially it’s a big win over just having the car repaired. I still owed about $10,500 and after buying the car car back still gotta check for $5,500.00. I’ll be out of pocket for some of the labor after paying for all the parts but I knew that was a good possibility going in. My brother in law and his son really take their time to trial fit all the parts before any welding or painting and in this case actually pulled the frame horns 3 separate times to get the gaps right.

If I had not fixed the car and just taken the money, after the loan payoff I would have had about $12,000.00 to go buy another car but would have just started the whole depreciation process again.

 

[f6john]

So here the last ones I'll muddy up and hitch and ride on your thread with. The first ones are the damage and the last one is the finished body work. You can see in the first pics how far the fender overlapped the door and was pushed up on the windshield post too.

That gap in the bumper cover is only because the donor car bumper cover was missing a clip. I have it on the old damaged bumper cover but it rode with my K10 to my dad's house 70 miles away. So as soon as I get that clip off the damaged cover, then able to run the screw into the bumper cover to the fender, then that line will look alot better and be right on the money.

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That all looks great to me. I’m sure they may be out there, but I could not find any donor parts for the wifes 2015 Camry. Even with the front end looking like this, I was able to used both the of the original front fenders with almost zero filler or the parts bill would have been even higher.

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[HotRodPC]

Sounds like you'll be happier without a car payment and after repair should have lots of life left in it too. Yours was obviously on a lot different scale than mine as far as value and age. It's a bummer your state does salvage titles different and that cost you a bit and of course the diminished value due to a salvage title, so plan on driving the wheels off of it and after a few more years, it's not going to matter salvage title or not.

I just did mine because it's a low mileage car for a 2004 with 134,000 miles and good on gas, and runs great, everything works including the AC blowing cold so if I could pocket $2000 after buy back and parts along with some of my own labor getting to wrench a bit and do what I like to do, though bodywork isn't my strong points. I'll end with closer to $2500 pocket cash after I sell some parts and scrap the donor along with the donor car has a good running engine and trans that I'm shrink wrapping to a pallet and hiding out at my dads for a back up engine and trans when and if mine does take a dump. I actually impressed myself with putting mine back together. I expected some hassles and struggles. It was like taking candy from a baby. I started at like 11am on Saturday knowing I had to have it done by Sunday night and ready to roll for work on Monday morning. I fully expected it to take 2 days. Even with the hidden damage being worse than I expected, I started at 11am Saturday and was done by 5pm Saturday with a couple 20 minute or so breaks, so 6 hours, not 2 days. And it turned out better than I expected. I wasn't going for perfection, I was just going for kill the eyesore and have a safe, sound and sanitary commuter mpg car.

 

[HotRodPC]

That all looks great to me. I’m sure they may be out there, but I could not find any donor parts for the wifes 2015 Camry. Even with the front end looking like this, I was able to used both the of the original front fenders with almost zero filler or the parts bill would have been even higher.

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It amazes me at how easy cars are considered totalled these days. Your wife didn't have any air bag deployment right?

 

[f6john]

It amazes me at how easy cars are considered totalled these days. Your wife didn't have any air bag deployment right?

No air bag deployment and zero damage from the doors on back. The adjusters knew the frame horns were pushed over and their sop is if they are damaged they get cut off and replaced. That is what pushed the estimate over the “edge” and the fear of more unseen damage that they would have to pay for once repairs were underway.