Well because of someone being stupid and in the rain on top of it. The car has been wrecked, but not totaled thankfully. Im already in the works of tracking down parts, I may have a hood and complete header panel, with lights tracked down. Its just gonna come down to price that he wants for the parts. I may need a core support and hood safety latch. If any of you may have some of this laying around hit me up, Im gonna need all the help I can get in resurrecting this fallin bird.
Also if anyone has the crash repair measurement diagrams and could either email me a copy that would be great. On a good note though I was able to drive it home, so its in a safe place. Heres some pics for ya.
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-19_14-17-16_591.jpg)
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-19_14-17-29_458.jpg)
That really sucks. That's also exactly why i moved on from these cars and am very reluctant to get back into one. GL getting it back together.
Bummer! I can relate.......see my Torino rebuild thread. If i could get that car back together, you can handle this build. Best of luck!
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?28702-Worst-day-ever-(chevy-truck-destroys-my-front-clip&highlight=
Glad ur not hurt. Good luck on the rebuild. That's a real nice bird. Love the wheels.
Oh ya Im fixing it and probably making it a little better in the process. The problem is I have to pay out of pocket, I only had liability on the car. What sucks is Ive been meaning to call my insurance company up and put full on it. Of coarse day late and a dollar short. They put me at fault with only asking me for a short version of what happened and never had me write anything down. Its things like this that really make me hate Dubuque, Ia cops. It seems like they only do a 1/2 @ss job
ouch.. that sucks! at least the bumper cover looks alright, with the exception of the plate holder hanging off.. luckily, it's a TC and the radiator is a mile away from the waterpump.. that really would have sucked!
Ya as upset as I was I was happy to see that the bumper and bumper cover survived for the most part. Definatly glad of the distance to the water pump, with the cylinder just on the other side of it. Engine probably would have been junk then. I do need to verify what Ive been reading though. If I decide that the core support needs to be replaced no matter what Ive been reading that one from a fox stang(as well as cougar obviously) is the same.
brace the hell out of the front of that car, before you start cutting to replace the upper core support.. otherwise, the front clip will fold
Ya shadow thats the plan if I need to replace it. Not my first rodeo fixing a unibody. I actually went thru autobody when i was younger, so I know how to do this the right way!!!!!!!!!!
aah.. so you know what a portapower is, than lol.. 1 would probably come in handy for getting her all squared back up
Oh ya, been wanting to get a setup to. We'll have to see how my prices pan out for parts, if I can swing it that would be quite handy. If not slow and steady the redneck way!!! LOL
From what I can tell so far the core support isnt pushed back to far at the top(only), its all gonna come down to if it creased or crush any of it. I havent popped the hood at all yet, since I still need to get it out to my FIL's house some how. Thats where Im gonna fix it at, my landlords wouldnt be to happy is I tore the front clip off my car for more than a couple days!!!
Im glad your OK and the car is repairable. Hope all goes well. That is a great looking car, BTW.
Ah man.. I feel ya. Happened to me a couple years ago: http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?30093-I-m-back-%28Many-Pics%29&highlight= (http://"http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?30093-I-m-back-%28Many-Pics%29&highlight=")
Good luck!
Good luck on the rebuild and glad you're OK.
Looks like you stuffed it under the back of an SUV or pick-up?
Pretty good guess Chuck, it was a buick Enclave. It drove away with just scratches, while I ended up with this.
Im so glad I joined this site to. The guys offering parts up and deals is great, I do still have to finish with the guy I originally bought the car from. He still has the 2 main pieces from a car he had to part and hes close. But I will let any of you know that has offered.
Glad to offer lol
Only thing it looks like you dont have is lights. I will let you, it would be a road trip to get the parts though!!!! LOL
the lights to it are in a box next to me, took it apart to clean.
Ouch it did take quite a hit! I'm glad you're fixing it. It was a good looking car. I like the wheels too.
Glad everyone is ok, and hopefully it won't take too much to fix the Bird.
Luckily none of the front made it to the motor. Ive actually had to tell people it looks worse than it actually is. Other than the core support and radiator its mostly body damage from what I found so far. Also on the luck side the radiator wasnt destroyed completely and only has a small leak, so I was able to drive it the couple miles home. I really didnt want to pay a tow truck to bring it home. Prices for towing around here have gone thru the roof.
Thanks man, other than being heart-broke for this happening to my baby, Im fine. I dont even have a stiff leg from slamming the brakes trying to get stopped in time. If I had a split second more to think I would have rather bounced the side off the dividing wall of the hwy. Atleast then it would probably still be driveable. The way the walls are designed as long as the bumper didnt catch i could have still driven away and there would have been enough room to avoid the other car. Always the after thoughts of what you could have done to avoid it!
I guess now would probably be the perfect time to get my FMIC figured out and hooked up to, since the front end will be off!!
Well some quick measurements after messing with it today and so far it looks like the middle of the core support is the only thing really bent out of shape. It cross measures almost perfect from every standard point that I could find quick. Im still gonna get it up in the air high enough for me to take some underside measurements and compare them to the underside crash repair measurements Ive been given. So so far structurally that needs to be replaced is the upper core support. Heres a couple pics after my messing around and trying to straighten things out. Also the fender gaps got a little wider from what they were after the accident, but mine were already tight gaps when i got it. Pretty much just enough to not rub!!!
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-21_16-52-03_778.jpg)
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-21_16-52-14_628.jpg)
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-21_16-52-28_401.jpg)
(http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/highraven1999/2012-04-21_16-52-37_919.jpg)
a little backyard redneck (:mullet:) engineering could actually straighten that upper core support up fairly decent.. enough to get by and keep you driving, until you're ready to hunker down and jab a replacement support in there.. of course, doing so and getting into another fender bender could result in more wide-spread damage without some sort of secondary support in there
Ironically you saying that Shadow!!! A little backyard engineering is what got it straight enough to keep the engine bay dry!!! A couple of log chains and a 3" heavy duty ratchet strap!!!! I do wanna do this right or atleast semi right, if I can get a upper core support from some where or some one Im gonna drill out all the spot welds that hold it on and replace it. All the apr0ns on the front and side are pretty straight as far as I can tell at the moment. So far my hopes for minimal damage are looking true, hopefully it stays that way.
if you don't mind waiting a few months, you can have my upper support off my black TC.. i'm cutting the hole front clip off to build a full tube chassis and using the lower support and strut towers to patch up my white car.. everything else is headed to the s yard if no one wants it
I pulled my radiator support about half a foot forwards, rewelded the bumper support back on threw in a v-6 radiator and was ready to drive 200 miles the next day. We just drug my bird around behind my dad's e250 while I had both feet on the brakes until everything looked straight. I was lucky though. Top part was fine. The bumper bracket broke off instead of absorbing anything then the caddilac rode up my bumper into the heads lights.
We'll see shadow, a little research revealed that an 83 to 89 mustang core support is the same or I may spring for a completely new one from Rock Auto. Things are looking up and I was starting to get a little down on the parts front. This whole thing is just reinforcing why I have joined this forum and others. We stick together to preserve something we all love!!!
By the way my mood has improve alot since Ive found the bulk of the parts in a short time!!! And should have them soon.
indeed indeed.. i love the atmosphere these bird/cat/fox forums bring (except 4EP as of late).. great people (except the douche stang guys), great cars and great knowledge
Yep and more great news, Ive got core support lined up to. That should be just about everything, so Im gonna have to bust my rear to get everything measured and make sure nothing else is bent. If all is good, I could have it rolling agian in good shape by my birthday(its only 2 weeks away)!!!!!
It doesn't look near as bad as it could have been, you got lucky I think!
I hope so, I still have to get it in the air far enough to get my fat rear underneath and take subframe measurements!!! LOL
I did get sometime today to start removing some stuff that needs to be out of the way for the upper core support to be removed and the new welded on.
I have three stang's in my garage. :beatyoass:
LOL!!!! Myself personally the only thing I have against Stangs is that it seems like everyone has one. Thats why I went Tbird, alot of the same parts used but looks completely different!!! I guess Ive always like to be different!!! LOL
I had my bird first.....stang's came later. I also didn't say they were all mine!! ;) Only one is, the other two are my father-in-law's.
Nice way to alienate yourself from the stang guys. As for 4EP, you started a thread that violates the sites purpose and it got closed. Deal with it.
you're not all hardcore about it like 'omg, mustangs are the best cars EVER.. what do you have? oh, i can beat it because i have a mustang!' lmao.. i meant the typical mustang meathead.. i like 4 eyed notches.. the aero stangs are :barf: in my book.. hate those front ends more than TC headers :p
I've got a bent lower radiator support in my Stang. (Guess I'm a douche Stang guy...)
It's been bent forward like some shiznithead yanked on it with a log chain or cable.
As far as aero vs 4 eyed Stangs, I've owned one of each..the '86 was a coupe as well. Wish I'd never traded it for my first Bird. My aero car is a 90 hatch. I don't think it's faster than any other car on the road. Even if had a 5.0 in it, a new Camry would probably hand it's ass to it on a platinum platter.
No matter what the make a car is...somewhere, there's bound to be an asshole behind the wheel of one.
you're not a typical stang douche, you know it's not the meanest thing on 4 wheels lol
It's probably better that way. These cars still don't book for much and with that amount of damage they probably would have totaled it.
If I had had full coverage on it and they had totalled it, I would have just bought it back and done what Im doing now. I cant let a good Tbird just die unless its a rust bucket beyond repair. I must be a glutton for punishment!!! LOL
On a side note I think Im starting to believe in 13 being bad luck... Its been 13 years since the last time I was involve in an accident and ironically it was with a Tbird Sport with the 5.0. I did the same thing Im doing with this one, picked up the parts cheap and fixed it!!!