Hello Tim - nice of you to check up. My arm has been out of the sling for a while now, and gradually getting back to full strength and range of motion. There was apparently some tendon damage as well so I need to do a lot of stretching and resistance exercises.
When I got the car home after the accident, the wrecker was too long to turn in the driveway to drop the car into the garage, so it was covered up on jackstands in front of the house until I was ready to tackle the repairs.
A couple of weeks ago I pulled off the covers and crawled around underneath to assess the extent of the damage. Without any disassembly, Here's what I've been able to determine so far:
Left rear hub carrier broken at lower pivot point but still partially attached to lower control arm.
Left rear lower control arm bent forward about 15 degrees, pressing rear tire into the front of the wheel opening.
Rear trailing arm mounting bracket on lower control arm sheared off. Trailing arm assembly and chassis mount appear undamaged.
All rear shocks and mounting points appear intact.
Rear drive axles appear undamaged. No apparent damage to differential and entire right side of rear suspension.
Main rear brake line before "T" splitter at the differential is damaged.
Rest of underside/drivetrain including gas tank,
oil pan, transmission, etc appears undamaged.
Body has damage to rear lower valance below trunk opening, a crack across the top of the left rear fender, and cracks at the left front inner wheelwell mounting point (where it bolts to the chassis). Minor damage to left headlight area and both tail light areas.
Windshield ok, doors, hood and trunk open and close as normal. Engine starts and runs,
oil pressure, cooling system as normal. Exhaust system undamaged.
Transmission shifts through all gears.
Right side tires destroyed, all wheels appear ok.
The car actually came through much better than I initially expected. The body really surprised me by how well it held up to the impact.
As far as getting it into the garage, the best solution we could come up with was to use a large commercial floor jack to swing the rear around so we could push the car in tail first, but after borrowing a jack twice and having to return it because my "helpers" failed to show up, I got fed up and went to the junkyard for a 14" wheel and the lowest profile tire I could find that would fit into the rear wheelwell with the bent control arm.
I had to drill out the bolt holes as the pattern was slightly off, but it just barely fit, albeit with a serious toe-in on that side. I greased up the crooked tire to limit its traction and lowered the car onto its wheels. I started it up and with lots of wheelspin and crabbing of the rear end, I was able to gingerly work it around and back into the garage.
Its up on stands again and I'm debating whether to pull the body off for a complete rebuild, or to just pull the rear suspension out and have the body repairs done in place.
I found a complete XJ6 IRS assembly in good looking shape sitting in a friend's shop that he's willing to sell for about $500.00US. He thinks its a 2.88 posi, not sure, but that will be easy to verify. I have a 3.54 posi now and may just keep that, use the XJ6 hub carrier, shorten the lower control arm and keep the 2.88 diff as a spare, assuming there's no more extensive damage to my existing rear end.
Lights, bumper, etc. I'll order along with some other cosmetic pieces that are starting to show their age.
I'l follow the advice of my fiberglass expert re: whether or not to remove the body for repair and painting.
Next decision - stay with my current blue or go with red?
mdross - Yes, I'm pretty sure now the forward brace on the roll bar is what I smashed my shoulder on, and I'm also convinced that because I was only wearing my lap belts I was able to crunch forward and keep my head away from impacting the hoop when the car went backwards into the embankment. I am in no way advocating against fastening up the full harness even on short drives - It was pure luck the way it worked out for me in that particular circumstance. Had it been a frontal impact, I would've been in trouble.
Buzz
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