I crashed my 345i (pictures inside)

[Digitalwave]

You were driving under the influence, and the "front heavy M30" caused you to "oversteer" huh? Right, I believe that

You and your friends are lucky to be alive. You are dangerous.

[Garageaholic]

Thanks again guys. I'm toying with just fixing it myself now. I've explored every option... still need alot of time to think about it. It's going to cost me alot of work no matter what route i choose. I'm okay, but here's the story. it's not breathtaking, but whatever.


Just came back from the third eye blind concert in binghamton. It was about midnight on sunday night and I went with a couple friends to get taco bell. On our way back to the apartment, i took a turn way too fast.... You know how frontheavy my car is now... well i oversteered, then overcorrected and swung the back end around the other way and did a couple 360's. jumped a curb and ended up hitting a brick wall on teh q-panel not too far from where I lost control. The two friends in the car with me were ok, so I was relieved about that.
Immediately after the crash, the car stalled. I turned the key and it turned right on and I drove away. Nobody else was a witness. No cops, no other cars even saw me, so i had that advantage. Unfortunately, i did not have collision or they would've paid for the damages!! fuck. I've since driven the car to work and it works fine. No pinging/noises/rattles/shakes. The alignment is fine, so mechanically, the car is unchanged.

Yes, i was tipsy at the time. Big mistake. I can handle myself in my 325e, but not in the M30. It's too tempting and I have no inhibitions. I'm sure you guys all know what i'm talking about. I'm sure out of all the guys on this forum, i'm not the only person that drives home from the bars half in the bag every once in a while...

The story is not extravagant, I know.

[chasiubao]

sorry about the fender bender

but real glad you are ok. its been said any accident you can walk away from is a good one. i lost my first car 325e when someone t-boned me as i was making a left actually knocked my rear subframe and rear wheel off spun me around but i was ok. e30's are safe.

as for a drop top i would strongly discourage the transplant of your turbo'd engine in that configuration-very very dangerous if you get in any type of mess top up or down you have a lot to lose. if you wanted to run a vert do so with the "stock" set up so you are safe as can be. save your engine and fi for a dedicated hot rod. the only exception is that if you xplant over the stuff to the vert i would put a roll cage on it again for your safety.

the route i would go...save what you have and pick up some welding skillz if not now then when? if you don't like how it turns out then find yourself a shell. at least that way you will not be wondering what if....i were to have saved my 4 door. in the mean time if it drives-drive it and enjoy.

main thing is...you are ok i know it hurts every time you think about it and even more when you see it, i've been there and i promise you it will be ok.

[MR 325]

Sorry to see this happen after you just got the car all pretty.

I'd really like to know what happened if you decide to share.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do with the car!

[george graves]

Keep this in mind, would you?

M30 swap/turbo = VERY easy once you've done one(for thoes that haven't, you wouldn't understand...it's not at all like a m50/s50 swap)

Roller paint job = TONS of labor regardless if it's your first or your 100th...

Take what you what you've learned in prep'ing a car for a roller job and apply that to a new shell - and spray it yourself. The m30 part will be cake for you...

2 months your on the road again?

Man!!! If I go "FI" I'll only do a supercharger - no sudden jump in power like a turbo. Less performance yea....I know...

Keep in mind the last m30 turbo on this board hit a wet patch and slammed his car driver side first into a steel poll, re-enforced with concreat. When he woke up from a coma, he didn't even remember building the car that took months to build. (bmw335ist - if any of you don't know...) Great guy...but he lost a year of his life from that (not to speak for him - hopefull he'll chime in)

Sorry, just being the (older) voice of reason....

HTH...

[Fanzotti]

I'd say part or swap if...you didn't paint it. If the frame's not fubar then I'd find a welder(machine and/or person) and take bodywork to the next stage.

If you want a vert, get a vert shell and start dismantling, but if you want to fix it go ahead and do it.

Remeber when everybody said you couldn't roll a car, well, it's done, go to a junkyard get the dented panels for peanuts, get hold of some welding gear, grab the shears and fix it, then roller the parts again.

Don't get desperate about this, just look down at your hands and then look at your car, you are among the few that can say "I did it myself".

Just get a rear quarter and the parts you need and swap them, it's not hard to do, it's lots of work, byt not impossible, and you will end up spending less than $ 400 in parts.;)

just my 2c.

BTW, glad nothing happened to you.

And keep in mind that all of us have done stupid things, I have wrecked 3 cars so far, the last one 19 years ago, so I must have learned something in those three accidents, of course it could happen again, but don't doubt yourself, there is a saying here "Matar el chuncho" that's in spanish/chilean indian, roughly translates as "kill the spook", what we do here is go to the place we crashed as soon as possible and do it again but right, you'll see you learned and that you won't crash again...

This is all you need to know.

I'm just pieceing my car together after Bodywork/ re-painting it. Getting it to this point was a ton of work. You can't look at this as an average swap out, your sweats in the paint. I can't believe you did that with a roller in freezing temps? Fixing it will be another challenge. If it can be done (frame?) Grab a sawzall, comb the yards, chop piece, fix...or pay to fix. Or do what's best for you.

I would suggest getting some estimates to just change the panel, and then you re-roller it yourself....just because you rollered the car doesn't mean you can't goto a body shop?

True. If anything the bodyshop guys are gonna be blown away you did that with the roller. They'll see your into it and help you out.

Damn, Frank. I saw this when I got to work this morning, but I didn't know what to say. I still don't.

All I can say is good luck with whatever route you decide to take, I honestly believe that you can fix that, without having to swap over to a new shell. My car was rear-ended a few years before I bought it, on the opposite side. From what I'm told, the damage was similar to yours, if not a bit worse, and they fixed it. They cut out the damaged rear quarter panel and grafted in a new one, and you'd NEVER know it.

Take some time to get yourself straight and get your thoughts in line, and then decide how you want to tackle it. Don't go making yourself crazy trying to figure out what you're going to do right off the bat, just take your time, and things will work out just fine.

X2

FIX IT! you should turn it into the first M3 four door. weld on some m3 rear quarters, get a trunk, fiberglass fronts and rear window piece-- That would be awesome.

yes

[backtrail69]

There already was an M3 touring...that was pretty BA!

[BenM]

FIX IT! you should turn it into the first M3 four door. weld on some m3 rear quarters, get a trunk, fiberglass fronts and rear window piece-- That would be awesome.

+1

but he would need a pre-88 tailight E30 to make it look official. Would be badass none the less.

[Jand3rson]

FIX IT! you should turn it into the first M3 four door. weld on some m3 rear quarters, get a trunk, fiberglass fronts and rear window piece-- That would be awesome.

That would be SERIOUSLY fucking awesome.

[bimmerdreamer]

FIX IT! you should turn it into the first M3 four door. weld on some m3 rear quarters, get a trunk, fiberglass fronts and rear window piece-- That would be awesome.

But that wouldnt be economical in the least, it would be unique though! One thing you have to consider is all time it would take to get a new shell up to spec and transferring parts over- not to mention disposing of your car. In the end it might not be too much more to fix it if you know the right people and dont mind wrenching. just my two cents.

[CleanAzzE30z]

wow thats really sad..... Im sorry man. I had that same shit done to my eta, maybe even worse, but I had a pro shop fix it. Looks great now. Its not impossible, but I imagine very difficult. Good luck.


Mariano

[Kruzen]

At least he is taking ownership of his accident. ;)




Sucks to hear dude. After following the progress of your car for the last few months this is sad to see. Good to hear you are not giving up and I recommend giving it a few days before you decide to part/repair/etc. I hope you stick with it and don't part it. Once you rebuild I would search out some good performance driving schools and learn to handle that thing in the correct environment. Glad to hear you are ok.

I'm not taking ownership of ice causing me to have no traction with horrible tires.

[Mastrcruse]

2 things....

As far as the spring rates of the vert, I have a much larger front end weight due to the engine, so would it be safe to assume that it would offset? or should i get vert springs....

I would still get the vert springs. The one that most companies and people are concerned about is the rear suspension. This is were, if you use sedan/coupe springs, it will sag like a old womens vageene. If the front weighs a lot more then I would make sure to get vert springs in front. If not, it will just be a tad bit lower than if you did get vert springs.

[Garageaholic]

Nah, i'm not going to de-tune it. I've learned my lesson. the hard way


I'm leaning to either swapping it with a good convertible shell, or parting it out. Fixing it will be over 2500 because it affects everything including the driver side rear door not opening, The lower rear valence, the whole piece that houses the taillights/bumper shocks..etc.. so who knows what else could have been affected. I am pretty convinced that the shell is fubar. I'm going to wait until the beginning of summer to decide. Letting it sink in. I'm not spending more money on this thing right now. I need to save money. lol. If I can't find a suitable shell, or I get bored with it sitting in my garage, I may just part it out, simple as that. Maybe i'll forget the whole M30 in an E30 idea anyway.

[egk2]

Fix and de-tune it.