Pics of the damage

[HotRod68Camaro]

I fell asleep while driving home, b/c i had been up for the past 2 nights studying for finals, i went over a cement ditch thats what pulled the rear passenger side frame back, and got thrown into a spin and into a barbwire fence that had 4x4s as posts. thats what caused the body damage.

[HotRod68Camaro]

[HotRod68Camaro]

[HotRod68Camaro]

Do you think i can do the body work myself? I can get the frame straightened for $2500. I have done all the work on the car besides the paint/body (prior to wreck) and the wiring. So i am confident in my work. The main thing that i dont understand is the front end being pushed back a little bit. Could that be fixed when the frame is straightened?

[John McIntire]

Man that sucks! Your car is a unibody, so it dont know whats involved with straightening out the frame. Unless you have subframe connectors, it's kind of like a full frame car. How do you know that the frame has been pushed back? Maybe it's just a bent control arm.

Sure you could do the bodywork yourself, if you have the patience and the time.

[HotRod68Camaro]

I have plenty of time, there is no need to get it back together anytime soon (although it would be nice). The car hass boxed subframe connectors welded in and a 6 point cage. The reason i think the frame is bent is because the rear end on the passenger side is sitting at least 1" back, you can see it in the pic of my wheel how the wheel is touching the rear of the wheel well.

[rockdogz]

Do you still have the stock leafs in back? Maybe the rear shifted or something happened with the suspension independent of the body/frame? What's it like underneath?

[CAMAROBOY69]

Check out the U bolts in the rear end and check out the leafs. It will be interresting to see what happened.
What color black is your car? Looks like the new Magnum black that I will be painting my car with.

[HotRod68Camaro]

I got under the car last night, the u-bolts are fine and the rear end didn’t slide back on the springs (had that happen to me once while driving ). When looking at the rear spring shackle the passenger side shackle is sitting further towards the rear than the driver side but it is not out of the front spring pocket. So I think the frame is twisted. The front frame has some damage but I don’t think I have to replace it. The passenger side lower control arm is trash and its front mounting point on the frame is twisted a little bit. The crossmember in front of the engine corssmember is pushed back a little bit in the middle b/c I can see a bend in the piece of metal connecting the 2 in the middle.

[rob07002]

Sorry about your car. I hate seeing banged up musclecars, but atleast you didn't get hurt, or I hope you didn't get hurt.

My advice, have some faith it can be fixed we have the technology! Unless you were going real fast I would think the rear rails are fine and its the rear that shifted. Like what was said above check the u-bolts and leafs first. Go get the assembly manual and Fisher body manual which has measurments and how to check for square... If everything is square then its just bolt ons. You said $2500 to fix the frame? is that for the rear or the front sub. you can buy a used sub for around $200 and replace what was bent so check into that. Or you can take this as an opp to get a WD or Alston front sub. Do you have collector insurance? Let us know what you find....

[CAMAROBOY69]

I got under the car last night, the u-bolts are fine and the rear end didn’t slide back on the springs (had that happen to me once while driving ). When looking at the rear spring shackle the passenger side shackle is sitting further towards the rear than the driver side but it is not out of the front spring pocket. So I think the frame is twisted. The front frame has some damage but I don’t think I have to replace it. The passenger side lower control arm is trash and its front mounting point on the frame is twisted a little bit. The crossmember in front of the engine corssmember is pushed back a little bit in the middle b/c I can see a bend in the piece of metal connecting the 2 in the middle.

Dang that IS real bad then. Sorry to hear about the accident and luckily you didnt get hurt. I have a feeling you are going to find quite a bit more bent or damaged parts as you go thru the car. That sucks bad. Good thing you had a roll bar. It would have been even worse without it.

[HotRod68Camaro]

There is other damage, but mechanical problems arent that big of a deal as the frame is.

The rack and pinion mounting tab is broken
passenger side control arms bent
arm that connects to tie rod on spindle is bent
brake drum is in 4 different pieces
and i need new bushings for the body to frame mounts for the core support, which i think will solve my problem of the body panels being pushed back.

I think i have both manuals already, ill have to take a look when i get off work. $2500 was to straighten the whole frame but not replace mechanical parts. If the front subframe is fine ill just replace the borken pieces. If the front subframe cant be fixed i will be waiting for the new DSE front subframe.

[67drop]

Thought i would drop my two cents..... you say the rear has not simply shifted on the leafs and only one side is off? Is the location of the suspension shift both passenger side front and rear ? If so it is very possible that you do have frame damage. Check your body lines for irregular spacing, ur driver side gaps probably opened up a little and passenger side got tight (not always true), check the deck lid has it shifted or do the gaps seem irregular. Fixing a unibody car with welded subframe is possible, although you will probably be clamping your car to some type of jig or frame machine, pulling with hydrolic rams in oposite directions of impact locations, then measuring a few point 2 point measurements under the car, and usually pulling some more. U need to make sure the rams u are using are strong enough for the amount of impact ur car incurred. Also u will need to be very confident in your point 2 point measurements, if you dont get it right your panels will never line up and you'll wear tires like u use gas! Glad you are OK and no one was injured!

[HotRod68Camaro]

Id like to tanks everybody for thier input.

I am fairly certain that the suspension hasnt shifted on the drivers side, and i dont think the front frame is twisted back but i am not 100% on that. the control arm is definetely twisted back and out of shape. The trunk and hood both open fine. the body gaps on the front fenders to doors are tight on both sides mostly b/c the 4x4 pushed in the front passenger side and also made contact right next to the door on the driver side.

[mustanggirl1967]

Sorry about your car man.. atleast you are not hurt and still alive...

[novanutcase]

Bummer.........

[J-Rod]

It's a bummer dude, but keep 2 things in mind:

1. You're still in one piece

2. It's all fixable

Heck, here's what my ride looked like 6 months ago....



It'll be back on the road soon. No worries.

[zbugger]

Damn Jared, you have some talent right there.

Hotrod, sucks about your car. I hope you can get it fixed.

[TheRoaringEagle]

whoa dudes, what're you gonna do with those ls1s? didn't think the swap was that common.

[HotRod68Camaro]

Well i guess here is my plan of action. I will fix the frame asap. From there i will slowly build up the chassis and fix the body. Plans are for DSE 4 link or Lateral Dynamics 3 link. And a new front subframe, maybe the DSE but it's gonna be pretty expensive. I am going to have to make it a 5 year project being in college and all.