bosscobra

iTrader: (1)

lol damn i need this much help in about 5 months dropping in my new motor and getting it all going, anyone feel like a 600hp ls2 swapout after we get chucks car back on the road? glad to see all us brothers banding together, its a wonderfull thing lol

Upgrayedd

iTrader: (1)

Hey Chuck, I tried calling you this morning but you didn't pick up. If you need any help this week let me know. I should be able to work around interviewing applicants this week and closing on a client's home if you need an extra set of hands. You got my #

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Chris,
Had the insurance guy come out today and look at the car to determine valuation. He said it would probably take a couple of days to check out what the car is worth. He said I would then be required to get estimates from body shops to get estimates for repair.

You mentioned having a couple of techs looking at the car. Can they give me an accredited body shop repair estimate that I can provide the insurance company?

I can get a list of all the parts needed to put this back together. With that, can you get me pricing for all the parts?

thanks Chris

-chuck

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

I put a post on the 3rd gen forum asking about component interchangeability for the RH steering rack to the LH rack and havent gotten any feedback yet.

chuck

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I probably will need the suspension components as mine have some damage. What parts do you have exactly?

chuck

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Tim,
Thanks for the offer. Was buried in a myriad of tasks that needed to be done and didnt see that you had called till late last night. Until I get definitive info from the insurance company, I cant start doing what needs to be done to put the car back together. I still have some legwork to do to figure this whole thing out with regard to parts costs and availability, body work and repair estimates, painting estimate, and possible frame tweaking estimates.

thanks again
chuck

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Might take you up on the fronts fenders. What condition are they in? Color?

thanks,
chuck

RX72NR

iTrader: (1)

They are red, nice condition minus vents. No damage. Your welcome to check them out, I'm in renton near fairwood. Pm me and I'll give you my adress and #. -Matt

bosscobra

iTrader: (1)

hey chuck, umm well i just unbolted the control arms and droped the hole settup out, and set it asside, and unbolted the rearend and pulled that hole thing out, the front swaybar i wassnt sure if it was bent, same with the passenger control arm and everything assosiated with it, so i just threw those in the trash pile because i didnt want to risk givng someone damaged parts, but the entire rear, and drivers front are all there, so whatever you need just give me a list and i can gather, disasemble and clean any parts you need

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Hey Chuck sincerely sorry to hear about your loss!

I know you car must mean a lot to you just by the way you passionately respond to topics around here.

If I have anything that could be of use to you I would be honored to help out.

Please PM me your running list and I will see if I can find anything to contribute to the cause.

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

David,
Good to hear from you! Thanks for your kind offer.

An update: the insurance company came out and looked at the car and gave me an appraised value of $17,000+. Just looking at the car, he figured about $8000 to repair but said the insurance would cover up to $12,000. So, I feel a lot better knowing that my coverage is very good at this point.

My desire is to have the car be back to brand new condition. I dont want any bondo except what is absolutely necessary. May have to have the frame tweaked a little bit as well. Right now, I am looking for a body shop that does the highest quality work and is willing to work with me to put my car back together the way I want it done, which is me doing most of the work and they finish up what I cant. I dont think that most body shops would be as careful and meticulous as I would be in disassembly and reassembly. In addition, there are other things I want to do while the car is apart, such as replacing the dynamat that will go away with the damaged rear quarter panel. I also want to paint all the new parts and bolt on parts separately before they are reattached to the car.

Ive got pics I need to sort through and will post them soon.

thanks for all the support,
-chuck

ps - This has been depressing as hell. Word to wise: dont wreck your cars and if you can afford it, get good insurance.

johgar

iTrader: (21)

Good to hear that the insurance appraised value is 17K.
Chuck I have a set of shock and spring from my car. You can have it if you want.

If I can remember the name of the good bodyshop, I will let you know. I can't think of the name right now.

Daniels

bosscobra

iTrader: (1)

when my fd got backed into i took it to my dads g/fs shop, mersadies (spelling sorry) certified body shop, they have frame jiggs, and are great at getting things back to new, their work isnt cheap, but if people that own bmw's and mercaides and cars that cost 3 times more then an fd take em there, then they cant be to bad, lol that and i know the owner so i know things will get done top notch, they are located in portland oregon, autowerks NW is the name, check em out online and give them a call and see what they can do

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Here are some pics from the crash.

The front was damaged when I hit the guard rail on the other side of the road which forced the car to spin a 180.

Pics of the guard rail I took out and the very steep hill beyond the guard rail. The right rear quarter panel took the brunt of the impact after I spun 180 degrees it slammed into the rail and curb block.

Amazingly I wound up on the road and not over the edge. If the car would have gone over the edge it probably would have flipped and rolled down the hill and most likely been a total.

Damage underneath the car was probably from the curb block along the rail.

Broke the driver side tie rod end and all 4 wheels were bent with chunks broken out. The front left tire was pulled off the rim. My small 8" subwoofer box was in a safety net under the rear strut bar but moved enough to bounce up and take out the hatch glass.

-chuck

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

more pics

Upgrayedd

iTrader: (1)

Ouch!!!!! Chuck, I'm sorry that makes me wanna cry!!! I you decide to have a work party I'll bring some beer for the guys... Just let me know!

BlueShift

That is really sad man. It looks like it is mostly body panels and suspension. It looks like everything did what it was supposed to protect the frame. I am suprised that your airbags did not deploy looking at your front end. But that is a good thing since it would be really hard to replace. Let us know what you need.

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

A guy from Cascade Collision Center in Everett came out to give me an onsite estimate for the repair work. The only company out of a dozen I called that followed up and came out to see the car. Turns out they also are one of a few that will paint replacement panels separately and remove mouldings instead of masking to apply paint. In addition, the panels that are damaged will not be straightened and bondoed. They also will paint the rest of the car for an additional fee. Repair is at about $10,000 with open items still to be determined.
-chuck

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

That doesn't look like a really bad hit. The hit in the front looks super light as the hood looks OK. Looks like they are going to have to put a 1/4 panel on, they will have to paint that on the car.

I would do all the teardown to the interior, etc if you are handy at that sort of thing. The bodyshop typically has some kid doing that and he really doesn't care much about your car.

The tie rod always breaks when you hit the wheel on anything, it is about $150 from Mazdaspeed Motorsports.

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

Hey Jeff,
Thanks for your input. I have been removing the interior components to reduce the amount of work the body shop would have to deal with and because I figured it would be more carefully done by me than by them. This will be the first time anyone besides myself will be touching my car and I am still concerned as to how they will be treating it.

Got a quote from the body shop and did a cost comparison for parts that will be replaced. I can save myself over $2500 if they let me purchase the parts thru Ray Crowe. With the money saved, I would have enough to paint the whole car. It has the original paint from 1993 which is still in excellent condition but shows some sign of wear especially on the hood. Seems that trying to color match black would be questionable. I want the car to be in brand new condition again and I am as picky as hell.

Does Malloy Mazda / Ray Crowe have the best prices for body panel replacement parts and components?

-chuck

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Ray has good prices, add in shipping costs and potential damage and his prices might be higher than the local dealer with a 20-25% discount. If you order a fair number of parts at once you should be able to get that type of discount from the local dealer.

My body guy tells me black is one of the easiest colors to match but if you have some "problem areas" I'd go with a complete repaint. If you do a complete repaint I'd think you would want to strip the car down as I did in this pic.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1140...34192742esgUlV

That way it is VERY difficult to tell the car has ever been painted.

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

So today I find out that the body shop initial estimate is about $1300 more than what the insurance company wants to pay for the work to be performed, cost of parts, paint, supplies etc. The insurance company has already told me they will pay up to $12,000 and we are still under this amount by $2500 so why the hang-up?

Anybody know about insurance ins and outs and how to get by this issue. Body shop says they are flexible and will negotiate but not to the tune of $1300.00.

I wish the insurance company would let me do the work. Tweaking the "frame" and alignment are the only things I would need to have done for me. I could do everything else including the painting.

Anyway, Im looking for any insurance work-around advice and any body shop work-around advice to help me resolve these issues and get the process rolling.

Thanks,
Chuck

Maniacmikey

You are getting close to the value of the car in damage repairs so the insurance company is probably leaning toward totaling the car. Ask your adjuster about totaling the car and if you could buy it back after they total it. Than you could get a check and have the grunt work done by body shop and do the rest yourself.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

If the car is paid for you should be able to take the max payout the insurance is willing to pay and you deal with everything yourself and NOT total the car.

It sounds like they are trying to reduce the payout since you seem to be so attached to the car. If they will pay $12k to fix it and the repair bill is $9500 then they should PAY IT and not a reduced amount. The thing is they have probably looked into the car's salvage value, that car will probably pull $6k, maybe better at the auction, seriously...

If you've been a picky guy then they realize that after the car is fixed you will come back and say something isn't right and they will end up paying more than the estimate.

Bodyshops frequently come back during the repair process and say they need more $$, the $2500 might be cushion for the insurance company.

My wife was a property damage and bodily injury claims adjuster for 10yrs for the nation's largest insurer.

Jeff

a3dcadman

iTrader: (1)

I talked to the insurance adjuster this afternoon, and he had cut a check for the body shop already. He told me that there should be enough of a cushion to address additional issues that may arise.

The body shop was concerned about the difference in their estimate and Pemco's and how it would be paid. Since I was able to get the parts at a substantially lower price and would handle some of the work (removing all interior panels and reinstalling) as well as some of the sublet aspects, the body shop was willing to apply the cost difference to that balance. Anything beyond the balance would be applied to the cost of painting the rest of the car.

I am very attached to my 7, and I am as picky as hell. The car has 50,000 miles on it now. I bought it 4 years ago with 19,000 miles on it from the first owner, completely stock. I just completely rebuilt the engine less than 5000 miles ago. Ive got a shitload of time and money into it to make it as "perfect" and pristine as possible.

Since my twin boys graduate from Western Washington University next month and have lived away from home for the last 4 years, this car has been therapeutic, a very fulfilling hobby and labor of love. My close friends would characterize it as a manifestation of a mid-life crisis or obsessive compulsive disorder. lol

Jeff thanks for your input!

-chuck