Slow Motion crash

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Comment by Adrian Southgate on April 29, 2018 at 20:06

Just under a metre to give the floor room to clear the front turrets.

Here's a plan as I see it.

I can strip and prep the repair unit up here, including lifting the body off. It's half done already. 

You need to remove your interior, It would also help if yours was minus the engine and box but we can work round it if we have to. I'm assuming you wish to try and repair your bodywork at this point. The less weight we have to lift the less it's likely to suffer but the doors must stay on to lift the body as Daryl says..

When it's ready bring yours up on a trailer, i'll draft a support team in to help get your body off then drop it onto the straight chassis, while the body is off swap your mechanical bits (axle, steering, front suspension etc) onto the other chassis. We can use the supply of parts I got in to do the white one (bushes, bolts etc) 

The main advantage to working up here is the dry indoor unit, lifting gear, loads of height clearance, there is a two post ramp in the unit five doors up which we may be able to use. A full set of spare parts, welders, compressors, air tools and a shop full of parts that doesn't close....

Entirely your decision which way you set about doing this, just trying to make it as painless as possible.

Comment by James Doulton on April 29, 2018 at 11:41

So the doors and bumpers and boot and bonnet all come off. The seats and seatbelts and roll bar need to come off. The fuel filler too (don't forget to drain the tank first). Then disconnect the wiring, remove the brake pipe from the master cylinder disconnect the steering column and the cables. Undo a few bolts and off the body comes? With an engine crane maybe? Dump the body on the drive - nobody will nick that, then roll the chassis into the garage for stripping. Prepare the new chassis then refit the parts. Invert the body to glass the wing then plonk the body back on and reconnect everything. All in one paragraph. Simples.

How long did it take you Ade?

Comment by James Doulton on April 29, 2018 at 9:20

I am slowly coming around to the idea that the body might need to come off but it is not an attractive idea as I don't have the secure space. Then there is the time. Ideally, I should be fixing up the Malaga B+ which is in progress in one garage. I don't think I will rush into anything big at the moment, I'll just tinker and see where that gets me.

Comment by Adrian Southgate on April 29, 2018 at 2:45

My offer of a genuine Dutton replacement chassis and body shell still stands James.

Yes it will need work but better than writing the car off surely.

Comment by James Doulton on April 28, 2018 at 23:06

I've had a bit of a look at the car today and it seems that there is more damage than I had supposed. When I jacked it up on the diff I noticed that the rear of the car is twisted when the front is level. The camber on the nearside is bigger than before but the offside is smaller than before. The steering column now rubs on the engine mount (I can't yet work out what has moved). The wheelbase has shrunk by half an inch on the nearside. This is all without actually getting under the car because it was wet here today in Bristol.

Comment by Dave Taylor on April 26, 2018 at 16:27

Wow!! Lucky there James and the car will fix. You need to get full harness fitted in the rebuild. Glad you were not hurt.

Comment by Steve Kerswell on April 26, 2018 at 11:24

Glad you are OK James.

Comment by Adrian Southgate on April 26, 2018 at 3:42

Get a local garage to check the distance between the front and back wheels.

Also check the main rail for cracked and flaking paint along with distortion.

Comment by James Doulton on April 26, 2018 at 1:23

It looked like the wishbone because it looks different to the other side. I guess I'll have to remove them both to compare them to be sure. The tracking was quite a way out after the accident - I adjusted it by about 10mm on the track rod. It also looks like the camber is greater than before but I can measure that as I know what I measured it as before.

It could still be that the whole chassis is bent but it is not obvious to my eye.

Comment by Adrian Southgate on April 26, 2018 at 1:03

Is it the wishbone thats bent or the chassis?

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