Not my vids, although looks to be a local project. Apologies if already posted, but cool to see the process, and factory build choices/part sharing:


Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

 

Some red flags in what they're doing. Fortunately that car was written off for cost of parts not difficulty of repair so whoever buys that thing someday won't really have too many problems.

 

I watched these whilst on my bike ergo, great viewing, love that they give this car some new life.

 

It is interesting to see how they go about rebuilding wrecks.

 

Lol...yeah, I find myself doing more and more "zwift + youtube" lately.


What got me was how flimsy/thin some of the structural panels were. I get "crumple zones", but I wouldn't have thought they'd wiggle, when waved around. I guess that's why they made us build "toothpick bridges" in elementary school? It also kills me how many parts are involved in so many of the sections...let alone some of the prices. (e.g. $600 for that inner diffuser piece)

 

The strength is where it needs to be. that tub is not exactly structural where it was bent and a lot of metal is just sheet metal that can be moved by hand. It's rare but some car's exterior panels are so thin you can permanently bend them by pushign on them with your finger, such as a Nissan GTR 1/4 panel. Doesn't mean the car is unsafe, because cars have never been safer as where stuff needs to be strong it's real strong. That $600 part isn't $600 either (he likely got upcharged it from the sketchy dealer he bought it from to make it worth their while). The back panel is only like $300, the front aluminum they replaced are like 200 and 350. Porsche structural parts are often dirt cheap, however some parts are stupid, like bumpers or trim package / GT specific bits. A base bumper is up to 5g depending which bumper it is and our wing is about 10g like that guy said for example. Some stuff is really cheap though, like the plastic rocker panels or our front lip.

I think I know why that car was written off too now. That front tub is now listed as non-serviceable so procedures or Cert shop likely said that needed to be replaced (aluminum doesn't have a memory, tears easy, etc) and Porsche won't sell the part so it's game over for that car as the replacement part is the whole front end. Not sure if that is accurate but it used to be ok to replace that with blind rivets and bonding adhesives so I find that odd. I also see the cast aluminum strut towers have been removed from my program. If I encountered that damage, saw what the program claimed, and the customer wanted it written off, I would not likely dig further, play dumb, and would request insurance to write it off. Even eliminating the tub as a factor, I'd guess this is a 30g + fix (Gl selling that thing ever) but i wouldn't be surprised if the original estimate was 80g+ on this thing.

 

FWIW, rear wing is listed at $6,748usd MSRP, but can be had for $4,850 at discount spot: https://www.getporschesilverspringpa.../body--spoiler

I know carbon fiber can be repaired, but not sure I'd have got it "fixed" given where it was broken. At least not by someone not familiar with the layup, nor design.


If it is the same part, that rear center diffuser is listing at $778usd ($593 discounted), so not far off that $600 claim: https://www.getporschesilverspringpa...splash-shields

Front and rear bumper covers coming in around $900: https://www.getporschesilverspringpa...omponents-rear

I'm just salty I can't get new headlight "housing", without the internals...rather not pay $4,300 for some molded plastic. That, and $189 for carpeted driver side fuse cover panel ("Cowl Kick Panel"), which the PO somehow broke.

I wonder at what point it'd be cheaper/easier to just buy a complete body (frame w/all attached body panels, when they were available from Porsche @ $25k-$30k), and swap over/replace parts? Probably only feasible if one does the work themselves:

https://www.getporschesilverspringpa...dy--body-shell

 

I have all the prices in CAD in my database; they're updated monthly. Prices do vary from place to place and it's not just a simple currency conversion formula, but it would be very rare for Canada to be cheaper than the US on parts.

As for when a section or whole body is worth it. Front section is about 30g CAD and the whole body for most Porsches usually was 60g CAD+ but it's bare. There is labour on top. There will be a ton of one time use stuff on top. Will the guy at the dealership know everything one time use for taht job? They're pretty good on suspension stuff and other routine jobs, but it's quite possible that info doesn't exist for a full body swap. So IMO the only person buying an entire body is likely a racing team for a car like this. Buying front or rear sections doesn't even make sense on a cayman IMO. Maybe on GT3 or turbo S or the odd hit that only needs that on a new vehicle and a small amount of other stuff, but again who wants that once it's fixed? No one. Shops where I am will push to write anything like that off because no tech wants to do that job and could literally quit over getting a job like that, no shop wants to warranty it even if the tech is willing to do it, because there is almost guaranteed to be comebacks and that liability is huge when minor stuff could involve huge labour costs, and no customer wants a car that had an accident that needed a small...everything replaced. Plus the shop that is certified to do that is very unlikely to be hurting for work. When I was at a high end shop we booked 3 months out on average and it was like that for a very long time. Believe me when I say we didn't fix much when it got over 30g. Better to write it off. Then insurance can sell it for big bucks at copart to some guy like the guy in this video who's trying but still fixing it on the cheap, or far far worse.

 

I like ScrapLife. They are generally just selling for parts, but every once in awhile they find something worth rebuilding.

 

Here is Lee’s latest. There are a going to drop a few more videos with more coverage on the GT4. This was my car originally, and got totaled just over a year ago.

Will answer some of the questions above after Lee gets his stuff out.

 

Was this indeed the result of some on-track mishap as Lee was speculating?

 

Condolences.

 

ScapeLife’s Garage latest and likely final on the GT4 adventure. What a car. It drove great and looked outstanding. Great job by Lee and his team to bring it back from the scrapyard. Hope it finds a great home.

 

I watched the whole saga. So you were in traffic, got rear-ended, and were pushed into the car in front of you? Were you actually on your way to Road America as the nav suggested? That would be ironic!

 

Its up for auction now. As I said in the video above, drove great on the track. Solid and tight. No rattles, though through the screams of the engine, hard to discern those.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125605664678

@nobbyv , Yeah I was stopped in traffic behind an SUV and a couple of "ssholes came over a hill too fast. I saw them coming and could do nothing, chirp of some brakes, horn...next thing I got some EMS guys crawling over me to help me out. I think that Nav entry was from the Labor Day weekend event with the PCA. It is what I consider my home track. There are some videos of the car driving the track on YouTube. Before the GT4 I owned a 991.1 C4S, and currently raise cain at PCA and Bimmer events with a 2016 M3 (6MT), while I wait for a GT4 or GT4RS allocation:

https://www.youtube.com/user/mantapa...os?app=desktop