I Bent My Car

[Guest Guy]

I was driving home and the car comming the other way ran into somthing in the road and knocked it into my path, BANG! it went under the front wheel, it turned out to be a home made bucket from a mechanical digger .

 

Anyway, I wobbled all over the road and came to a stop in the verge with my wheels pointing different directions, I adjusted the track rods to get the car drivable again and went home slowly.

 

The main problem is that i've bent the chassis that holds the off side upper suspension, so, do I heat it with a blow torch and bend it back again or cut and weld it?

 

I've also knackerd the wheel, and broken the McPerson strutt. The shock pinged all 4 of my bonnet catches open, removed the headlamp on the other side and pinged out the speedo cable.

 

I'm not going to work tomorrow as I've got no transport, so I'll use the time to fix it.

 

Any sugestions on the chassis?

[Guest daveg]

Guy

 

I had my tin top written off, that was bad enough if it was my 2b I would be really :boohoo: :boohoo: :boohoo:

 

You can't claim against anyone either

 

Its difficult to say what you should do without seeing the chassis. If you can weld I would cut and replace, but without a jig its difficult to get the dimensions correct

 

You must be gutted

 

Dave

PS Don't try bending the chassis back, you could cause metal fatigue, anyway a blow lamp won't get hot enough, you would need oxy-a at least

[Guest Ianz]

Mapgas would be hot enough!!!!

Bend the tube back and weld a gusset in to provide reinforcement

 

I personally would attempt a claim on the insurance,if theirs anyone you could claim against

[Guest Battery Bill]

Guy

I dont really see how you could properly get away with repositioning your bent bits without a jig! Unless if its only a little bit bent and you could make it as much as possible the same as the other side) Surely the differences in "Hoods" as they come out of the factory mean that if you are only a little bit out, it wont matter

Good luck whatever you do

Bill and Joey

[Swan Jnr]

gutting, bl**dy horrible. my sympathies go out to you. hope you get it sorted. i just wish there was some way you could claim against whoever it was that left the thing there.

[Guest Andy Rathbone]

Thats realy Bad. i hope you get your bent bits straightend.

are you head lights sealed beams ??? i have a spare. just pay me the postage and its yours

[Guest Guy]

Thanks for all the suport, I felt like :boohoo: when it happend. Anyway, I'm half way through fixing it, I'm going to cut and weld the supports to avoid stress fracturs because I don't think I could get the tubes hot enough. I've put the McP strutt back in the hub (god knows how it came out) and I've straitend the bent brackets.

 

Thanks for the offer of the H-lamp, I've got all the bits as they were hanging by the wires so I don't need one (i hope!).

[Guest Andy Rathbone]

well you know where if you need one, just let me know, hope it all goes back together well fingers crossed for you

[Guest Guy]

Yaaa-Hooo As I was posting, the club mag just came through the letter box, there's a picture of my car looking all un-bent on the last page!

 

Right, where's that welder

[Guest MikeD318]

What about cutting all the bent stuff off and putting wishbones on instead?

[Guest Guy]

It's fixed now, I drove it in to work this morning, it only took 3 days to do! I hacksawd most of the way through the suspension arms and bent it to the same angle as the other one, then I shaped some 3mm steel like an orange segment and welded it into the gap. The bar is not just a round tube, it has another box section inside it.

 

I need a new compliance bush set as I bent the large washer at the back with the track control arm and also squashed the bushes.

 

The engine jumped about in the chassis so much that it broke the speedo cable! a new one is in order.

 

I did think about making wishbones to the locost design but it seemed a lot of hassle.

 

Thanks for all the suport

[Big Jim]

well done Guy!

 

PS. I like your article in the mag.

[Guest Daren.F]

Glad you got it fixed Guy.

Can I have my bucket back now?

[Guest chris brown]

Well done Guy that was quick.

I also enjoyed your article.

Are you coming to Kimbolton on the 18 July? (Piddy has the tickets) Just thought now you’ve had your name in print you might like to do it a second time.

[Dave R]

kimbolton ?

assume thats the country fair thing. i might be there in the tin top if the weather is ok

 

dave