Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

I am in the process of healing my car after a small "incident" I got myself into.

Essentially I slammed the drive side of my car into a curb at around 35mph.

Body damage is minor, there is one dent near the gas door due to the jack I had in the back slamming against the quarter.
I screwed up my wheels, but I got new ones of those.

The panhard bar was bent bad, but visually that was the only piece I could tell was bent. The messed up part is, this happened right before I was getting sub frame connectors installed, which probably would have saved me a bit.

Anyways, I got a panhard bar and new control arms for the rear. I had to get a new axle for the 9 bolt rear I have, and I needed a new rotor/caliper as well.

Now I got the passenger control arm on with minor fuss, however I just tried getting the driver side in, and I am having major problems. When I get one end bolted in, the other end is about a quarter of an inch off from perfect alignment.

I can bend it to get into the slot for the bar, however I can't align the holes for the bolt.

Now am I crazy, not trying hard enough, or is this an indication I have more issues than I was hoping?

Sorry for the weird writing style, I am a bit scatterbrained right now, but if the frame is bent, how much would it cost to straighten, and would it be worth it?
The car is a 5speed G90 packaged car, all new interior and rust free bottom, hard top. I really love this stupid car and have been struggling to get her back on the road.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

The mount may have been tweaked a bit, nothing a 3lb hammer and some fiddling can't fix. You can't use the arm as a lever and push/pull it one way or another to get the holes to align?

TORN

iTrader: (17)

Which way are you bolting it together? Body first then axle? This the way I would do it by the way then you can move the rearend around to help line up the bolts.

Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

I first tried on the axle first, now I have it in on the body, but didn't think about moving it around.

That's a good idea, so that's a fairly common issue?

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

35 MPH,.... There's more bent parts under there - stuff that you will never see. You might be "lucky" in that it sounds like you took impact on the front and the back,... if it were just one-or-the-other the damage would have been much more "significant". Under-carriage damage is worse than body damage IMO....... IMO it's harder to see/know when your looking directly at a problem; Post pics if you want to get the best feedback possible.

Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

It's the dream cruise weekend, and I wasn't able to get her on the road. I'll get some pictures in the next couple of days and start a new thread.

vinny R

I had the same issue with my trailing arm install, the first one went in relatively easy and I fought the other for a couple hrs before I figured it out. Mine was the same. about a 1/4 to far to the front, on the axle side. From my knowledge my car was never crashed. After a few hrs and a sore hip later I figured out a trick. Attach the body side 1st. Get a 3/8 or so x 8" long bolt, or whatever size you can get into the smaller opening and from the opposite side you will be sliding the proper bolt in, insert the smaller bolt about 1/2 way into the trailing arm bushing. Now use this bolt as a lever and push it forward, This should move the trailing arm back and from the open side the hole should now line up and insert the proper bolt in. It does help if you have a second person to help but I was able to do this method on my own. Hope this helps.

Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

I did manage to get it on, but I still fear a bent frame. I've invested a lot to get her ready for the road, if the frame is badly damaged I'll be heartbroken.