lol but what if the front subframe is bent? the right front tire is crooked. I'll sell the subframes off this thing but I'm quite sure the rear one is toast and i'm guessing the front one is too.

 

Generally you bend the control arms. They have weak points built in. There's also some play built into the bushings. If it does get bent, as long as you can get a control arm bolted up you're probably fine.

Your rear is another story. The fact that we don't have pictures of it yet is beyond me.

 

I know a good body guy. FAE'S hardBODYSHOP

 

The rear control arm doesn't appear to be bent. If the weather is halfway decent I'll get under the car my next day off and see if I can't find out some more info.

 

Well if i was you ED.... i would fix it , please save that MSM, a few years from now you are gonna be wishing that you did .... plus the damage is nothing that's a baby hit nothing that a new quarter panel and some paint won't fix ... .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miata-rear-q...1c717f&vxp=mtr

 

hahaha what's UP JC?? It's about time you joined up! Welcome.

We'll get you in one of these eventually...

Edit: uhhh, holy crap, that's cheap.

 

Yeah, and for a pair, no less. I might buy a set and fix up one of the typical rust buckets around here. Should be a good way to make some money.

 

Yeah!!! This are perfect for rust around the wheels flares .... Is like replacing a fender but installation is more complicated ...

 

The damage is fairly minor for most Miata I've seen these days. Easily fixable too.

 

Yeah is a simple fix, you should do it and post some pics here, maybe that would change Ed's mind to fix his MSM .. And not get another shell .... And yeah this is very important because rust will start then slowly move to the chassis I would do it specially if I'm selling the car :P lol

 

I can assure you, it's not a "simple fix" for a shade tree guy, but any competent body shop can do it with no problem. I'm still baffled as to why you're going through all this "re-tub the car" crap; just change out whats bent in the suspension, replace a few body panels (oooh, including those scary scary spot-welded ones..), paint the car, profit. I haven't thought the damage to your car was terminal from the word "go", and I still don't. You took Mr Toads Wild Ride into some bushes, not into a Peterbilt. "Totaled" to me means "smeared around", not oil-canned in.

 

I am with Pinky on this one. It is not as bad as you think to replace panels.

 

Normally i'd agree, but there's a couple things at play:

1) There's blatantly more damage than just stuff in that quarter. He has panels all over the car not lining up.

2) He's looking at taking a bank loan to buy a 10AE. Bank isn't going to give him a loan to fix the car.

 

Well I would call it a simple fix because I see quarters panels being replace all the time, not easy task to perform by the average joe and IDK why in the states we call them "quarter panels" if you look in any japanise manufacture parts system, they called them "rear fender assembly" lol ....... Oh yeah and they require a special glue too ...

 

Thank you, again, for all the input gentlemen.

Concealer nailed the root of my biggest concern regarding repairing the car.

Not just that other panels aren't lining up, but that I really don't know what all I need to repair until I start repairing. It wouldn't be out of the question that the whole unibody is tweaked. look again at the panel gap pics and explanations I posted, as well as what the body shop foreman said after looking at the car.

Yesterday JC and I drove to Pasco, WA to look at what would have been the perfect car. '04 Ti Gray MSM, 48k miles, stock except for a boost gauge. Owned by an older couple who own two other Miatae (selling MSM because she found a CB with hardtop, cruise and automatic. Yup.). It was in really nice shape, just a few nicks and scuffs that would have been easy to take care of. It drove so, so nice. Can't believe how comfy stock MSM's are. The car was a great deal too at $9300 (probably could have gotten it for a little less than that).

Just couldn't pull the trigger. I realized that it's just not the right time to get into debt for a toy, and since I know that deep down inside, I am having a hard time pulling the trigger. My job provides me with a car so I don't NEED this car. But even more important, we are beginning the process of trying to purchase a home, and I don't need another loan in the mix.

I am going to work on buying some cars from auction to make some profit, and if I can snag a nice one with considerably less damage then mine, I will. I have a few i'm watching that would fit the bill, and I'm just going to have to be patient.

So, blue ***** to all for a bit.

 

I really think that front fender is just tweaked. There's already damage. I seriously doubt you tweaked the windshield frame from the accident.

 

Curly, I think you're right about the passenger fender. What about the door gap on the driver side? That was mentioned by the guy at the body shop, he said the driver side door gap is wider than it should be.

Reading back through this thread, I've changed my mind so many times...

 

Hell, my drivers side door gap ain't quite right, but that's because I was super lazy when I put my fenders back on

 

White out the outline of the bolts before you remove the fenders next time

 

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I got under the car to see what's what.

To all you who said it was a rear control arm, not the subframe: You're right.



I measured the subframe and it appears to be straight. Will end up dropping it and measuring again to be sure, but it seems fine. So: Right rear control arms.

Next, the driver side frame rail got pretty smooshed.



As did that main brace thing. Some sort of thin, weak butterfly brace? Very tweaked.



This doesn't seem like a big deal. But sheesh. Even bushes will do some damage to an undercarriage.



Now this was a bit of a surprise... Bolts that appear to attach the front of that brace and the rear of the engine cradle/subframe to the car are completely gone.

Driver side:

Passenger side:

Finally, on the passenger side front corner (the corner which first hit the curb... ouch) it seems the LCA is fubared, but so is the subframe. Here's the *driver* side subframe, which looks fine:



One shot of the passenger side. It's pretty bent as far as I can tell.


A close up which clearly shows where the mount is pushed in.



This also explains why the alignment is way off: the front of the passenger front tire is pushed in, which pushes the tie rod over and makes the driver side wheel/tire way off. So the steering itself seems fine, which is a relief.

So... here's my parts list for repairs, as far as I can tell:

-passenger rear upper & lower control arms
-Passenger front upper & lower control arms
-engine cradle/subframe
-passenger front fender + painted to match
-passenger rear quarter panel, cut and replace and painted to match
-at least 2 wheels, but probably 3 would be best
-FM or equivalent frame rails?

Hey Vlad, still got a free damaged NB2 tub you want to get rid of?