[1Cleanbird27]

Hello all my name is Matt I have been a member since 2012 I purchased a 95 from a second owner in January of 12, since then it has had a motor swap 03 gt motor, with cobra crank mmr rods and mankey 18cc dished pistons, j modded 95 tranny, 3:55 trac-loc rear, and mustang hub swap, long story short I sold the car in January of this year got a call about a week ago from purchaser that he had hit a telephone poll doing 40 mph. Trying to decide to part it out, fix it or swap to donor car, so far needs dash, hood, fenders, core support, radiator will need to go on frame rack, any support and thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Swap to clean doner. That frame is gone.

Sorry about the loss. How old was the buyer? I hate to see Tbirds die like this.

 

[1Cleanbird27]

He was only a few years younger than me, I think 22. To him it wasn't a Thunderbird it was just another car to beat the poop out of.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

He did more than that! :zbash:

Joe

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Sucks to see one go like this.

So the kid is selling it back to you like this and you're deciding what to do with the car? Or does he wants you to do the work to swap / fix it for him?

 

[1Cleanbird27]

i picked it up this weekend for 1000, I know i probably overpaid a bit considering its totaled, but I couldn't quite imagine who would get ahold of it and start ripping parts off of i just had to much time in her to let her go like that so im not quite sure what to do with it.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

How much can you pull off? Will the drive train still work, or was the impact hard enough to make things not work right?

 

[1Cleanbird27]

It will still run, i tripped the intertia switch I drove it up onto the trailer, im in the process of cutting the front end off to get a better view hopefully will have it all opened up tonight.

 

[Rayo]

Probably not the best advice, but if it was my baby I'd fix her.. :zdunno:

Of course, you did sell her to begin with so I can't see there being too much emotional attachment there...

Even doing all the work yourself..Economically it makes sense to find a clean,rust free,good paint body to swap your parts over to..

I'd imagine being an Illinois car it's probably got some rot on it somewhere as well..One more nail in the coffin..





Rayo..

 

[Andy625UK]

Looks like one heavy impact. If it'll drive though, presumably the drivetrain escaped any damage. I'm all for saving them whenever possible - especially if you put a load of work into improving it (we'll gloss over the but where you sold it). Maybe strip off the front end, and transplant panels from a donor?

Ps, if you do end up breaking it, can I buy your drivers side outside door trim??

 

[XR7-4.6]

Probably not the best advice, but if it was my baby I'd fix her.. :zdunno:







Rayo..

Chances are the frame rails splayed out when the bumper buckled, that chassis will never be right again. I've had my car ten years, it was my first, so pretty much peak sentimental value candidate, but if this were mine I'd see no recourse but to reshell it.

 

[Grog6]

I'd want to open the pan, and look at the crank/bearings/etc.

The crank may have moved, and broken some stuff permanently.

That's a tough hit; I hope it's all ok.

 

[1Cleanbird27]

Ya idk why I sold it, guess I thought it was the right thing to do at the time, boy was I wrong, anyway got it tore apart some more tonight found that it actually broke the crank pulley.

 

[Andy625UK]

I reckon, seeing as how you've got that far, you may as well carry on rebuild it now! A project for the Christmas break!

 

[Black_Cat]

If you're going to go into this, I suggest working back to front, make sure everything is kosher in the rear up to the damage first, because there are often times irrepairable damage points that you don't see following an impact like that.

 

[1Cleanbird27]

I forgot all about these pictures of it I forgot to post them I guess it was drug into a carport when it was winched off a pole.

 

[Grog6]

Dude, at this point, I'd snag all the upgrade parts, find a low mileage southern car, and swap them to it.

The area over the rear wheel is particularly hard to fix.

At least, it is on a Cougar. :grin2:

The upgrades might be ok:

The crank is probably toast, the engine block is likely to have gouges in it from the crank, the Tranny or diff or driveshaft is probably broken/bent, as the diff is pretty solidly mounted to the body...

But:
The diff is stronger than the rest, so it's probably fine, and fairly easy to check out.

The hub swaps will directly swap to a new car, and the wheels look ok.

The pistons, rods, heads, etc. are probably fine.

Transmission is expensive to test... If it's fine, great; if not, expensive to swap twice.

Good luck, man.

 

[Andy625UK]

Shame about the side dent, although if you still want to fix it up, a good body guy should be able to pull that out.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Three things I'd kill an MN12 for:

Frame damage - Check

Quarter damage - Check

Roof damage

There's plenty of solid MN12s out there looking for a good home, let the spirit of this live on in one of them. This car is toast.

 

[Grog6]

Three things I'd kill an MN12 for:

Frame damage - Check

Quarter damage - Check

Roof damage

There's plenty of solid MN12s out there looking for a good home, let the spirit of this live on in one of them. This car is toast.

I agree, But.

I'm getting ready to put Lazarus on the rack again to straighten frame damage.
BUT, I'm a whacko. :grin2:

That kind of damage in Our QP's pic Has to be pulled out from the outside, and it doesn't work real well for an amateur.

Unless you are yourself a good body guy or can barter effectively with one, it will be expensive to fix.

On Lazarus, It was over a grand to get the frame stretched back to where it was originally, and another big hit will send it back to that bent shape, which is what happened with me, lol.


I just wanted to point out to the OP what the cost would be to fix this; if it's a labor of love, I understand.


Otherwise, it's an expensive waste of time.

Sometimes I think a Coke habit would be cheaper than my MN12 addiction. >