Fix it or scrap it?

MrKwik · Apr 22, 2004

My daughter wrecked her 93 vert a couple days ago. My original thought was to just part it out. The more I look at I start wondering if I should attempt to fix it. The thing that concerns me is the damage to the top of the core support which is as fuqed as it looks. She drove under an SUV and it didnt touch the actual bumper or the front frame rails. There appears to be no damage behind the strut towers either, just in front. The interior in the car (with the exception of being red) is perfect. Im thinking this would be the time to start a carbed 5.0 vert project. What would you do?

shawn13 · Apr 22, 2004

I,d rebuild it unless you want to sell the seats,door covers and ash tray cover

Legendary · Apr 22, 2004

If you scraped that car it would be to a very happy junk yard dealer. I say fix it up!

Mavrick · Apr 22, 2004

Definetly a good 5.0 project, new fenders, hood, bumper, some banging, 5.0L and bam! Almost

Daughter was OK?

TC93 · Apr 22, 2004

Depend's on how bad the radiator support and fender apron is bent. Might be more work than it looks without taking it apart to look. But if you have the means to pull it straight, then I say fix it. Because if you have to pay a body shop then the cost might not be worth fixing, unless the car is something special to your daughter. The there's the air bag, that will cost also unless you can get a deal on a good used one..

Now if you want to make it a project car I say rip it apart and pull as best as you can and put that 408 stroker in it

MrKwik · Apr 22, 2004

Mavrick said:
Daughter was OK?

Ya. Only injury was that the air bag burned the sh.it out of her arm when it went off. I figure since only one arm was burned, the other one was holding the cell phone to her ear , probably explains the accident right there.

Depend's on how bad the radiator support and fender apron is bent. Might be more work than it looks without taking it apart to look. But if you have the means to pull it straight, then I say fix it. Because if you have to pay a body shop then the cost might not be worth fixing, unless the car is something special to your daughter. The there's the air bag, that will cost also unless you can get a deal on a good used one..

The core support is toast but I can buy a replacement here in town from the body panel supplier and weld it on. The fender aprons between the strut tower and the core support are another story and I am pretty sure there is no straightening them. I dont hink patch panels are available for that part so I would probably have to cut them out and fabricate some kind of replacements. I would do all the work myself so thats not an issue.

As for the car being special...basically I am giving her money to buy something else and keeping this one, because even if I do fix it, it will take me a long time to work it in wath all the other projects I have going right now.

MrKwik · Apr 23, 2004

Here's an update. I peeled off the bent sheetmetal and plastic last night to get a look at the "real" damage. I think that maybe if I replaced the core support or at least the top of it and fabricate some new front aprons it would be OK. Its hard to see in the pictures but the top of the driver side tire is leaning in at the top a little which concers me. I did some criss-cross measuring from the struts to the cowl corners and it seems to be square from there back. So now I ask again...would you fix it?

squeeeg · Apr 23, 2004

50resto sells the core support and fendor aprons for pretty cheap. I would fix it personally but it is up to you. If you are going to scrap it let me know first

Boss 351 · Apr 23, 2004

i don't know, if it was a V8 I would say fix it but since you have to convert to V8 and get the body fixed, I dunno... depends how rare 'verts are in the area I guess.... And if you have all the V8 parts in stock or something...

SmockDoiley · Apr 23, 2004

maybe if it was a 5.0 but being an auto vert 4 cyl, I say junk it. Plus you complained of the red interior, and the fact you have too many projects going right now. Sounds like too much work. You need a hood, headlight, headlight housing, core support, fender, radiator, AC parts, then alignment, and of course paint. All for a 4 cyl. Did you have full coverage. If you cant get money for it that way then part it out since a yard wont give you crap for it.

MrKwik · Apr 23, 2004

I wouldnt say that vert's are "rare" in my area, but most are 4cyls. As far as the v8 swap goes, I have quite a few of the major components. I have a spare motor, the T5 from when I put the tremec in my 90, a v8 radiator, off road H and flowmaster cat back, and anextra 8.8 rear. I also have a brand new hood and fender but the fender is the wrong side. Anybody want to trade a left for a right? I figure I could sell the motor and trans and come close to what I would need to finish the swap. The cost of the body panels doesnt bother me too much. The air bag might be expensive and a bolt went through one of the sensors. Time is definately a factor though as I never seem to have enough.

WldstrawbryLX · Apr 23, 2004

Wow..that looks familiar!!! Pretty much had the same amount of damage on mine with the exception of the airbag. I fixed her up and got it back on the road. Sounds like you have the major components to fix and convert to 5.0 power. So go for it!!!!

MrKwik · Apr 23, 2004

WldstrawbryLX said:
Wow..that looks familiar!!! Pretty much had the same amount of damage on mine with the exception of the airbag. I fixed her up and got it back on the road. Sounds like you have the major components to fix and convert to 5.0 power. So go for it!!!!

what did you do to fix yours? Did you pull it out or weld in replacement panels or what?

TC93 · Apr 23, 2004

I would pull it straight as possible first. But it look like the apron will need replacing. Might be able to salvage the rad support unless you want to replace it. The bottom looks straight in the pics. If you didn't claim in on the insurance I would worry about the air bag and swap in a tilt coloumn fron a pre-90 car. But I guess, it really boils down to if you want to fix it or have the time to fix it?????? A

MadMatt5oh · Apr 23, 2004

Fox body metal is like playdoe. I think it would be time consuming - but a little here and a little there. When its all over, you will not give it back to her - trust me! If I can fab and weld parts so can you! Hell, I hooked a chain to my old berretta and pulled it from a tree and a slide hammer! I had a friend paint it. Nobody knew....

MrKwik · Apr 23, 2004

MadMatt5oh said:
Fox body metal is like playdoe. I think it would be time consuming - but a little here and a little there. When its all over, you will not give it back to her - trust me! If I can fab and weld parts so can you! Hell, I hooked a chain to my old berretta and pulled it from a tree and a slide hammer! I had a friend paint it. Nobody knew....

I have a welder, plasma cutter, sheet metal brake, tourches and I can can weld just fine. My 90 had a light (and I mean light) hit on the passenger side front when I got it. The main thing was that the top of the core support was pushed back about 1 1/2". I put it on a frame puller that a guy I know has and we pulled it out. I couldnt believe how hard it was to pull aout that small amount of damage so I hadnt even considered doing that on this one. I dont think it would ever look right if I did anyway. I figured that cutting off the damage and welding on new pieces would probably be the way to go. The core support kinf of looks like a bitch to get off though.

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