Is this damage fixable? Is the car totaled?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Something very, very similar happened to me about a year ago (January 2015) except mine was the passenger side. ... This was a good enough method for me and I couldn't have been happier with the results.

That's a good rescue story. I've already got a line on a brand new inner fender/wheel well, brand new core support, a bronzit hood, and maybe a fender. My fingers are crossed that the frame is still straight because if so, that'll keep things "simple" enough.

I'm taking this situation as an opportunity to fix and change all the little things I didn't like from before, so I'll probably be doing a wire tuck and bay shave/prep for paint amongst other things :)

[E30_Narek]

Something very, very similar happened to me about a year ago (January 2015) except mine was the passenger side. Lucky for me, my friend recently destroyed the rear end of his E30 2 weeks before and wasn't planning on fixing it so I bought basically his whole front end off of him and again, lucky for me, his car was the same color too (not exactly same haha, mine was Alpine II his was Alpine III). What I did was pretty ghetto but it came out almost perfect. I took off everything from the front of my car like the fenders, the bumper, the valance, lights, grill, and the hood. I didn't have any damage to the control arm or the subframe but my sway bar did get disconnected. I bought a few spot weld cutters from Harbor Freight and started to drill out the spot welds off bought mine and my friend's core supports. Then, I decided where my frame should be cut and where my friend's should be cut. I cut off the passenger side of my friend's frame along with his core support and towed my car to the body shop but I didn't cut my own frame. I gave the piece of my friend's frame to the shop and they basically cut my frame off from the same place I did my friend's and they attached my friend's frame to my car but didn't weld it yet. They bolted the fenders on both sides because that'll basically line everything up for you and they started to weld it while the fenders were still on. The end result was basically perfect. You could hardly tell the car was even in an accident from the outside or even from the inside (apart from the slight weld marks). The only problem is that my bumper sits a millimeter or two lower on the passenger side than the driver side but that isn't noticeable whatsoever unless I point it out. Don't worry about your car, man. It's 100% fixable. I know my method of fixing it wasn't the most professional or "clean" but I'm a college student so I didn't really have the cash to shell out to get it fixed perfectly. This was a good enough method for me and I couldn't have been happier with the results.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Popped off the fender and cut a small section of the core support to try to free things up a bit and snap some pictures. The hood opens, closes and latches no problem. Looks like I might have been lucky. I hit the bulbous portion of the minivan rear bumper into the top corner of the front left of the car (if that makes sense) - so basically the impact was quite a bit away from the frame, and more of a "glancing" hit than full frontal impact. The lower damage to the valence was from hitting the muffler. Sheet metal adjacent to the frame, behind the headlight wasn't damaged at all. Radiator wasn't damaged at all either.

I'll take it to a frame shop to be checked out regardless, after I get it drive-able which looks like will only take a control arm (already acquired).

Oh, also slightly bent the mounting tab on the sway bar.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

3rd E30 I've seen smashed up this week, we finished up the south florida meet this past Sunday with one turbo E30 getting rear-ended by some schmuck who was swerving around through traffic, then 2mAn's car got crashed, now yours. Not too happy about that. Makes me nervous, hits close to home. Hope you can get it fixed quickly and cheaply.

Stay safe out there, people.

Damn, what's going one?! Apparently my brother's e46 330 got totaled when a semi tire exploded in front of him wednesday too... I'm scared driving my e36 now. If somethign happens to that car I'll die

Definitely get it on a frame rack to make sure the measurements are good if you can. How does the Passenger's door open and how does the gap between the right fender and passenger's door look? If they're rubbing, that's a good sign it'll need some unibody alignment time. It's not the end of the world but you'll definitely want to get that taken care of before you start welding/bolting the other panels on.

passengers door is perfectly fine, no change. Driver's door opens too, though it rubs a bit on the panel. I'll do what I can to check everything before I start repairing. If you look at the pictures, the impact was basically from the low beam over, the high beam wasn't even damaged - so the impact was outisde of the frame rail.

Your damage is not too unlike what happened to my 87 es.

I'd bet that the inner wheel "house" as BMW calls it, is bent a bit, and probably the front section of the left frame rail with it. The gap between the fender and the door is somewhat telling.

Definitely fixable. My thread here - http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=248416 might give you some inspiration.

Good luck!

Thanks, I'll take a look

[101]

Your damage is not too unlike what happened to my 87 es.

I'd bet that the inner wheel "house" as BMW calls it, is bent a bit, and probably the front section of the left frame rail with it. The gap between the fender and the door is somewhat telling.

Definitely fixable. My thread here - http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=248416 might give you some inspiration.

Good luck!

[BlackSpeed66]

Definitely get it on a frame rack to make sure the measurements are good if you can. How does the Passenger's door open and how does the gap between the right fender and passenger's door look? If they're rubbing, that's a good sign it'll need some unibody alignment time. It's not the end of the world but you'll definitely want to get that taken care of before you start welding/bolting the other panels on.

[varg]

3rd E30 I've seen smashed up this week, we finished up the south florida meet this past Sunday with one turbo E30 getting rear-ended by some schmuck who was swerving around through traffic, then 2mAn's car got crashed, now yours. Not too happy about that. Makes me nervous, hits close to home. Hope you can get it fixed quickly and cheaply.

Stay safe out there, people.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

If the frame rail is straight, I'd say it's fixable, but then it's a matter of how much effort you're willing to put into it, and also how much of it you can do yourself. I wouldn't bother paying someone to fix it, personally.

I'll be doing it all myself. I can weld and I have a friend who can paint. Plan is to get a donor/parts car. If the frame is straight, I'll just take what I need and part the rest. If the frame is damaged, I'll swap everything over.

[rturbo 930]

If the frame rail is straight, I'd say it's fixable, but then it's a matter of how much effort you're willing to put into it, and also how much of it you can do yourself. I wouldn't bother paying someone to fix it, personally.

[McGyver]

what did we do to deserve this

You got rain, gotta take the bad with the good.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Same as it ever was... there's a reason "I r3v'd my car" used to be a common phrase around here.

hahahah we need to bring that back

[decay]

What the hell is going on with the influx of E30s getting boned recently? Does the universe just hate us?

Same as it ever was... there's a reason "I r3v'd my car" used to be a common phrase around here.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

That's the spirit! Take the good with the bad, and it gives you a little money on the side. Good luck to you. I'm sure it'll turn out just fine.

Yea, no way in hell this will keep me down. Already plotting some changes in my head. Probably a good time to do a wire tuck/shave for the driver side :D especially since it looked like the harness there suffered some damage

Yeah, you can fix it. Lollipop mounts might be in trouble, though...

t

I'll know more tonight. Fingers crossed its all cosmetic.

[TobyB]

Yeah, you can fix it. Lollipop mounts might be in trouble, though...

t

[UlrichFennec]

That's the spirit! Take the good with the bad, and it gives you a little money on the side. Good luck to you. I'm sure it'll turn out just fine.