MikeinBloomfield

It wouldn't fit even with the seats down? Is it too wide?

I guess it wouldn't fit in the Nissan Sentra I have as a daily driver either? The seats fold down in there too.

Lizard928

Hmmm, Brutus you should have told that to Walt when he put the hood in his car and drove it out to my shop.....

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Maybe you can tape the front edge of the hood down to the front bumper cover with Gorilla Tape of other heavy duty duct tape.
Best of luck.
Dave

JHowell37

If the current hood latches properly, and you can pull up on it hard and it doesn't let go, then it should be safe to drive. Just don't press your luck by running at 80-90mph. When you get here, I can put on the new hood, and take care of disposing of the old one if necessary.

Jaeger

See what can be pushed back into place or tweaked back to normal. It's impossible to tell without taking it apart. Your bumper cover and other plastic bits could be plastic welded if it cracked and then re-finished, see harbor freight tools for the welder or a local plastic welder. It doesn't look like the hood has any sharp pointed damage to it, so it might be possible to bend that back into shape too.

Consider your skill level, ambition, budget before deciding how your going to fix it. You may just want to take it to a shop or buy some used parts to swap out, but honestly they don't look too bad

MikeinBloomfield

Hey jhowell. Thanks for the offer. I don't think the new hood will fit correctly until I have the nose pulled out. There are bends in the little rails that frame the engine bay. I'm going to measure my hood to see if it'll fit in the Nissan, but I think so.

I plan on reusing the nose. I dont think it's damaged, but I plan on taking it off soon.

Thanks everyone.

JHowell37

Take a picture of what you think is bent and post it.

Podguy

Bolt the new hood in place, remove the front latch and then strap it down. I have never seen any laws that say you cannot drive with no hood. It might be an attention getter. Drive up with the bent hood and drive back with the good one.

Good luck

MikeinBloomfield

Attached are some pictures of the front end with the hood up. In the first one, I've circled where I think it might be bent. I'd be happy to be wrong about this.

I got the preliminary estimate from Final Touch collisions, and its way high. Mostly because they want to sell me a new nose, even though I don't think I need it. In their defense, they're basing the estimate on these pictures.

Walt L

Oh where there's a will there's a way!! New hood fit no problem into the back of my car!! Lightly resting against the back of my head on top of the headrests!!

Walt L

Your front end is not bent!! those little angles are on every 928. I just looked at mine. Re-use your nose as long as it is not split and slide your new hood into the trunk wide end first on top of your seats then seat the narrow end back against your tool kit.

JHowell37

That bend on the fender is normal. From your pics, everything looks fine. If you could, take one close up shot of the latch mechanism on the car (not the hood) and post it.
How much was the estimate?
Is that shop located in West New York?

MikeinBloomfield

JHowell--Yes, the one in West New York. Doing a search on Rennlist brought up good recommendations.

The estimate was for $4800, including a new nose for $1400, which of course I don't think I'll be paying.

I just noticed those bends in the 'engine bay' picture thread, so I feel better about the front end damage. I'm holding out hope that impact didn't move the latch mechanism back and the new hood fits no problem. I'll get some closeups of the latch later. It's still fun to start it!

JHowell, I'm 90% sure I'm bringing the 928 down with me this weekend. On Saturday, I'll be taking the nose off to assess, I'll post some pics.

Podguy

Yes the bend circled is normal. You may be pushed back a little but you will not be able to really tell until you try to fit a new hood. I really do not thing there is as much damage underneath as it first looks. The position of the raditator, AC condensor and Aux Fan look good.

Worst case you could pull the radiator and condensor and then use a port a power to push the front upper cross member out a little. You can use the posts and the engine cross member as support points and not worry about anything. Harbor Frieght sells both a 4 and 10 ton portapower for a reasonable price. They also have a double hook that can pull things. If you can find a place to anchor the car and a point to pull from you can use the double hook to pull out the front upper cross member.

It really is not rocket science and you can use the hood as an alignment tool.

The front bumper cover looks usable. Have it soda or walnut shell blasted. Maybe $50 - $75.

Nicole

I checked my car, and it has those fender bends as well. From looking at your photos, I think the black L-shaped profile might be the only thing that's bent.

You'll be able to confirm once you have installed a new hood, but it seems you got really lucky.

Edit: Ooops - had not seen Dan's post. Sorry for the duplicate info.