Is this damage fixable? Is the car totaled?

[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.

[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]

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]

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 :)

That's what I did too haha. My car was sitting for like 6 weeks so I just fixed all the little problems it had and organized the wires :D.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

That's what I did too haha. My car was sitting for like 6 weeks so I just fixed all the little problems it had and organized the wires :D.

Yea I've gotta find the light in this mess, otherwise I'll have no motivation to fix it.

[Cabriolet]

dude, get a new shell and reshell it. that car wont be fix-able for less than 6-7k. and you can part out the other car and make most of the cost back. ya it sucks a lot but you live and learn.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

dude, get a new shell and reshell it. that car wont be fix-able for less than 6-7k. and you can part out the other car and make most of the cost back. ya it sucks a lot but you live and learn.

heh?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Copied from my build thread - input welcome


Regarding the e30, I worked on it yesterday. Replaced the control arm and cut away the rest of the twisted metal and kinda ghetto repaired the harness where it had been messed up. I've got a working passenger headlight and working turn signals now. I bent the valence kinda back into shape enough that it can drive. The hood was a bit buckled; I jumped and sat on it - now its relatiely flush enough. After I bolted the new control arm on, I noticed the "pin" that slides into the lollipop was pushed/inserted about 5-10mm deeper than it was before. Could I have tweaked the front subframe a bit?? I'm crossing my fingers that's it and not the frame. I've got some pictures that I'll post later.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[varg]

dude, get a new shell and reshell it.

Finding a decent no rust shell is easier said than done. Probably would cost more than fixing the car since you'd have to buy a whole E30 to get a rust free shell...

[graveshaker]

That's not looking to bad. A new shell is not necessary.

[TimKninja]

Your tires are really bald too

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Finding a decent no rust shell is easier said than done. Probably would cost more than fixing the car since you'd have to buy a whole E30 to get a rust free shell...

Actually it's relatively easy here in Socal, they're all pretty much rust free. Also, I bet if I did it right, I could even make some money by parting out what I didn't need. It's not really the cos tthat bothers me, it's all of the work involved, and all of the custom details that I spent hundreds of hours to perfect.

That's not looking to bad. A new shell is not necessary.

No, at this point I don't think so. I'll take some frame measurements to make sure it's all straight, but I have a feeling it'll be fine. I might just buy a tram gauge and take all the measurements myself.

Your tires are really bald too

I was wondering when someone would point that out. I really killed those between a couple autox events and all the aggressive canyon carving. They'll be replaced before the car is driving again.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Here are more pictures after I cleared away most of the severe damage so I could get a better idea of what I was working with. I cut away most of the really twisted metal so that the tire would be able to move freely. Also repaired the harness so I have working lights and signals again.

Here you can see the sheet metal that's attached to the frame was basically untouched.







Here you can see where the tire got pushed into the back of the wheel well and dented the wheel well in. I was already able to pull it back out a bit with some leverage. I think I'll probably be able to get it back in line once I pull the inner wheel well piece.



More overview of the situation



Hood got buckled a bit. I jumped on it after I closed it and it bent it back enough.



New lemforder arm vs the bent one



Here you can see how much the bumper actually compressed, almost nothing. I guess this really shows that the bumper/frame didn't get much impact.



Back together



"repaired" harness - I'll fix all of it properly when I replace the fender/wheel well.

[101]

I'm shocked that the lollipop didn't pull itself out of the frame before the control arm bent like that!

The repairs are looking good.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I'm shocked that the lollipop didn't pull itself out of the frame before the control arm bent like that!

The repairs are looking good.

So was I. Not only that, but only 1 of the bolts was installed I totally forgot I had slightly cross threaded one of the holes and hadn't chased it and put the bolt back (I fixed it this past week finally). I am going to take a closer look a that area to make sure it's not weakened, not that I'd be able to necessarily tell past obvious physical damage.

Maybe put some spot welds around each hole and then grind it flat? Just in case? idk