Had an accident - time for upgrades, Was a sulk thread - now an upgrade log ;) Options

[Mangozac]

Hi everybody,

I haven't been active here much lately due to too many other things going on but I'm back in dire need of some help!

So a week and a half ago the weather turned wet overnight and on Friday week ago I was headed to work pretty early in the morning. Now I'll admit that I'm a relatively aggressive driver but if I'm not concentrating I will drive pretty normally. Anyway that fateful Friday morning I was about 2km from home and going round a roundabout (I don't know what you guys in the US call them - it's a donut shaped piece of road instead of traffic lights) when I lost traction and slid sideways into the gutter and a railing

The damage list is as follows:
- Front bar smashed up on left side
- Front lip broken
- Front side panel dinged (repairable)
- Front left low beam headlight mounting brackets broken off (can be glued back on)
- Front left control arm mangled badly
- Front left wheel shattered and tyre damaged (irrepairable)
- Front left steering arm bent

It was low speed but the angle at which the wheel hit the gutter (side on) is what caused the damage. It was the stupid guard rail that did all of the cosmetic damage (and I didn't even leave a scratch on it! ). Anyway here's a pic of the cosmetic damage:


This next one shows how badly bent up the control arm is:



Anyway I've got everything under control - the new control arm should be arriving early next week. I spent today disassembling the whole front left drive/suspension system. The inner CV boots on both sides have split so I'm replacing them at the same time as all of this other stuff.

Edit: Control arm replacement was discussed further and the solution provided by wannabeGT4 here: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60620

On a side note this isn't all bad news - because I'll be getting these few panels resprayed I'm likely going to just drive around with primed panels for a little while whilst I save up to get the whole car resprayed (the same colour though). There's a bunch of small dings and scratches that drive me insane so I'd love to get it all fresh paint. I pulled off the wing while stuffing around today and think I'll definitely be joining the wingless club

Thanks! Zac

This post has been edited by Mangozac: Aug 4, 2008 - 12:37 AM

[97Celica]

Well,at least it's repairable and you didn't get hurt or have your airbags go off. Do you have insurance?

[goferris]

that sucks man but it coulda been a lot worse.
is your lip repairable or are you going to have to get a new one? i had a small experience with a roundabout a few weeks ago (was going a little fast into it and the sprinklers were going on the island causing me to do a little fish tailing because the road was wet) but luckily i didn't damage anything.

[Mangozac]

Well,at least it's repairable and you didn't get hurt or have your airbags go off. Do you have insurance?

No hurts and no comprehensive insurance. Sports car + under 25 = massive premiums and rediculous excess, i.e. it will be cheaper to fix myself. No airbags either so that's something else I don't have to deal with.

that sucks man but it coulda been a lot worse.
is your lip repairable or are you going to have to get a new one? i had a small experience with a roundabout a few weeks ago (was going a little fast into it and the sprinklers were going on the island causing me to do a little fish tailing because the road was wet) but luckily i didn't damage anything.

The lip is def repairable but to be honest I'm thinking of just selling it as is and hacking what's left of the bumper into a piece of custom work. My Dad is pretty handy with fibreglass and I do a lot of making custom scale models of sci fi mecha and stuff so I think it could be a cool exercise

This post has been edited by Mangozac: Jul 12, 2008 - 5:49 PM

[Euphoria]

dam that sucks, hope it doesn't cost too much to fix.

[HaRv3sTeR]

sorry to hear about this

i have a silver bumper in top shape for sale cheap if you need to: TOPIC

[goferris]

you do realize he's in australia right? shipping would totally kill any savings of buying yours

[Stallion]

actually with insurance companies. 6gc's are considered "subcompact". im 22 ive had my license suspended and a speeding ticket at over 80 and im only paying 56 a month

[Mangozac]

Thanks for the offers HaRv3sTeR but as goferris mentioned shipping to Oz would be disgusting

Stallion, insurance companies here obviously work a little different as everyone I tried to get quotes from had it classed as a sports car - in fact many companies would not insure it at all! She was previously insured but I had to cancel the policy after doing the mods I've done as they refused to insure me anymore.

Still no suggestions about removing the control arm? I'm really not having much success trying to work it out. Does anybody have the manual for the suspension on a 96+ model they could get the instructions from?

In other news I've pulled out the other axle shaft as the CV boot had split. there's a lot of grease everywhere from the leaking boots on both sides so I'm going to pressure clean the engine bay tomorrow. The boots are getting replaced today.

[Mangozac]

OK so seeing as I'll be doing a few upgrades (mainly aesthetic), I figured I'd detail them in this thread rather than make a new one...

I picked up the final two parts today - the replacement collars for the front control arms. If all goes to plan I'll be reassembling her on Friday after printing out the procedures for control arm removal. She will be driveable ok but that's it - I have glued the front bumper back together and banged out the dents in the fender so will have to drive around like that until I get organised with a replacement bumper and a new paint job.

Unfortunately I can't get a replacement wheel because they don't make them in this stud pattern any more! So I'm on the lookout for some secondhand wheels - I really can't afford new ones. I'll take the opportunity to jump up in size to 18" too.

As for the bumper, I'm thinking of getting a cheapo invader style front bar for $400 and modding it by removing the wingy bits along the bottom to make it flow better with the rest of my kit. I understand that the invader front bar comes as two pieces anyway - does anybody have a pic of just the main piece installed without the bottom lip piece?

The wing is off and staying off, and I also picked up one other goodie today. The TOYOTA CELICA words on the left of the hatch will be replaced with this:



Oh and lastly, I'll be selling my TOMs option (magic) front lip. It got damaged in the crash but I'll repair it first and then sell it to anybody in Australia who wants it. It's too hard to ship it overseas.