bhensarl

They're not going anywhere at the moment. Being in Ivan torn Pensacola, body shops are up to their eyeballs in hurricane damaged cars, and my bodyshop is no exception. My 964's supposed to be up on the rack today, at least that's what I was told when I stopped by there yesterday. They ordered all new parts from the local OPC, which I was glad for, and the parts are already in. So what needs to happen now is for them to begin tearing the car apart so that it is easier to see if any real mechanical damage has been done. I'm trying to put together a list of things, on the mechanical side, that they should check so that I can make sure they get done. The suspension geometry will definitely be checked, as well as the frame. What about engine parts? I know that there's some sort of balancer for the engine. Is it on the same shaft as the fan? I've heard that if that's out of whack the engine could spin itself to pieces. Not good. I promise to take some more pics when they start taking her apart. Oh, and I'm definitely going for a diminished value claim now because the other insurance company has been utter hell to deal with. What steps should I be taking now to ensure that goes smoothly? Thanks again everybody.
Brian

Jacks911

Brian,

Sorry about your accident. But if it makes you feel any better ... I am in the same boat. Sad thing with my Cab is that it slid of the road into a water filled ditch (heavy rains) and Rolled on it's top! In actual body damage it looks to be less than yours. Rear bumper and both rear fenders are bent. But the insuance company wants to Total her because as the toe truck righted & pulled the car out of the ditch, it filled with water, muddy water. The body shop - highly regarded with high end cars - says the body work is easy but the water damage is like that of a flood damaged car and the insurance co. will not want to risk future electrical issues. Add to that the quoted price of an all new Cab top assembly of $15,000 ??? I'll find out next week what the verdict is - but it may be a Salvage car decision.

Only good thing as many of you noted ... tough little car and No injuries to My body! My heart - well that is another thing.

bhensarl

Well, the shop's finally got room on one of their racks and apparently they've begun tearing her apart. I haven't been able to get down there to take any pictures yet, but I'm planning to on Monday. The accident happened on the 15th of October, so it took almost exactly a month for them to actually start working on the car. The latest estimate is that I'll have the car back in 2 weeks. If I have the car before Christmas with everything sorted I'll be happy. I also made sure that I'm going to get all the parts that they take off, which should include some parts in good condition like the spoiler lid. I'm looking forward to getting it back, but I don't know if I'll be able to give up the Sentra I'm driving now! More to come later.
Brian

bhensarl

Went by the shop today and took some pics. They had the new decklid and it looked like they were attempting to fit it. He was getting ready to pull the frame back into shape, so I think he probably got that done today. They told me two weeks, so here's hoping.

Jacks911

Brian,

Good to see your car coming back together. Mine has been totalled. And what a hassel this is turning out to be. Insurance Co. says my 50k mile near perfect C2 was only worth $23K. So I am going to arbitration.
As I am shopping for a replacement I can not see any really clean low mileage cars available for less than $30,000. The local shopping experience is proving to be terrible. As you well know - You can never tell till you actually see them. I went to look at another private party car today (Sixth one in two weeks). Claimed "great condition & everything works... Specialist maintained...". Well as you might guess ... the cab top works "but you have to put it down manually" and "oh those lights on the dash don't mean anything" - "my mechanic says it's ok to ignore them..." and, "the clutch is fine...it's just a little heavy".
I can't believe the number of poorly maintained 964's I have seen. And the way people describe them in their ads is so out of line with what actually exists. I hope Rennlist can help me find what I am looking for. Do have one to look at so far ... but it's 3000 miles from Seattle.

bhensarl

Okay, so now I've got a serious dilemma, and I'm looking for some cool heads to give me some advice...
I went by the shop today and they told me that they were going to have to replace both rear quarters. Early on in discussing putting my car back together some had suggested going to turbo flares. I'm considering it. There, I said it.
Okay, some concerns...
-Is this feasible? Isn't the front bodywork different as well on the turbos, or is the rear track just wider?
-Could I just use spacers to fill out the new fenders, or would it necessitate turbo axles?
-I know that taking the car from NA to turbo look might hurt the resale value of the car, but frankly that's not a huge concern for me. I plan to have this car for a long, long time, and I really feel that if the work's done right the value will still be there.
-Anything else I haven't considered? I'm really haven't fallen too far in love with this idea yet, but I do love the way the turbo bodied 964s look. The shop's already got the right quarter panel on hand, but they're just now ordering the left rear so I think if I catch him very, very soon I might be able to talk him into going with the turbo flares instead.
I don't know, just an idea. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Brian

Jacks911

Go for it Brian,

I do not think you need anything more than spacers on the back to move the wheels out ... unless you go for wider wheels ... oh Yah ! .... I was thinking the same thing before they totaled mine. I know the front fenders change with a true Factory TL but the "look" is mostly in the back flares. I like that look as well and have found several of the late TL '94s to consider as my new (old) 964. See page 24 in Adrian's book. Good luck.

Computamedic

Brian,

As you can see from my avatar, my '89 C4 HAS the turbo flares - and I love the look too!!

The front flares ARE different although the rears are the more pronounced. In an ideal world it would be nice to have the turbo rear suspension since that moves the brake calipers out as well but the expense is ludicrous. I have 30mm spacers on mine (with 10J wheels with ET47 offsets) and it looks fine. I also have 16mm spacers on the front (with 8.5J/ET50 wheels).

The only other issue that you haven't mentioned (or realised) is that the rear bumper assembly is different if you have the turbo flares!! The front too is different. ... and the rocker panels/shark fins are different.

I suspect you might find that what started as a "freebie" might turn in to a whole load of expense to get it right.


Regards


Dave

dove

Brian, If I were you I would keep the car as is,I owned a Strosek 964 cab which had widened rear quarters and front wings the car looked great but handled really bad, youve got to consider with this conversion that it will affect the performance and to get it right with turbo suspension etc it will cost big money and bigger hassle.
Paul

Wachuko

Wide Body.... looks sweet... But you will need to replace quite a few parts...

Here is mine...



For the complete look you will also need the front fenders and bumper...

bhensarl

Okay fellas, I do believe I've made my decision. You're right, and I agreed with you from the get-go, the turbo flares are SEXY! But I had forgotten that it would necessitate a whole different rear bumper, which had also already been ordered. If the only part that the shop would have to return would have been the quarter panel, I think I might have been able to talk them into the turbo fenders, but since they already have every piece but the left quarter, I'm going to stick with the NA body. Thanks for the input everybody.
Brian

bhensarl

So I went by and they've started really tearing her apart. The frame's been pulled back into shape according to the factory specs. As you can see, the right quarter's been mostly removed, and the rear clip's gone. The left quarter's on it's way out as well. They've got the rear shelf out right now with the rear wiper assembly exposed, so I think I'm going to have them pull that while it's exposed. I need to look up that thread on here to figure out what parts I need, so if anybody's got that link handy it'd be much appreciated. No mechanical inspection has been done yet, but I've been assured it will be and I've been promised an itemized list of the work that's done.

JasonAndreas

Awesome pictures of a horrible situation! Were you able to get brand new replacement sheetmetal or are the parts coming from a wrecking yard? If the parts are from the factory can you have the body shop weigh them? Make sure the oil filter console gets a new gasket (demand new rear & side window seals too). There are three bolts that hold the console in place and they compress the sides of the gasket (they make a little indentation on the gasket) so when you go to torque the console back in place the gasket won't sit properly and you have the potential for an oil leak (its only $3USD or so).

bhensarl

Brand new parts all around! Progressive wanted to put on the used parts, but USAA opted for brand new ones ordered from the local OPC. I will ask about weighing the parts. I've been real swamped with work lately, so if I don't get back to you with an answer in the next week or so send me a gentle reminder via PM.

I'll be sure to get that new oil filter console gasket, thanks for the tip!

A few bonuses that are coming from this whole deal is that I'll be getting new rear quarter window seals, inner door seals, and I'm going to have them replace the windshield seal as well since it's well overdue. So hopefully I'll get all the seals replaced, and my A/C system repaired without any out of pocket cost on my part. That would make the whole deal easier to swallow.
Brian

bhensarl

Okay, here are a few pics of how it's coming along.
Jason,
Talked to the guy at the shop today about weighing the panels. What do you want weights for? The panels yet to go on are the bumpers and the left quarter. What about the heat shields? He said it might be possible, so let me know what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can do.
Brian