Hello. I have a 88 firebird that I just finished restoring a few months ago. I really enjoyed my fireird till tonight a idoit cut me. I was going 100km/h with decent road conditions and trying to avoid him send my car in a 180* spin and crashed in a wall. Well what can I say... Long live the American cars rock solid. My rear right is pretty pushed in. It went to about the level of my wheel. My rim is slightly bent. Now the ****ed part is that my rear wheel is tilted a few degrees inside. What could of gotten ****ed? How do I know if I ****ed the frame? What do you recomend for my body? The other side of my body also slightly got bent but a few hits should take it back. My door wont close properly. There are around 2 CM of clearance between the window and the top. My rear windshield is also pieces but the scrap yard has a few firebirds. So what are my choices here?
As for my neck... well it ****ing hurts but I feel worse for the car. I loved the car.
Also I would like to ask if some one has a garage in GTA(greater toronto area) if they could let me paint my car there. I live in a condo house with common garage where there is not way for me to paint it. Hell I think I will even get evicted if I start working on my car in it again. If anyone could help me with this problem I would praise them for life and give my help any way I could.

Merry Christmas

(the obove I posted on another forum without much reply)

Now I realize there is little hope for my body. Probably the best thing would be to drop the engine on another body from scrap yard. What other bodies accept this engine?

 

any body from 83 to 92, Camaro or Firebird, will take that motor.

You simply need the motor mounts and wiring harness from the motor also if the donor car has a V6 and you have a V8 (or if you have a V8 and it has a V6). They will bolt into any of the cars.

5.0's and 5.7's use the same motor mounts.

2.8's and 3.1's use the same motor mounts.

You don't have to swap the the harness if the donor car had the same number of cylinders and youre going carb to carb, TBI to TBI, or TPI to TPI. If ones MAF and the others MAP, convert to the system that's in your donor car, it will be less work.

for the most straightforward swap, stay away from V6 cars, and find a car that is close to yours under the hood. if you have a V8 TPI w/5-speed and MAF, try to find another V8 5speed TPI w/MAF. It will keep your swap simple, quick, and clean if you don't have to touch the wiring harness.

 

**** im an idiot I forgot to point out the most important thing. It is a 2.8. Do you think there is any hope for the body or I am much better of with a scraped one?

 

If the rear wheel actually no longer square with the car or is it merely pushed in? if it's no longer square, replace the rear end. If it's just pushed in, you probably have some panhard bar brace and possible control arm issues. Doesn't sound too expensive yet.

 

It is a bit pushed in. I drove the car for 5KM and there were no wierd sounds. Still the door wont close and that is way off, cant see how I could fix that. Dont get me wrong the rear is quite ****ed. It looks like it got slamed in a cement wall which it did .Hell even the gas tank hole got moved from its position.

 

Weeeell...the door problem sounds like the fame may have been tweaked a bit. The has tank filler tube being off is not necessarily a good indicator of the damage. The tank is only held in by two straps and could have shifted with enough "Newtonian" force behind it. Could also mean bad things, but not necessarily. First thing if it were me would be to get the rear end on jackstands or on a lift and perform a THOROUGH inspection of the rear suspension and axle. There could be damage waiting to go off at a bad moment. Best case scenario is some bent sheet metal and a cracked PHB brace. Worst case is probably a bent frame. Requires an inspection, though, to see what exactly happened.

 

Well -- to clarify - these cars do not have a "frame" They are a unibody construction - meant to crush and transfer energy from an accident. You need to find out how far the energy from the accident traveled thru your car...

some examples of energy transfer are buckles, kinks, cracked paint, busted spot welds, cracked seam sealer, & uneven gaps - to name some of the most common signs.

on GM cars, look for buckles in the roof just above the doors

It sounds most definately like you have unibody frame damage..just find out how far the energy traveled and then determine if it would be worth it for you to fix it or swap the V6 to a junker...may be able to swap the interior if its also nice!

 

Allright so I decided to fix the car. The rear wheel wobled because my axleshaft was bent. I changed that and my allighment is good. It was quite a bitch to change since my pinionshaft bolt broke in but after many hours of drilling I got it out.
Now I put a new trunk windshield and I have my hole back shifted about 2 cm to the left(the wheels did not shift). My top also went up a bit. How do U guys recoment getting this stuff back in place? Hamering or are there better ways?

 

Well my car is in much better shape now. I used a hydraulic jack to push stuff back. Still my back is shifted a bit and my roof is still much higher than it should be. I really need some advice on bringing the rear and roof back.
As for my quarter panel I decided to get a new one and weld it as soon as my rear is in position. Any one know where I could get a quarter panel for less than $500(classic industryes).

 

Take it to a body shop, have it put on a frame machine and pulled straight, until then nothing you do to line things up will ever be quite right...

 

The frame is allright. The body went off the frame so I dont think a frame machine would help.

 

the body is the frame. and the shockwave of a serious crash can cause problems in joints, and welds al over the place. Have a shop check out the body and frame before you do much. Third gens, unfortunatley, are cheap. If the frame/body is badley twisted get a new car. exp because you have a v6... I just sold a 92 formula, with good paint and a perfict body, no rust, and 305 cali car for 2k. Please check the body before you drive it agian. If it has crumpled in spots it will not be able to protect you in another crash.

 

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The frame is allright. The body went off the frame so I dont think a frame machine would help.

Right on dude