Car got totaled, one week before repaint...

[89HatchbackLxi]

So... some idiot decided to make a left turn without looking today and turned right in front of me and I couldn't stop in time. My passenger-side front collided with her passengerside front, but the body shop said they were pretty sure my car was going to be considered totaled. Everything behind the hood of my car (interior included) was untouched however, so I'm trying to think of a way I can still save this car, since I've put SO much work into it... Is it even possible to save a car with front end damage? Since it's an older car and all?

Here's a pic of it...

[RAZR]

Dang! that sucks. I see a junk yard run in your future

[89HatchbackLxi]

I'm assuming there's frame damage and stuff though. I don't know if I can get what I would need from a junk yard... unless it's like, a new completely new car or something

[Honda Man]

I would take a lot of work but if you can get like the hood bumper fender and headlight bucket replace from jy, and then have someone pull the body back to shape

[Vanilla Sky]

I'd start by pulling the damaged panels so you can get a good look at the structure of the car. Some time on a frame machine paid for by the other person's insurance. You might need a radiator support and such, but they aren't terribly hard to replace.

Claim insurance on it no matter what. You can always buy the car back, repair it, and recertify it. It may not be original anymore, but a good shop can make it as good as new.

[lostforawhile]

before you do anything,talk to the adjuster and see if you can work out something on the frame repair if you do the other repairs, the way these cars are built a lot of stuff unbolts, the headlight bucket, bumper,fender, pretty much everything comes off, even the front cross member unbolts and is simple to replace, once you remove everything you can see how simple the frame is on these cars, look at the rear edge of the door, if it's still lined up properly, you likely don't have frame damage, there is a lot of stuff at the front that can absorb impact damage and crush,without anything behind it being damaged, a crash in these cars looks much worse then it might be

[Stealth]

.

[lostforawhile]

What do you mean by "Is it even possible to save a car with front end damage? Since it's an older car and all? ". It isn't that hard to find undamaged panels at a junkyard (depends which one you're visiting). On the bright side, since the car doesn't have paint on it, you don't have to worry about matching paint, just find a good fender, sand it down, and you're all set. One thing that is going to be hard is aligning everything back together, especially the headlight, that thing looks twisted pretty bad. Like Vanilla said, take off the panels, see what you have to work with. If the frame is fine and everything looks like you could just slap new parts on, then keep it. If the whole structure is bent up, then it's really up to you if you want to fix everything.

The parts that "look" (from the picture) like could be replaced include the fender, bumper, and hood. For for the headlight, you're going to have to bend it back to its original position before you drop a new one in. Unless you have some kind of "emotional attachment", you could find a new hatch and just drop all your goodies into the new one, but its all up to you and how much time you have on your hands. Good luck!

the entire headlight bucket including the pivots simply unbolts from the car, no point in trying to straighten it, just get a complete assembly from the yard

[charliekuney]

the entire headlight bucket including the pivots simply unbolts from the car, no point in trying to straighten it, just get a complete assembly from the yard

True, but mounting a new one and getting it line up correctly are two completely different animals.

[Stealth]

.

[lostforawhile]

Thing is, I don't know how badly the car his car is bent on the inside. He could get a whole new assembly, but it might be easier (like charlie said) to bend it back into place. A new assemble might not just fit in because of how the whole thing got shifted. Good point though, I completely forgot that the whole assembly comes out!

you'll never get those lights to work right again, just swap it, if it doesn't fit the body has to be adjusted until the bolt holes line up properly, most of the frame on that side can be fixed with a large sledgehammer and a come along and a strong tree, it's pretty straight forward

[lostforawhile]

the heavy bracket part that the light assembly bolts too, isn't in itself adjustable, if it doesn't fit the frame isn't right yet, the headlight bucket assembly itself is where the adjustments are made

[Dr_Snooz]

Bro! So much hard work destroyed! About the only thing I can say is that at least it didn't get hit a week after you painted it. Like everyone else has already said, check out the condition of the car first. That will tell you how to proceed. It's really hard to tell anything from the pic, so I can't say if it's okay or not. If there's frame damage, I would probably find a new, un-wrecked shell to work on from here. If not, then fix it! That's what you're in school to learn anyway right?

[lostforawhile]

the frame there is very easy to straighten, not only does the lower cross member come off, but the upper radiator shell, unlike most other Honda stuff, unbolts,instead of being welded in

[Dr_Snooz]

Just me, but I would never try to straighten a frame. I've heard such bad things about it. If it can be removed and replaced, then I would do that, but I wouldn't try to bend it back.

Just me...

[lostforawhile]

Just me, but I would never try to straighten a frame. I've heard such bad things about it. If it can be removed and replaced, then I would do that, but I wouldn't try to bend it back.

Just me...

it can be done with no damage, remember I recently graduated from Auto collision, it's just steel, it can be fixed and put back in shape, hammered,welded etc, from what I can see in the picture, I dont even think the gap between the fender and front of the door is damaged, in a bad hit in the front,normally the fender ends up jammed in the door, I dont think it's that bad

[lostforawhile]

I can see the fender is pushed up, but thats just a tab on the end of the fender that holds it, it's not even contacting the door, if it was hit so bad as to damage the frame the gap would be gone

[Vanilla Sky]

I'm with Lost. It doesn't look like it's pushed in far enough that the frame will have serious damage. I've fixed 3 of these radiator supports with a come-a-long and a BFH. If it's bad and you're anal about it, you can always drill out the spot welds, burn out the seam sealer, and weld in a new piece. If done properly, it's as accurate as automated assembly, and it's stronger because you use plug welds instead of spot welds. You also have the opportunity to do some seam welding while you're in there, but you'll want to match that on the other side if you're going through the trouble.

After working on enough race cars, I know that it's just metal and it can be bent back into place, cut apart, and welded back together.

[gp02a0083]

Looking at that one picture , i would say from my body-shop experience that the front section of the apron is tweaked as well as the front corner of the radiator support. The uni-bodies on these 3rd gens are not that strong at all. A good 15mph tap to the front section can separate the inner apron from the core support under the battery tray ( i can prove this with my 1st black hatchback that was rust free). The bum per support also may be pushed in a little bit as well. depending on the damage i would say this has a good chance of being put on a good frame machine. I've seen far worse repaired at the body-shops I've worked in. Vanilla has a point with the repair, that side will end up being stronger than the other once the repair is made and is properly done.

[89HatchbackLxi]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm still waiting on the body shop to tell me what they are going to do with it, and whether or not they think its "totaled" (which I'm positive it will be).

Additional info on it: I slowed from about 50 to 20 before the impact occurred. The Coolant leaked out upon impact, along with some other liquid that may have been oil? I didn't check what it was.

I hope you guys are right at saying there isn't much frame damage. I'm really hoping to keep this car. I've put so much bodywork into it, and I don't want it to be wasted. The rest of the car looks perfect still. I don't see any visible secondary damage anywhere. The car stayed running for about 2 minutes after the crash occured and then the engine started making a really loud noise that didnt sound good (not sure how to describe it) so I turned the car off at that point. Car still worked in accessory 1 (maybe it was 2, I don't know) but it was beeping that the key was still in it when I put it into neutral to put get it up on the tow truck. Guess the battery still worked.

Also: The Passenger door does not open out more than about 30 degrees. The fender was pushed back into the gap.

[Ayeobe]

The car looks pretty bad to me, man. The bumper is all up in the wheel-well, and yeah, the fender gap is big because the fender is ferther into the body. The bumper and headlights are almost flush, so the radiator support and headlight bucket area was pushed back about 4-5 inches? If you have AC, i imagine it was refrigerant and coolant from the radiator/condenser that was leaking. When you said coolant leaked, its no big deal, the freakin resevoir is right in the front bumper basically, but from the looks of the rest of the bumper, i doubt the rad got out with out a scratch.

As everyone else has said, its just metal. It can be repaired. It just depends on how much work you're willing to put into it, and/or how much money.

[Dr_Snooz]

Okay, I'm not trying to have the last word here, but I think dissenting opinions are good (if they are informed, of course). I'll just add this one last bit and then let it go. Throughout high school, I worked in a car dealership that had a body shop. We sent plenty of cars to the frame straighteners and they could often put the car back together and on the road. However, the whispers amongst the staff when no one else was around were that the car was never quite the same again. They couldn't tell you what exactly was different, but it was. And we're talking about GM cars in the '80s here. They were such sloppy garbage that they were falling apart in the showroom, yet people noticed the frame repair. During that time, they had a batch of cars that would blow through tie rod ends in very short time. When GM got tired of replacing them on warranty, they simply increased the allowable tolerances to nearly 1/4" of slop. Imagine driving a car with 1/4" of slop in the tie rod ends. God bless Roger Smith. Yet even on these piles of trash, people noticed the frame repair. Obviously, a lot depends on what's damaged and the type of damage. A radiator frame isn't as important as a subframe, of course. Anyway, for big frame members, I wouldn't, myself, attempt a frame repair on something as precisely engineered as a 3g.

I'm done now. Thanks.

[2oodoor]

So I. Guess you are ok?
Good luck with the car, that sucks. Assess the mechanical damages thoroughly.

[lostforawhile]

Okay, I'm not trying to have the last word here, but I think dissenting opinions are good (if they are informed, of course). I'll just add this one last bit and then let it go. Throughout high school, I worked in a car dealership that had a body shop. We sent plenty of cars to the frame straighteners and they could often put the car back together and on the road. However, the whispers amongst the staff when no one else was around were that the car was never quite the same again. They couldn't tell you what exactly was different, but it was. And we're talking about GM cars in the '80s here. They were such sloppy garbage that they were falling apart in the showroom, yet people noticed the frame repair. During that time, they had a batch of cars that would blow through tie rod ends in very short time. When GM got tired of replacing them on warranty, they simply increased the allowable tolerances to nearly 1/4" of slop. Imagine driving a car with 1/4" of slop in the tie rod ends. God bless Roger Smith. Yet even on these piles of trash, people noticed the frame repair. Obviously, a lot depends on what's damaged and the type of damage. A radiator frame isn't as important as a subframe, of course. Anyway, for big frame members, I wouldn't, myself, attempt a frame repair on something as precisely engineered as a 3g.

I'm done now. Thanks.

you are talking about Gm here and their standards of frame repair lol, A lot of those cars from them couldn't stay in alignment when they were new I've seen plenty of Honda stuff repaired properly and it's just fine, knowing how this car is put together I dont think it will be any issue

[Buzo]

I would buy another 3gee and start over.

With this kind of damage, there will be always something, a little detail, an uneven gap between the door and the fender, something misaligned that would remember you of the event.

Also you mentioned something wrong with your engine. So besides the need to hire the best shop in the word, you need to address the engine noise which is already a huge project itself.