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So I Wrecked My Vette...


Junkman2008

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(The real wreck starts at post #132. This was the wreck BEFORE the wreck)

 

Well, I guess I more like "curbed" it but it feels like a wreck to me. :(

 

I was parked next to a really high curb and forgot about that when I went to leave. The damage will require fiberglass work and repainting but until I get some free time, I'll have to make it look presentable. I guess it could be worse, another drunk driver could have hit me.

 

Here's the damage:

 

wreck1.jpg

 

wreck2.jpg

 

 

So I broke out the sandpaper and knocked down a lot of clear coat. I needed to make this look as good as possible so that I would keep kicking myself every time I looked at the car. The car is so low that I had to jack it up in order to save my back. :help:

 

wreck3.jpg

 

 

 

Wet sanding in progress. The damage is pretty deep.

 

wreck4.jpg

 

 

Now I'm buffing out the damage with Severe Swirl Remover. Normally, I would have to use something more abrasive but by using a Makita rotary, SSR is strong enough to remove the aggressive wet sanding that I was doing.

 

 

wreck5.jpg

 

I then followed that up with the Swirl & Haze Remover and Fine Machine Polish on the Flex.

 

wreck5a.jpg

 

 

The final results. The reflections of stuff on the floor makes it look like I haven't done anything! :help:

 

wreck6.jpg

 

I was able to get it somewhat presentable but like I said before, this will require a repaint in order to make it perfect again. On a side not, my detail cart arrived and I was able to put it to use while I was working.

 

detail_cart.jpg

 

Oh well, gotta go make some money for this repair. thud.gif

 

 

Jump to this page for the updated pictures of the 2nd wreck. :help:

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Another update! :D

 

I finally got all the body work completed and laid my primer and paint.

 

wreck23.jpg

 

wreck24.jpg

 

 

Halfway decent for a "brutha' in his friend's garage production" (my friend has the air compressor I needed)!

 

wreck25.jpg

 

wreck26.jpg

 

wreck27.jpg

 

Now comes the fun of wet sanding all the orange peel away. This is as much fun as claying, another arm burning activity. I'm starting with 2500 and working my way through 3000. I'll then re-clear everything and go back again with 3000. I'll then re-clear again and it will be slick as snot, with plenty of clear on the car.

 

My first clear, wet sanding and buffing...

 

wreck29.jpg

 

 

In progress...

 

wreck28.jpg

 

wreck30.jpg

 

wreck31.jpg

 

wreck32.jpg

 

wreck33.jpg

 

wreck34.jpg

 

 

And the saga continues... :willy:

 

I've got to get the paint back as slick as I had it before:

 

fresh_wax2.jpg

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Okay, here are some updates!

 

Since the inner fender housing was damaged beyond repair, it had to come off the car. This was not a fun time as the inner fender is glued to the frame. :willy:

 

wreck7.jpg

 

wreck8.jpg

 

You can see how it is glued in this picture.

 

wreck9.jpg

 

 

The horns were all finagled and bent every which way. I straightened one out. Check out what is left of my fog light. :willy:

 

wreck10.jpg

 

 

Test fitting the new inner fender.

 

wreck11.jpg

 

 

Prepping the new bumper.

 

wreck13.jpg

 

 

Test fitting the fender and bumper:

 

wreck14.jpg

 

 

wreck15.jpg

 

 

What's left of my fog light... :willy:

 

wreck16.jpg

 

 

... and the repair continues.

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Man I'm glad to finally find this forum. I've been watching you on YouTube, by the way you have made me spend a lot of money and become obsessed with my 09 black challenger RT's shine.LOL I'm officially a shine junkie. Sorry about your vett but it looks like you got most of it out. Thank you for taking the time to post your videos and most of all thank you for your service.

 

Steve, make sure you contact Steve@Adam'sPolishes for great deals! He's spreading Adam's love all over Georgia!

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Man I'm glad to finally find this forum. I've been watching you on YouTube, by the way you have made me spend a lot of money and become obsessed with my 09 black challenger RT's shine.LOL I'm officially a shine junkie. Sorry about your vett but it looks like you got most of it out. Thank you for taking the time to post your videos and most of all thank you for your service.

 

You're welcome and thanks for watching. :2thumbs:

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Hey junkie.....you have your car fixed yet? I really hope you got your baby back to looking like new!

?.progress report

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

I am waiting on a few parts before I start dismantling it. Once they arrive, I'll start a whole complete start to finish thread. It's going to be quite a repair. By the way, I feel asleep after that pillow fight tease. I dreamed, and you lost! :D

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I agree with you Chris, better on the track than a public road though.

 

I DO NOT condone street racing either... At least when I drive on the street and some bung hole hits me, my insurance pays for it. On the track you're toast!

 

Chris

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Well, I finally got all the headlight wiring figured out and repaired. Everything is nice and bright again. First, my halos or "angel eyes".

 

wreck56.jpg

 

wreck61.jpg

 

 

Then the high beams, which I changed over to HID's...

 

wreck57.jpg

 

 

And the low beams...

 

wreck58.jpg

 

 

 

Now here's something that you have to consider if you decide to go all HID's with your high's and low beams. When switching from low to high, the high beams need a few seconds to reach their correct brightness. That means that when you first switch over, you'll practically be driving in the dark! :help:

 

This of course is not good. Thus, I needed to make sure that my low beams stayed on whenever I switched over to my high beams. This can be done by what is known and the "4 on or high four" mod. It can easily be done by changing the circuit design in the following manner.

 

wreck47.jpg

 

 

Now I have enough light output to land a 747! :rockon:

 

wreck46.jpg

 

 

Next, I installed the brake cooling ducts...

 

wreck60.jpg

 

 

Then came the fun part. Installing the bumper was an adventure to itself because you had to keep the fog lights and brake ducts in place as you did the install. This was a PITA! I must have spent 3 hours trying to get that darn thing back on!

 

After getting the bumper on, I kid you not that I spent about 6 hours trying to get the alignment perfect. There's obviously a trick to it at the factory and trust me, I don't know the trick. Thus, I had the fun experience of learning it. I have it presentable right now, but I know I'll spend a couple more hours messing with it again. At least it's straight.

 

wreck48.jpg

 

wreck50.jpg

 

wreck49.jpg

 

wreck53.jpg

 

 

Next, the lights went back into the car...

 

wreck51.jpg

 

wreck52.jpg

 

wreck54.jpg

 

wreck55.jpg

 

wreck59.jpg

 

 

I still need to enclosed the headlights with their shrouds and add the covers but hey, that was 18 hours worth of work that you just looked at! :willy:

 

 

 

 

 

wreck62.jpg

 

Well folks, the "Junkmobile" is rolling again! I want to thank all the well wishers in this thread and all those who jumped in just to have a look. I must say that I am very happy about the way it turned out, much better than any dealership could have done. My alignment of the body panels is better than it was at any point. I still want to tweak it a bit but hey, I'm always trying to go for perfection. :thumbsup:

 

 

The first thing I needed to do was get her back into the garage and put a 2-bucket wash on her.

 

wreck66.jpg

 

 

After that, I took her out for the post-wreck cruise.

 

wreck64.jpg

 

wreck65.jpg

 

wreck67-1.jpg

 

wreck63.jpg

 

 

Now I have a lot of detailing to do to the paint and engine compartment but hey, that's what I do. At least I can take advantage of the summer weather now. Total cost for the repair was around $3100 with me providing the labor and food for my buddies. It's the small things that nickle and dime you to death. I am not looking forward to ever having to do this again!

 

:burnout:

 

 

The Junkman

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Ah man that sucks! My dad did something similar to his 2009 Mustang GT/CS. It has a terribly low front bumper, and one day he scraped it up really bad. I think he must have made the turn at a fast food restaurant too sharp and tapped the curb. The damage is actually a bit worse then yours looked, but because of the shape of the bumper, you can't see it as much. It shredded the paint all the way down to the black plastic in one part.

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Well, I won't have to fix it now. A semi tire flew off a truck this weekend and took out the front of the car. It sucks to be me this week. I'll be seeing my insurance adjuster come Monday. :(

 

Dang the luck. Sorry to hear of these misfortunate incidents AJ

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Why does you temporary save look better than my all day correction?:)

 

Like Allen Iverson said, "Practice". Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, etc...

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