Sideswiped on the right side and then hit a wall on the left side at about 75mph..





I think the chassis is bent.. panel gap at the back of the passenger door is about 3/4" and the gap on the drivers side is nonexistant...

Damn.

 

I hate to see that your car got damaged. I hope you were okay. You may be surprised but I think your car could easily be fixed.

 

I've seen and done worse and was able to fix it.. a lil time on a frame machine and she will be straight as can be.. when ur done with that throw some subframe connectors in and ull be set.. not hard to find a new bumper and fenders and the other things u need.. so fix her!

 

It can be fixed... it wouldnt be worth it on a regular F-body, but a Vert 91/92 Z needs to be saved. Talk about rare.

 

Well i will save it if i can.. slightly harder to find parts over her but as long as the frame is straight i can take my time over the rest.

One of the irritating things is that i was on my way to the workshop to have SFCs, springs, shocks, front end kit and exhaust fitted...

 

Btw Coupe Guy.. I walked away with just 2 stitches in my head and a bruised nose from the airbag shot.. Thanks for asking

 

well that certainly sucks

if you were in the states, I'd sell you mine as a roller.....

good luck with it

 

It looks like most of whats damaged is stuff that mostly universal. Quarter panels and front clip and what-not. I don't see why not to fix it. Hell you can pick up primered front quarter panels for like $70 a pop. I thought I was going to have to do that myself.

 

Yeah, but he's in oman. I would fix it, no matter the cost. Not only is it rare in the states, but it's got to be the only one in oman!

 

Its not the only 3rd Gen.. but it is the only convertible.. and I had to bring this one with me when i moved here.

I have a feeling I'll be fixing it regardless..

 

Make sure you save the fender brackets that hold the rear bottom to the body. Your repop fenders are for coupes (not verts) and do not have these brackets. Definitely worth a fix.

 

Those damn Muscat divers!!! ( BTW, where is Muscat....????) Stone

 

Middle East ... at the bottom end of the Arabian Gulf..

Anyway some progress.. i now have the car released from the police.. so it should be at a garage tomorrow so we can see how bad it is..

First pic shows the the engine is maybe an inch or 2 out of line





As long as the chassis is fixable everything else is easily available...

 

Maybe your k-member is bent? Might be time for a tubular k-member if that is the case...

Thats what I meant... 'The only 'vert' Rare in the states, non-existent in oman.

Hope it can be fixed!

 

yes if parts need replacing I will take the opportunity to upgrade...

 

its not going to be cheap to git it fixed. but it can be done. insurance? i bet they total it out with the damage it has, but you can always buy it back for dirt cheap and fix it.

 

Let us know what they do with it.

 

After looking at it again, i would say it's not your engine out of line, I think your core support is pushed over... Thats even better as it's easier to fix! Any updates? Hope all is well!

 

That's a real shame, besides the wreck that thing is an ABOSOLUTE BEAUTY! At least here in alaska a nice thirdgen vert like that is rahaaaare. Good car choice, and I hope you can get it saved!

 

Right.. quick update..

The police passed the car for repair (they always have to have a say if the damage looks bad or the airbag has gone off) so thats a win.

The insurance company is struggling to get quotes to repair so i have set them up with 3 from different garages.

so hope all is going well so far!

drknow.. thanks for that. I never even considered that it could just be the front end support...

 

Now more questions:

How different are the body panels on a '90 RS T-Top?

I have a chance to buy this:



for about $1100. I need front wings (fenders?), bonnet (hood?), nose and light support bar, drivers door plus some under body parts.

I'm probably going to take it anyway but then I need to decide to fix it up for my wife or just steal the parts i need for my Vert! It's going to be cheaper for me to buy that car and strip it than ship the parts from the US.

Advice needed so thanks in advance

 

The ground effects are different, but the hood, fenders, doors and nose are the same.

 

Thats great to know and fortunately the ground effects mostly survived the accident intact

 

Saw the Grey RS and bought it for $800... all the parts i need are unmarked and there are some bonus bits such as a 5.3 V8 from a GMC van

Hopefully the Vert will soon be back on the road!

 

Sorry about your luck, but very glad to see you're fixing it instead of junking it. If I can help find you something over here in the US let me know!

 

Damn good deal for that price. Car looked clean in the pics

Hell, the 5.3 is worth half of what you paid for the whole car!

Good luck with the repair!

 

Just the shipping of the parts i need would be more then the cost of that car! And I should be able to sell some of what left over.

 

nice man! parts easilly available over there?

 

Good Luck from a fellow vert owner

 

not really hence the need for a parts car.. as I said above just the shipping on the parts i need would be the same as the cost of that car!

 

its a shame your gonna tear into that RS as is looks clean but maybe after you get the vert on the road and road worthy again. you can fix the RS for your wife.

 

you will need to modify the front fenders to make them fit. and cut slots into them to attach a 91-92 front ground effect. make sure they dont toss your front fenders because u will need the brackets off them when you cut the 90 fenders. everything else is the same as your car. good luck, keep us updated

 

Why does he have to cut anything??? Isn't he just taking the front clip and putting it on the vert basically ?? I ask because I'm having to replace the front clip of my 91 Z with the front clip off an 87 IROC. I know the front chin spoilers are different ( never cared much about the scoops on the chin spoiler myself ).. but won't it just bolt up in place ???

Stone

 

vert fenders are modified to fit and attach to the side rails behind the side ground effects. they were added for support when they had the roofs removed, and any fender you try to put on wont fit unless its clearenced properly and have the right blackets to attach it to the rails. as far as the front ground effect mounts, 90 and older have 2 holes that a bracket sticks through to attach it to the fender. the 91-92 has a single slot. so it use them on a wrong year will require modding the fenders

 

Wow, that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know. I should be ok because I'm not involving a vert in my process but it's good to know.. Stone

 

Great info .. thanks.

I will have my existing 91 fenders to use as a guide.

 

Hi All,

An update on my car.. progress is definitely happening now.. even though it looks worse!

Managed to get a great settlement from the insurance company too.





Now on the chassis jig and then we can actually repair the rest.

Lots of parts waiting to go on

 

Looking good... Keep us updated on the repair!

 

Well its been a few months now and there is definite progress! The car is straight and level but that took a lot more work than we thought as the chassis was bent and the transmission tunnel was wrinkled too.



No we are on to test fitting the new body panels and making sure the gaps are right etc. Sadly it seems the hood and the front ground effects are too badly damaged to repair so I'm going to have to go with the RS pieces. Still that should give it a different look.



We should be ready to paint the engine bay in the next week or so.

 

Ok we now have the first paint... one or 2 of you may recognise this colour...





Just waiting for new engine mounts and then we can put that and the transmission in and get on with the rest!

Hopefully a month or so to go!

 

Well its been longer than the month than i thought for a lot of reasons but I am definitely closer to getting this vert back on the road!

 

Wow, that firewall looks pretty bad. Did you get it fixed already?

 

Ooh, I'm subbing to this.

Hope you get your 'vert fixed up right, man!

 

Yeah it was bad but I had it redone and repainted. now nice and smooth..

 

been a long time but its finally back on the road










still a couple of issues to solve but it is now registered on the road

 

Thats awesome. Glad to see that it was saved.

 

OK main issue right now is low speed understeer..

car handles fine at speed .. changing lanes etc but when i go to maneuver and do a u turn the front just pushes wide and it struggles to make the turn

in the accident the left front corner was wrecked so from the parts car we took the a arm, hubs, brakes and fitted them here. The parts car is a 90 RS.

Also fitted was a complete Spohn front end kit, KYB Shocks and Eiback Pro Kit springs

I know something is different with these parts as the stock 91 Z28 rims don't fit without clearance issues. The Boyd Coddington 5 spokes seem to fit and clear fine. They are fitted with 245/55/16 Toyo T1Rs

Any ideas on what to check to fix this would be appreciated.

Cheers

Bungle