[Rudolph]

Hello guys!

I am an "old member" of this forum, and even though I have been here for a while and I do not post lot... read a lot nontheless.

Well, I consider myself a true fan of the 4th gen F body platform, to the point the car I have chosen to put all my "nuts" in haha! I got my F ride directly from one dealer back in 1999, brand new, and the improvement over the car has always been step by step... Unfourtunately, yesterday at the tuffest race track we have here in México, my luck and proud encountered a wall tuff enough to challenge them:

Couple of guy from security checking before towing:
(IMG:http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg187/Rudolphinski/crahatthetrack1.jpg)

Once in the parking lot:
(IMG:http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg187/Rudolphinski/parkinglot.jpg)

Before:
(IMG:http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg187/Rudolphinski/Imagen2204.jpg)

Yesterday, my humor and will was prettey much as the car!! Today, the thing that comforts me the most, its my oldest and most experienced friend saying: -"Rudolph"... "there are 2 types of people in the racing department... the ones that have been involved in a crash, and the ones that will be, sooooo... fix the car as well as you can, and jump in again". I know that many of you guys have had, some kind of experience, such as the one am in, but damn, it is tuff.

Now, on the serious side!! I am only hoping I can find the most experienced guy that can help me to leave the car as it was before, meaning, "HANDLING", structural integrity, and at last, look as well as before.

If you guys, have some sort of comments on straighten the "chassis" (I know it is not a chassis literally) by all means, do it. I fear the car may never be the same again, talking about performance in the handling department, I will try it tough.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Rodolfo Lara Pohlenz

This post has been edited by Rudolph: Apr 2 2012, 09:26 PM

[trackbird]

I backed an '89 Formula Firebird into a hillside years ago, it was the same situation. It got loose, I caught it, it snapped the other way, I caught it again and about the third time I ran out of steering travel to catch it. It went around and I put both feet in. I bumped the hillside on the drivers rear corner and scratched up the bumper cover pretty good. Looks like we hit in the same place. Lucky for me I had bled off almost all of my speed before hitting the dirt hillside and the damage was far less. I was about 21 at the time and out doing this stuff in places I shouldn't.

Once I tore that same '89 Formula apart to put a roll cage in it I found that the roof, front fender, door and rear quarter panel (all on the passengers side) had been grafted onto that car from a couple other cars (the car was black, the roof, front fender and rear quarter panel was originally blue, and the door was originally red. Then I found that the formed hoops in the transmission tunnel had been compressed. The car had apparently been hit very hard, pulled out, pieced together and it aligned and ran straight and true. It's amazing what a body shop can fix (though I suspect it should have been totalled, but someone at the body shop likely bought it and fixed it).

[Rudolph]

I backed an '89 Formula Firebird into a hillside years ago, it was the same situation. It got loose, I caught it, it snapped the other way, I caught it again and about the third time I ran out of steering travel to catch it. It went around and I put both feet in. I bumped the hillside on the drivers rear corner and scratched up the bumper cover pretty good. Looks like we hit in the same place. Lucky for me I had bled off almost all of my speed before hitting the dirt hillside and the damage was far less. I was about 21 at the time and out doing this stuff in places I shouldn't.

Once I tore that same '89 Formula apart to put a roll cage in it I found that the roof, front fender, door and rear quarter panel (all on the passengers side) had been grafted onto that car from a couple other cars (the car was black, the roof, front fender and rear quarter panel was originally blue, and the door was originally red. Then I found that the formed hoops in the transmission tunnel had been compressed. The car had apparently been hit very hard, pulled out, pieced together and it aligned and ran straight and true. It's amazing what a body shop can fix (though I suspect it should have been totalled, but someone at the body shop likely bought it and fixed it).

I am happy, because today, a couple of guys that have a race shop (car tuners), are also devoted to fix the cars that crash at the tracks or street due to extra horses hehe! We lifted the car, they took pictures, made comments, gave an estimate, and even talked about quality paint. They told me that due to the subframe connectors I use (custom made), and the thickness of them, the impact was absorbed. The bad point, is that they will have to straighten the whole car, because with extra care, they analized that the passenger side door had a 1/2in gap, which obvisouly means the structure twisted a bit more. They asure me that car will be once more, in good shape.

The repair cost is estimated in $3,500 USD ($45,000 pesos), considering that the labor in México is far cheaper than in USA. Those guys at the repair shop, will pick the car next week and they say they will have ready at most, in one 5 weeks.

I was really worry about the paint, which was the original one, as came from factory, but the guys laugh at me, saying the paint I got, is the chapest one. They say, that with some extra pesos, we could upgrade the paint, but not sure, because my wallet is not healthy at the moment hehehe!

I will talk to Unbalanced (sponsor of this forum) for new LCAs and PHB. One LCA is damaged, a bit, but is going to be better to get a new one. The PHB looks ok, but rather have a new one.

Anyway, I will keep posted about the repair. Thank you very much for your time.

Rodolfo Lara Pohlenz