PushinTheLimit

Since I put it in the wall at Road Atlanta at the last Nasa-SE event, I brought the car home and started taking it apart. This will probably be a lengthy rebuild thread so I'll add to this everytime I make some progress. This is what it looked like before the crash... taken right before I went to Road Atlanta.



Then I was running in the ST2 race on saturday with Brian Bowers chasing until lap 12 when I clobbered the inside wall coming out of turn 12. Here's what the car looked like when I brought it home.





Started stripping the car down and this is what it looks like at this point...

Front












Rear








Really not as bad as I thought it would be when I pulled all the body panels off. So now to get it ready to get the frame straightened out by a guy here locally in town. Stay tuned for more updates in the next few weeks.

Short-Throw

Good Luck and great attitude!

travisnd

****... front end looks a bit worse than I thought, but you can fix her up fine

Off-topic, but I see your trans cooler heat exchanger is up front with the oil cooler. Where do your lines run to get to the back? Are they tucked up over the tunnel plate? Where's the trans pump?

sperkins

I thought you weren't supposed to pull the frame. I thought you had to section it?

dvandentop

wow surprised frame was bent so bad. hope it pulls in good for ya

RX-Ben

merely a flesh wound...

L98Terror

That sucks, good luck with the rebuild hopefully it goes quicker than mine did

travisnd

You can pull steel just fine. You only need to section it if it's smashed so bad it can't be pulled. The rules change with the aluminum framed car... can't pull aluminum as it work hardens and becomes brittle (think bending a coat hanger back and forth until it breaks).

davidfarmer

you can straighten the frame, it works just fine. The rear will be easy, I don't think you need to replace the tub, just repair the bad spots (it is a race car after all. I would just cut off the end of the rear frame that is bent.

You'll be up and running in no time!

travisnd

Properly replacing the top section of the tub and sectioning the rear of the lower half (you'll see it has seams marked on it for cutting part of it out) requires you to pull the roof.

Pulling the roof requires glass removal which requires all your trim to be removed and likely damaged. I'd leave the roof on (unless you're adventurous like me and want to cut the OEM halo bar out etc.) and patch the tub up... force it back in position then glass it hard again.

EDIT - Just call Wallyman's mobile repair shop

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...s-of-pics.html

Guess his pics are down, but he had the same damage to his rear frame end from his crash. He chocked the car in place and pulled it straight which his Navigator, a chain, and a blow torch

PushinTheLimit

I heard the stories about that. But I'll let Jerry do what he thinks needs to be done about the frame as far as pulling it, or cutting and rewelding the frame back up. He's got way more knowledge of what can and can't be fixed than I do so I will take his suggestion when it gets to his shop.

The thing is, I could have the car back up and running fairly quickly... if I didn't go with an aero package. My piggy bank will need to fatten up a little bit before I pull the trigger on those parts.

But the car will have a "new" fresh look to it when it gets completed... that will be kept secret until I show up at the track with it for the first time out

travisnd

I hear gold chrome paint is hot....

Kubs

You are working quick! You'll be enjoying the track again very soon. It doesnt look as bad as I thought it would just from watching Brian's video.

waddisme

Wow - that's a lot of tires!

sperkins

You aint seen nothin!

Brent Dalton

Michael, I'm sure you'll be back up and running in no time. Tell my car I miss her when you drop yours off.



I wouldn't be surprised if you were up to triple digits these days

PushinTheLimit

Took the car to a local frame shop in town and got a good estimate so he will be starting on it in the next week or so. I still need to pull the radiator out so I will be working on that in the next couple of days.

I saw David Farmer suggest earlier in this thread to just cut off the outside edges of the rear frame... any reason not to do this for the front as well?

Also, since the new front nose I plan to pick up in a few weeks already has the radiator support built with it... I thought I would just take off the stock radiator support framework while its in the frame shop. It would probably need replacing anyways as its bent pretty good.

C66 Racing

Brings back horrible memories of my crash into a concrete wall at Pacific Raceways in 06. Hope you get her back together soon.

PushinTheLimit

Thanks... I hope I can get it back together to race some in 2012. If everything goes well getting the frame straight and the rear tub fixed, its all downhill from there and just waiting for parts to come in at that point.

varkwso

Check for a frame kink at the firewall passenger side.