Nicole

It's "voila"... But otherwise you did great!

Good luck with the rest of the repairs!

DR

Nicole,

Are you Leonard Laub's sister? :-)

wrecktech

"I got the dent pushed out quite a bit using someone's idea earlier in the thread, about using an inner tube, and slowly inflating it. Didn't quite use an inner tube though. I'm from the school of "make do with what you have". So, in that context, a 2 liter Pepsi bottle seemed like it would fit nicely into the crevise behind the crumpled quarter panel. I squished all the air out, and squeezed it into place, drilled a small air hole in the cap, and pressurized it with my blower nozzle. VIOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The expanding bottle smoothly bent the quarter panel out."


Amazing isn't it. If you try it with an innertube you will have better results. When it starts to push it out further tap on the high spots with a hammer and this will bring the contour back closer to where it is supposed to be. Feel free to pm me if you need any more "help" Too bad you are not closer to my shop or I could give you a hand.

Chris Lockhart

It did a great job Wrecktech. Thanks so much for the tip. I plan to get an inner tube from my tire/alignment guy on Monday to try and smooth out the rest as best as possible. I was very impressed with how smooth and quick the air pressure worked. Very amazing stuff, seeing the dent slowly pop out. Kind of reminded me of the Steven King movie "Christine", where the car fixes itself, and all the dents pop out. Cool stuff. Thanks again for the tip.

Chris Lockhart

Thanks Nicole, I appreciate it. Also, when I get too fast on my "2 finger" typing, I make way too many spelling errors. LOL.

wrecktech

Just be careful with the innertube not to cut or poke a hole in it. You can also use a basketball or soccer ball. They are less prone to popping.

Chris Lockhart

Wreck, I actually did try my son's basketball, but it wouldn't quite get back into that corner correctly. That's why I finally wound up using the 2 liter Pepsi bottle. Now if I can just get this thing handling right.

I swapped out the upper and lower control arms, as well as the long bolt that holds the shock, hub carrier, etc... together, and adjusted the alignment as best I could using a tape measure and plumb bob. At least good enough to get it to the alignment shop.

Problem now is that at a normal cruising speed all feels well, but apply any large throttle input, and the car darts to the right. Let off the throttle, and it darts to the left. VERY unnerving!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what's causing it. I have looked everything over 100 times, and can see nothing wrong. I have beat, pryed and proded virtually every suspension piece on both sides, to see if there is any unusual/unwanted deflection, and I can find none. Everything appears just as it should. Anybody have any ideas??????????????? TIA,

DR

Chris,

I really wouldn't panic until you get it in for a proper alignment. I feel you are just frustrating yourself thinking that a tape measure and plumb bob is going to get it even close, only Capt. Earl could do that. As you said yourself that was only to get it to the alignment shop and that should be your next step. I am confident that once you get it to an alignment shop and get it aligned properly it will be back to it's former kicka$$ self. Worse case is that you will be able to find out exactly what the problem is (if there is one) and save a lot of time, frustration, AND stress (hint, hint).

Mike LaBranche

Chris, I'd say all bets are off until ride height and alignment are done. Have you checked the wheelbase and compared side to side? Something is still crooked. Did the diff get knocked off center, maybe? Pro alignment may fix it unless you're tape and plumb job is already really good. You have any kind of electronics in the rear like psd or whatever? That may be hosed.

Meantime, just practice your right turns. lol Always stay on the gas...

You'll get it sorted out. Let us know.

wrecktech

Try this: get it on the flattest and most level concrete you can. Put an "L" shaped square against the rear wheels, one at a time. See if there is any difference in the measurement from the top of the "L" square and the top of the wheel. It sounds to me like the top of the wheel is too far out. If there is no difference go to a parking lot and get the rear tires wet. Drive as straight ahead as possible. Measure the width of the tracks. If one is wider than the other then the rear wheel is not square with the body. You can also run a string from across the face of the front wheel to the rear and see if the rear wheel is parallel with the string. The only way to be really sure is to have a 4 wheel alignment done. Let us know.

Thomas

Chris Lockhart

Thanks DR, Mike, and Wreck. Hopefully I can get the alignment done tomorrow, and then go from there. It just seems like the left side is going EXTREMELY toe out under acceleration. That's the only thing I can figure. Oh well, we'll see tomorrow. Thanks again.

Daniel Dudley

Wow, nice start. You have already saved a bunch of money, and are heading towards home. And driving to the alignment shop, not towing. PS I'm so glad he didn't hit you on the door. This is real fixable. Glad YOU are OK.

Chris Lockhart

Thanks Daniel, I appreciate it.

UPDATE: Alignment shop can't get the left rear camber in. Best they can do is 1.5 degrees out of spec, to the negative side. They also looked everything over, to see if I missed anything, but found nothing out of place. Car still darts to the right under acceleration, and back to the left upon decelleration.

I took the car over to Glenn's place last night, and we looked at several items, and tried a few things, but could not find anything to cause the camber issue, BUT Glenn did (hopefully) find the culprit to the quirky handling. While we had the car jacked up, he was rotating the drivers side wheel, and noticed that the passenger side was rotating the opposite direction. After some discussion, and comparisons with his '80 Euro, he concluded that the limited slip differential has somehow (via the hit it took) locked into place, when it should be open and freewheeling. This makes sense, when looking at what the car is doing under throttle.

I thought that *maybe* I could "unlock" it with a few burnouts and/or left turn throttle on oversteer conditions, but no luck. Tomorrow I'll go ahead and take the rear cover off the transaxle, and see if I figure out whats making it stay locked. (Fingers crossed!!!!)

Jim bailey - 928 International

Actually Chris your limited slip is now acting like it is NOT a limited slip with the counter rotating rear wheel when you turn one by hand. A limited slip should have BOTH wheels turning the same direction when you turn one by hand. It is quite possible that the slip clutches are worn out and this has NOTHING to do with the accident or the subsequent alignment and self steering of the rear suspension. Are you sure you got the cone washers/spacers back on the big suspension pin/bolt that goes through the shock and wheel upright ?

Garth S

Chris,
The '89 has a conventional LSD IIRC ( clutch type): If it was locking up prematurely, or staying locked up, doing some very slow full lock turns in both directions should create audible "chatter" - that may be seat-of-pants felt as well.
By elevating the rear, spinning one wheel causing the other to reverse is not unusual: open differentials do that. A lot depends on how fast they are spun if trying to engage the clutch packs of a LSD - but if successful in engaging the clutches, both wheels should turn in the same direction. Another quick test is to hold one wheel and spin the other - this will often engage the clutches - how long are your arms? ( it's fair to have a helper).
The true redneck test is to only jack one side, fire up and let the clutch out slowly: the elevated wheel will gently spin. If you give it the gas, the LSD will lock and shoot you off the jack - that's the redneck part ....