yeah...i guess we are all a little attached to our first car...

 

its an easy fix. the core support that you talk about being bent. just bend it back in place its real easy with a crow bar or long screwdriver. the hardest part will be setting your headlights to am on the road again. but when it gets to that just bring it to a sullivan tire or something it will cost you 50 bucks but they will replace all the broken clips and set the headlights right

 

Mark:

First off, what school do you go to? I'm In NJ too (north western) and go to CCM. < 20YO)

NJ stop and go traffic sucks, a good friend of mine just got rear ended/ went under a truck with his 02 Corvette $13,000 damage!

I'd see whats involved in fixing it, are you handy? I'm not skilled to do that kind of work but are you? and my neighborhood wouldnt be too accepting of me parking my banged up car to part out so I can see your problem.

Good luck

~Chris

 

well I think of it this way. If it was me I would just fix it call it a few hundred dollars of a loss, and a lesson learned. the lesson is the same I learned with my Trans Am ALONGGGGGGG time ago, the safest way to drive is what I call looking through the car in front of you this way you can see what is going on. I have seen people not hit there breaks and just swerve at the last second causing the car in back of them to rear end the car in front. It sucks but sometimes SHlT happens, and those pics only look Shlty because you might not have the mechanical knowledge to fix this. you can find those parts on this board, another board, or even e-bay for a few hundred dollars!! then invite a few friends over with a case of beer and change over the parts.........its just like a puzzle remember how it came off and do the reverse with the new parts. then just send it to a body shop for paint. i wouldnt think it would cost more than 5-6 hundred start to finish

 

For what it's worth...the car I had before I bought my z28 got t-boned coming out of a parking lot. Repairs were more than the cost of the car, and I didn't have collision at the time either. Everyone said "sell it", so I sold it for way too little money and got rid of a car that really had a lot of potential. I still kick myself every now and then for getting rid of it.

So...I would totally understand if you kept it. It looks fixable with a little sweat and love.

 

did the dash rip where the pass air bag blew?

if yes, wish I was closer, I have the dash , both air bags and the air bag module from a 94 Z

 

Chris - I think I used to talk to you once or twice on AIM a couple years back. I go to Ramapo up in northern jersey.

Thanks for all the responses, maybe it will be worth salvaging although I know that a car is never really the same after an accident, a lot of it depends on if I can bend back that crossmember. I could definitely make some money with parting it out, but in the end I don't want to have to deal with a bare frame sitting in my drive way and then probably needing to call and pay someone to pick it up. Although i know a lot of people who have said parting out is the way to go.

I wish you weren't so far away either, i definitely would have looked into those airbags. I think I'm going to duct tape the front of the car together today and then drive it...carefully back home tomorrow and see what I want to do from there. My parents are already on the "you need a small truck or front wheel drive car" speal...so I can't wait.

Also, yeah the dash is cracked. Even the upper piece that runs across the entire front right above the passenger air bag. When it ejected it cracked a half circle there too...idk if that's supposed to happen or not.

 

I'd say if you like your car as much as you do then keep it.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/180940/3

That was my dream car, totalled when some idiots ran a red light as I went through it. I ended up selling it for $1000.....very fixable...and I shoulda kept it.

 

hey man, here are some air bags for ya http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33719

 

He's going to have to replace the entire dash structure, from door to door. The airbag and the dash structure are all 1 part on his car. I'm guessing that is what you meant saying you "have the dash"

It is going to cost more than a "few hundred bucks" to get that damage fixed. Just the parts and a little labor will cost at least $650 plus shipping

drivers airbag and module- $100
dash assembly with passenger airbag- $150
right fender- $75
hood- $75
front bumper cover- $100
front bumper- $50
plastic front impact absorber- $25
fiberglass headlight bar- $45
2 headlights with housings- $50
1 foglight- $40
1 turn signal lense- $10
windshield washer reservior- $15
2 hours on a frame machine to make sure it is "strait" - $150
front end allignment - $50

Add it up... (at least) $860 plus shipping for everything used. Figure another $400 to get it painted, then a few misc parts and you are spending $1400 to fix it before you know it, and that is doing ALL the work youself except the paint & allignment. If you pay someone to do it, bet on another $500-$750. If the frame is tweaked on the passenger side it will cost even more.

KBB.com puts the cars value at $3200.00. It's Your call. It just might be worth it to you if you can do it yourself and the car is *really* nice otherwise. If it is just an average 135K mile V6 car, I'd part it out.

 

If it were me I would cut the airbags out put a junk yard front clip on it and save to get a new dash out of another car or swap in a newer ls1 style interior but that is just me.

 

Sell it on EBAY as is. The fact that it runs will help you a bit. Then take whatever you get for it and bank it. Save as much as you can as fast as you can and buy a nice 4-5k LT1

Seriously though I don't see the point in spending more money to fix a car then the car is worth. If you can fix it for 500 or so then I'd say go for it. Otherwise I would suggest selling it for what you can get and starting over with a even better car.

Good Luck!

 

Cut the air bags out, take off fender and hood, get new fender and hood and get a healight support core and anything else that is broke.. go get all parts at junkyard.. If runs shouldn't be but a couple hundred.. Worry about paint for later, get maaco for christmas or something.. if you can turn a screwdriver and a wrench and you have these at your home you need nothing else to fix.. Tak a part of take a pic.. keep doing until all is not broke.. when you have questions take a pic and ask on here.. I am sure that with all these peoples help and smarts all you will have to do is labor.. 1st thing is to take it to a body shop call around and find out if they have a frame machine and their hourly rates.. Get someone reputable.. ie... a non crook.. maybe a family member had a car fixed by someone and you might could trust them.. find out that first that is the most expensive part I would think.. If it's screwed and needs lots of frame work.. then put in garage and part out.. when done call nearest junkyard.. they will pick up everything else for free.. I have bought plenty of cars and parted them out.. junkyard always glad to get stripped cars for weight...

 

Thanks for all the responses and input, it has helped me out greatly.

Anyways, today I drove the car home (about an hour) to let my parents look at what happened and all. From the looks of it, I think it's salvagable and not really worth taking a huge hit from of by selling as is...and parting out, I'm away at school and I just don't know if I have the time.

So I spent most of the day in the garage and took off the front bumper (not near as easy as it looked) but I got it off eventually and probably will be taking the front fender off maybe tonight or tomorrow. I'm not going to stress paint at the moment. As far as hood, I'm still up in the air about buying a cheap stock one or "taking advantage of the opportunity" and buying an aftermarket hood that I've wanted...I know that completely ruins this whole keeping the price down...but I've always wanted the camaro to have a hood and maybe even a body kit...depending on when I'm getting it painted.

As far as lights, the whole light bar is just completely smashed. I'm thinking about just buying Hella 90mm or FF75's which I've wanted to do for a while because the lights are just terrible. Again, I know that's more money. But although my car does have high mileage, it does run good and has been taken care of. Besides all this bs now...all it really needed was a new catalytic converter.

I've been searching ebay for parts. Found this one store: http://search.stores.ebay.com/search...id=2&fp=0&st=1
that I'm thinking about calling and ordering a new fender and front bumper and possibly light panel from. $61 for a front bumper, $44 for the fender, and if I buy a few things I probably can work something out with shipping.

These are basically all bolt on's...the thing that worries me the most about this entire project is how stuff is just BENT and pushed away from where it needs to be. I know I can probably get most of it with a hammer and stuff...but taht worries me the most. Idk if you can see in the pics, but the battery has been pushed and the hood latch/catch has all been bent, etc. Maybe I'll get some better pics of that.

Also for airbags, i'm willing to wait a little bit since they aren't an immediate problem...but I do see ebay is flooded with them. I particularly found this for $100, but the pics are a little blurry and I'm going to be cautious with anyone selling with free shipping.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...sPageName=WDVW

I might need to have the frame checked...but I haven't noticed anything wrong it myself. The alignment, etc all seems to be fine. But if it does need ot be checked out, my gf's dad is a mechanic and I have a friend who is 23 is also a mechanic, so I know I have reliable people to go to if need be. But I'd rather do what I can on my own...not only save money but there's no harm in learning something.

Thanks again for the help. What else do you think I need for the front where the lights were that is all smashed up, bent. I think I can salvage the windshield washer container, it's a little ripped up, but I think it's still fixable. And luckily, I have my brother who just bought a 94 Camaro to compare it to as I get the work done.

 

lol's on the 4K airbags...I see the complete sets with computer on ebay for 250 all the time... matter of fact I sold my air bag for 60bucks... and even that was expensive by ebay standards... good luck.... I"d sell the engine..and turn it into a project car...