Bill51sdr

Leslie,

Glad you seem to be OK, but agree with others you should be checked out.

This forum helped Socal Girl get a car up and running, I see no reason why this community can't bring about the same kind of spirit and help you and Kevin resurrect your 928. Get yourself and the car assessed and see what this community can do to help!

blown 87

And Leslie is actually part of this community, unlike Socal Girl.

KLVA

Hope all is well

smudaaar

The only way the car would get on the road again is if you cut the front clip off and welded a new clip on. It would be cheaper to buy a non running 928 off the bay or cl and transfer all the good parts over.

Mike B

Leslie, I'm so sorry to hear about your collision especially after seeing the pics! Glad to hear you're relatively unscathed...I echo the other comments, you're number one here!

Not to quote another but you're first and I'm thinking the rest of us will take care of a "dyed in the wool" Rennlist member.

S4ordie

+ $100

Get through the health analysis first, then look at the car with several others to get a realistic sense of what can/could be done. Once that is accomplished I am confident this community will provide in many ways.

Leslie 928 S2

There might be a grain of truth there Danglerb, because I really loved that car. As for having friends help, the problem is that the few friends we have that are local enough to assist either don't answer their phones or have pre-existing commitments.
It probably can't be pulled. It's bent pretty good, all the way to the back of the roof, top and bottom.


What do you mean by that?
Thank you so much all of you who have suggested this, but we are not looking for any charity. We have decided not to sell any parts from the car, instead saving them along with the rest of what we have, perhaps to be put on another car, or merely to salvage one of the other two we still have should they suffer similar fates.

As for Pandora, she is done. Kevin's eyesight has vastly improved and he can see enough to get around this evening, thank god. We drove up there again for a little while, and just got back a short time ago. He wanted to get a better look at it because he couldn't see anything at all when we were there last night.

We took the wheel off and the initial findings are as follows...,

The A pillar is bent.

The roof is buckling along the top of the windshield and along the top of the driver's door.

The hit fender is pushed back over the front edge of the driver's door, and the door does not open all the way (despite my supposed recollection to the contrary).

The oil cooler is broken and the engine has not a drop of oil in it anymore.

The power steering reservoir is crushed.

The driver side of the clip is bending upwards in the front, all the way back to the firewall, and probably beyond, given the buckling roof.

Alternator and alternator bracket are bent to hell and back.

The entire driver's side of the car has basically been shifted backwards, and the engine appears to be pushed back as well, perhaps by several inches.

The electrical system is melted. (The tow driver who came to the scene said he smelled burning electrical components after he got the car back to his shop, so he disconnected the batter for us, bless his heart, but it couldn't help Pandora.)

It is too late for Pandora, sadly. Kevin has decided it is not a car he would put back together, because of the damage going back past the driver's side window, and that portion of the frame and body. He says it would be worse than letting me continue to drive Twister, and could fold up too easily in another accident. He COULD fix it....weld a clip on, all of that. But he would never trust it again, and it would never be right.



So, the decision is now down to one of two choices, or perhaps three.

First Option:
He patches the white S4 together well enough for me to drive it, and I keep that one for myself. It needs axles and some maintenance, and a couple of electrical gremlins have to be chased down with the cluster.

We have a lot of the parts needed for this option, and Kevin had already been picking at some of its problems, with no particular hurry needed until now. It needed new wheels because the cups were so corroded they couldn't seal and we had 2 or 3 slow leakers despite many efforts to curb it, so for now we stuck a set of polished 16" manholes on it. They are a smidge smallish looking, but they work, so wtf. It also has good tires on it now. Better than the continentals we bought which were already chunking away after only 2 months, we noticed tonight.

Kevin recharged the battery in it while we were up there this evening, and I brought it back to NJ again so that I can get around tomorrow while handling final details before the move.

Second Option:
Kevin fixes up the white S4 all the way using Pandora's engine (assuming that her engine didn't suffer any damage from lack of oil), while I drive him back and forth to work in Franken-Shark.

Then we end up with an S4 with an OB engine, and an OB with an S4 engine. That could be kinda cool.

Possible Third Option:
Kevin pulls Pandora's engine, disassembles Franken-Shark's engine again, transplants Pandora's engine into Franken-Shark, and restores it to stock and gives it to me, then sticks all his goodies and his 32v engine into the S4, where they belong anyway, with the big brakes that he wants. Though he's now quibbling in his own mind over who should have the big brakes with the ABS...

The S4 has a 160k engine, that runs and moves, but sounds tired, and seems a bit sluggish, so it's not really a candidate for boosting. But we'll see how it runs after some work is done to it, and maybe he will change his mind about that. Otherwise, it is viable as a rebuildable core right now, so perhaps this is a better option in the end.

But the WORK. OMG. I am having a very hard time justifying to myself asking him to undertake such a mammoth project while trying to hold down a job, and all of the grass that he now has to mow at the new place on the weekends.

Especially since he just finished building Franken-Shark, with all of the pain that went into that process.

So that's where we're at now.

I bet in the end, what actually happens is that I drive The Bride of Franken-Shark (the white S4) as is for at least a while, while he steals the posi rear and trans from Pandora for Franken-Shark, which is riding on a borrowed trans and open rear after the pump exploded in the last trans.

But what the hell, it had over 150k miles on that trans. Can't expect everything to last forever....especially under his daily thrashing.

Anyway, since we still have two running vehicles at the moment, more or less, no decisions will be made right away. We want to think it all through very carefully, and take stock of what exactly we have to commit to any of the possible plans. Hmmmmmm.....can we all say, "Tube Chassis"??


I'm sure going to miss Pandora. She was a beautiful car inside and out. But I'm sure I will love whatever next car I drive just as much, and the new car will likely have bits of Pandora in it anyway. So she's not completely gone. Just like Twister and Christine, she'll live on for a long time in this family, one way or another.

Hmmmmm again......I wonder.....what would it take to put Pandora's body onto a 4x4 chassis?


Maybe I really do need to see a doctor.

ew928

Do you know how much the racers to would like to move the engine back to get the weight distribution moved more to the drive wheels.


Not sure which option but whatever that uses a Good Solid 928 frame is good for me.

danglerb

Get one of those self powered lawn mowers, take your time deciding on the cars, maybe option C, find another 32v motor. Seems a shame to undo the conversion, and then do it backwards to put an OB in the S4 chassis.

Automatic lawn mower.

karl ruiter

Based on the damage to the car I would say you were pretty lucky. My first shark had very similar damage except roof had been cut off with jaws of life where they had removed the driver.
Because of the way it is constructed there is not really a good way to pull out or replace the front frame section once it is bent. There are not really any big sections to either pull or weld to. I saved my car by relacing the chassis. Don't really recommend it, though, unless it is a labor of love.

Leslie 928 S2

Well, no, Dangler, he wouldn't be putting the OB in the S4 chassis if he undid the conversion. In that scenario, the OB goes back to being an OB, and the white S4 gets the done up S4 engine and the boost. The OB engine only goes into the S4 if he keeps Franken-Shark as is.

Karl, 100% agreed.

fraggle

Dang I wish we had helped out earlier with the move. I tell my friends that need help I'll pitch in $40 and some beer we can drink while the local cross town mover guys do all the work. I'll never move myself again!!!

Those guys are usually pretty booked up due to others with the same thoughts, though. Since you're moving tomorrow it won't work so well. :

Keep us posted and stay healthy. Flop the car under a cover and ignore it for ahwile, you need to get settled into your new place.

Brian B

Leslie and Kevin,

I'm probably only 10 minutes from your new place. I'd be happy to help out with whatever you decide to do with the Shark. I'm usually around every weekend. I'm sure my wife would be happy to get rid of me for a while. Hell, it might even motivate me to do some work on my own beast...

PM me or e-mail me if you want...

Brian

VehiGAZ

And I'm almost an hour away, but whatever... we should have a Welcome to Connecticut gtg for Kevin and Leslie...