62 replies to this topic

[MarkMcc]

Well, I was pleased as punch that I had sorted some electrical gremlins and now had nice bright headlights and flashing indicators.

First time out of the garage in weeks and some slippery roads ruined my mood!

To make a long story short I slid into the back of another car.

Nobody was hurt, the other car got a nasty scuff to the bumper, mine was less lucky and after losing the contents of the radiator all over the road and getting a breakdown lorry home I was left with this:










It took me a day or so before I could muster the courage to crowbar open the bonnet and have a look inside.

Abridged highlights:

Bent o/s inner wing, radiator shroud


Busted dizzy cap and horn, but no other damage here (except front panel, slam panel and grille!)


Slight bend to the front edge of the o/s inner wing


I am determined to fix it myself, so I have ordered some new panels (20% off at Moss Europe) and whilst I wait for those it's time to strip it down and practise my grinding, cutting and welding!

Edited by MarkMcc, 29 September 2012 - 10:40 PM.

[Steely]

ooo thats nasty. Good Luck with getting it looking nice again :)

There seems to be a lot of crashes right now that involve mini's

[sledgehammer]

Sorry about the crash - hope it's a quick easy fix

[MarkMcc]

I have stripped off the bits at the front, looks even sorrier than before:


Radiator out, the bottom pipe had sheared off completely.
It's not original, was made by The Clydesdale Radiator Co Ltd, Bellshill Rd, Bothwell, fitted 01/05/1984, according to the plate on it!


I had a look at the weld between the inner panel and the busted wing. Under a ton of filler and mastic I found several rusty holes, now taken back to metal a bit:


I don't fancy replacing the inner wing so I might try to straighten it and replace the section along the top.

That's all for now as I am still cogitating my approach!

Any comments welcome!

Edited by MarkMcc, 28 September 2012 - 09:57 PM.

[Alex_B]

Thats all fixable, looks like new front panel, bonnet, N/s wing and n/s a panel, the inner wings should straighten out but may need a bit of added bracing.

with relation to the wet weather, I can see how this can happen quite easily, today was driving with my mate and decided to stop a little bit quickly at the traffic lights (only going about 15) and I just slid to a stop, and thats with 165 falkens. It was in a controlled situation and had space but i was still surprised at how quickly I lost grip, if that was a real emergency stop situation I wouldn't have stopped in time.

Bad luck but its all fixable so be glad it wasn't a worse situation :)

[MarkMcc]

Yup, those are the panels that are winging their way to me as we speak (ahem, excuse the pun).

I've got 165 Yokos and they didn't help me much either. I'm not much of a believer in luck, but if I had my wits about me I may have been able to avoid it! C'est la vie, n'est ce pas?

What would you recommend in the way of bracing to the inner wing?

[Chance]

This exactly what I have done with my roundnose but more so on the drivers side. So no radiator damage.

I was gutted but determined to fix it myself like you!!
Good luck to you, I started mine today

[MarkMcc]

Hi Chance,

I have seen your thread already and I feel your pain!

I am dragging my feet a little bit, but I feel that once I get going properly it will be all consuming!

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your progress, best of luck to you too!

Edited by MarkMcc, 28 September 2012 - 10:20 PM.

[Chance]

I was dragging my feet too

Its my first time with bodywork so I'm quite weary but I'm getting stuck in and figured whatever I do wrong can be fixed
Cheers mate

[minidaves]

looks like a bad repair in the past is part of the problem, 1st thing is push pull the front about before you cau the panels off, you will be amazed how much will come out and how easy it will be using the old panels to belt bang and push.

[skoughi]

Sorry to see her in that state [ . Have you priced out the front half repair inner wings, they go from the shock mounts forwards. They're certainly cheaper than the full inners. At least that way you'll end up with a pristine looking engine bay that can be sprayed yellow. As minidaves says though pull out the old ones first as they may straighten out nicely.

[MarkMcc]

Cheers, Skoughi, I didn't know that the half repair inner wings were available.

I am just trying to get the darned thing back on the road so the minimal amount of work possible for my first try at welding is preferable.

I do know what you mean about the black engine bay. I would prefer it to be yellow too, but I don't fancy ripping all of the gubbins out to do that... at this point.
Once I have a bigger garage, I am considering a full shell restoration. I'll tackle the engine bay then!

It was my first attempt at welding this afternoon. Not pretty! Lucky it was just on a scrap bit of steel.

Try again tomorrow, methinks!

[CobraV8]

Sorry to see your car damaged. Just as a pointer for the younger guys, you need to go find a quiet bit of road or a car park, and get used to lifting off when the wheels lock up, ie pump the brakes as they lock up. A lot of these accidents can be avoided pretty easily. You need to practice this so when a panic situation happens it is second nature.

[Chance]

Sorry to see your car damaged. Just as a pointer for the younger guys, you need to go find a quiet bit of road or a car park, and get used to lifting off when the wheels lock up, ie pump the brakes as they lock up. A lot of these accidents can be avoided pretty easily. You need to practice this so when a panic situation happens it is second nature.

As in
Wheels lock up
Lift off
Brake again
If lock up
Lift off and so on...

But it will be fast action and natural obviously??

Id love to have some driver training for all kinds of situation!! I'm 18 and one of the younger owners of course

[MarkMcc]

Sorry to see your car damaged. Just as a pointer for the younger guys, you need to go find a quiet bit of road or a car park, and get used to lifting off when the wheels lock up, ie pump the brakes as they lock up. A lot of these accidents can be avoided pretty easily. You need to practice this so when a panic situation happens it is second nature.

Another very good technique to practise is leaving a larger gap between you and the car in front. This allows them to act completely irrationally and should still give you time to react without panicking.

Drive defensively, expect the unexpected... I usually do, wish I had been...