Possibly the end of my Festiva

[TONYCASH]

Those BAND-AIDS ? on fender? LOL.

$100 in parts later, it was back on the road:


-Tim[/QUOTE]

[stevewl1164]

My thought EXACTLY, LOL

[Unco]

Fix it! I used to live in Australia, and my grandparents live in Brisbane...right next to Dreamworld. Is that place still there?

yeah, Dreamworld is still there, down the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane. I don't think it's going anywhere soon.

after looking at the current market value, i am almost certain they will write it off. hopefully they'll sell it back to me really cheap.

[stevewl1164]

Unco...a four door Festiva...must be convenient!

[Unco]

it is, i'm only 5'6', so it's a good size for me. i've had 4 people in it with the a/c on without any problems. i've had 2door cars in the past (both celicas) and they're fine, but i find 4door cars a bit more convenient indeed.

[festivaWES]

Yeah that is nothing for damage...

[David88]

^^^ I would'nt call it nothing. I to had a run in with a deer. You have got some work there. It is very fixable, although one thing you have that the others compared to don't have, is that sharp impact to the bumper. Thats likely why the radiator was involved. That support beam may be bent. If not too bad you may get away with just the new foam inserts. You'll certainly need no less than a new cover. I've never had any luck reshaping them. The plastic is such that the friction heat at the instant of impact virtually remoulds it to the new shape.

Once you get all the damaged parts off you'll find that you can pull twist and hammer the core support roughly back to where it was. A coulple of things I found when doing my repairs were #1-
The hood hinges get bent and once the hood is off you may not notice. They are nearly impossible to get right if you try to straighten. I tried. Much easier to just swap for good ones. You have to remove the bolts along the top of the fender and one in the door opening. Then pull the top of the fender out just a bit to get the hinge bolts out. I found out when I was ready to reassemble and had to take out all the bolt I'd just put in. May save you some backtracking.
#2-
Your wiring harneess runs right through the top bar of the core support where the hood latch mounts. It may have gotten pinched in there and wires can get cut. Its a good idea to take it out of there before any vigorous straightening effort anyway. This is a good time to inspect it well for damage.

Depending on what parts you have access to
Here is a part list of thing you'll need:

Bumper cover
-Foam impact absorber
-Bumper support beam?
Grille
-Left& right grille support brackets (mount under one headlight bucket bolt.)
-Grille clips (I used electical wire ties)
Hood
-Hood latch
-Hood latch support bar
-Hood hinges
Radiator

One other thing I did that i wish I had'nt was I pulled the windshield washer hose off at the spray head under the hood. Difficult to replace. Its much easier to leave that connected on the replacement hood and join it futher down the line.

[Sp33dY]

Write it off, buy it back + fix it / find another one

[Tim]

Those BAND-AIDS ? on fender? LOL.


-Tim

[/QUOTE]

That's a funny story. I couldn't find a red fender in Spokane, so I mailed one up from Texas when I was down there for break. The stickers are UPS shipping labels, I mailed the fender just like that.


-Tim

[Unco]

as expected, they deemed the vehicle a total loss and i'll be getting a cheque in the mail in the next few days.

unfortunately they will not sell it back to me. they suggested i contact the auction house that they'll be sending the vehicle to in order to find out when the car will be put through auction and then i can bid on it like everybody else. being a write-off, i probably won't be able to bid on it anyway as they're usually "dealer-only" auctions.

oh well, i gotta start looking for a new daily driver. lucky i have jane's brother's utility to get around while he's overseas on holidays, otherwise i'd be having to get around in the LTD every day and that's not cheap...

[GenevaDirt]

Man thats to bad they will not let you buy it back. I hope you got a decent amount for it. Good luck in the search for a new one.

[CHills]

That freakin' sucks, do you still have it?
Say you lost the corner lights in the accident and mail them to me!

[ejp2fast]

sorry for the 'ding'... should be a reasonable fix.

[Unco]

Man thats to bad they will not let you buy it back. I hope you got a decent amount for it. Good luck in the search for a new one.

looks like i'll be losing money on it considering all the new parts i put on it in the last few months. around -$1,000 total loss.

That freakin' sucks, do you still have it?
Say you lost the corner lights in the accident and mail them to me!

sorry, had to leave the car at the assessment centre. they would not let me bring it home.

at this stage i'm not sure what type of car i'm going to get next. i'm considering either a mid eighties Toyota Corona, a 90's Ford Laser (Mazda 323) B6 station wagon, an 80's or 90's 6cyl Ford Fairlane or LTD sedan or some sort of 4WD utility.

[freshtiva]

What a shame, there are some " to kill for " parts on that car. The USA never got near the options you guys in Australia got. Real sorry for your lost. I think Id forget about the insurance and kept it. How much of a check are they giving you for it ?