to continue with my current delema of not having a drivable body....

my rear axel is shifted over about two inches. what are the chances of fixing this???

it is an '80 body, with '81 rear disk brakes, suspension, and limited slip differential.......

 

What shifted? The mounting points in the body or did the upper or lower control arms get bent?

 

i am not sure.. i have not been able to get it up on anything yet, to crawl under and look.

situation that i know so far is that the car is kinda 'c'ed. on passenger side front and rear ends, the frame is bent in a bit.. this causes most of the body to not allign, i.e. hood, lights, and drivers side door cannot open.. i think that if the body is straightened out, all will pop back into place.

all i can tell, at this point, about the rear axel is that from the outside you can visually see that it is over. but my guess is that the control arms are alright, but that becaue the frame is bent, the mounting points are probably ofset with it.

 

If you have a Haynes (Blue) Manual on page 244 is the Body Checking dimensions chart. Get under the car and take some measurements, you’ll know pretty quick how far out you are.

Thought you were going to find a new carcass to put you driveline in.

 

i am still looking into that option. my first choich, if my budget allows, would be to reserect this one.. there are a few things done to this body, and interior, that i really like and would like to keep if possible...

i will grab a friends jack stands, and measure things today or tomorrow.. is there a specific point of no return here that i should be concerned with??

 

yeah, take all measurements with your wallet

once you take a peek under there, and get some measurments, goto a body shop or 12 and get some opinions and quick and dirty ball park estimates. That'll be the easiest way to figure out if you can afford to fix it or if it's definatly time for a new body.

just my .02,
-- mister insomnia.
(t minus 7 hours until I gotta go to work, and i've been up since 7am. argh.)

 

okay, here is one other question that i forgot about..
assuming that i can find a way to get some juice in the battery, or push start it, do you think that it would be cautiously drivable with the rear axle out as i am describing??

as in well enough to get it to a body shop or two, and then back to my place (so that i donot have to find a trailer or pay for a tow truck)

 

so i just got back from looking at my car.. the only thing that i could notice under it was that the sway bar was bent down on the passenger side....

 

Geez, that’s a tough one, did you drive away from the wreck? You may want to try to roll it around the block and see how it feels to you.

Also if the dimensions are different you have bent the car, dependent on how far you bent it a body shop may be able to straighten it out on a frame machine.

 

os far as driving the car goes.. i drove it a matter of 20 yards or so in a straight line, to a place easy for the tow truck to grab it, and from the side of the street to the sidewalk, where it was dropped of at.. that is all..

also, the weld next to the muffler seems to be split, and hanging down. that was not something that i noticed before hand.

 

You got any pictures of the car in it’s current condition? How far are you from a body shop?

 

i keep forgeting to bring a camera when i go down to the car (it is not at my place). it cannot be much more than a couple miles from the body shop... i figure it is probably safe, just need to find a time to do it, when i can have someone follow me; just in case..

i still want to bring it down, kinda out of curiosity, but it is looking like i am going to have to rebuild. i am trying to get into contact with a few people who i know have series one bodies, that they donot want. i just need to check them out first to make sure that i have a reasonable body to work with here.

 

hey riffraff,
when i wrecked my gslse, the prices quoted to fix it were WAY too high for my budget. instead, i found an 82 in excellent shape inside and out(garaged for 10 years), for $750. that may be cheaper than most body work. then pick and piece a whole car from the 2, and you'll still have a ton of spare parts. heck, you'd probably be able to sell some of the parts here to get your $750 back! lots of folks neglect their rotaries(it's sad, isn't it?) and have nice looking , nonrunning sevens. it's just a matter of finding them. good luck to you with the repair/resurrection!

 

that is what i am hoping.. i figured that fixing mine will be way to expensive.. kinda what get it checked out though, for ***** and giggles... i have a couple of leads on some 79-80 bodys, just waiting to hear on condition. assuming i can find a place to do the rebuild (my parents will not let me use their house) that will be the plan.

out of curiosity, how long did it take you to do yours? my plans right now are to only be around for a month, and then try to finish out the year abroad. hopefully this will be enough time to mix and match the interior, and swap the drive line.....

 

i ended up waiting too long to swap the engines, so my 13b locked up. unfortunately, i didn't know about the ATF treatment to unstick the engine and i lost a ported 13b because of it. but i found a running engine from a wrecked car, all accessories (AC too!) for $800 and took 2-3 days to install. as far as swapping the interior, i'm sure you could strip and reinstall the whole thing in a day, even if you take your time. swapping stuff on sevens is pretty easy just try to finish it on a day with a good lightning storm. that way you could stand on top of it in an old lab coat screaming "it's alive!......ALIVE!!!". bonus points if your shop assisstant is named igor.:p

 

well, lightning does not usually strike here, but i will be sure to call my friend igor when we are finished..

i didnot realise that it would be that easy to swap the dash and carpet.. figure the consols and doors would be easy enough, but...

how long did you have your engine sitting around before you swapped it.. i am just woundering if i should be concerned..
the plan is to, if this is how i go about it, to swap the interior, sterio, and all the goodies first. and have a the car complete as i want it before touching the drive line..

i will probably order a new exhaust soon too, so that i can to the obligitory mods at the same time...

i cannot wait to get the seven back on the road again. . and hopefully it will be running better after than before...

 

you're swapping the dash, too? that might take as long as the rest of the interior. the carpet is really easy, just make sure you have or borrow a cordless drill. it'll make everything SO much faster and easier. if your engine is able to be started and run (in the current car) until warm, i'd leave it in there until you're ready to swap. that way, if it takes longer than you plan, you could still start it once a week to keep the internals lubed.

 

i donot know if i will replace the dash.. that all depends on the condition of the one in the new body.

my engine runs fine, as far as i can tell, at this point. i was planning on that being the last swap.. however, only one problem to starting it every so often. battery is dead. and because my front is misaligned on my current body, i cannot open the hood. thus i cannot just start it.. any ideas on that problem.

 

Try a crowbar.

 

What about push starting it? That's the easiest way since you can't open the hood.

 

i was thinking about that.. just need to get it to a place with enough of a slope so that i can.. atleast when i used to ride motorcycles, on that i needed a hill to push start it.. is the rex any different?

 

Riffraff, How much are you figuring a body shop is going to charge to fix your car?

 

i was actually about to call them to see if i could get a ball park figure just by describing the problems.. my guess, though, is that it would be no less than 2k.. i will let you know when i find something out though.

 

push starting a seven is no prob, i did it in my old 79 for a month before i saved enough to fix the starter. you don't even need a hill. just get her rolling, hop in , and pop the clutch in 2nd gear.

 

i will go ahead and make sure and get the engine running today or tomorrow.. the last thing that i want at this point is a ceasd engine on top of the body damage.