> Tory Johnson wrote:
>
> > As some of you may have read, I was rear-ended by a dodge truck on
> > monday while driving my newly restored 78 Spitfire. The bumper being
> > attatched to the frame, I'm realativly sure the frame is bent some...
> > question is when i have the body work done, and the frame straightened,
> > are there certain specs regarding the frame i should be aware of and
> > make know to the repair people?....
>
On Fri, 23 Jan 1998, Joe Curry wrote:
> Troy,Unless you were smacked extremely hard, it is unlikely that you
> injured any part to the frame that has to do with wheel alignment and
> handling. If anything is bent, it will likely be those frame extenders
> that were added behind the differential mount on the 1500's. Since they
> are solely for stiffening the rear of the car (in he event of a rear ender)
> I would think that straightening by the "eye-ball method should be
> sufficient.
Joe, I'm not sure I agree with you here, based in part on first-hand
experience. I do agree that the rear extensions are likely to be bent
somewhat. But it wouldn't surprise me to find that some of the impact load
could have been transmitted to other parts of the chassis either by those
extensions or by the tub.
Case in point: I still possess the remains of a 1973 Spitfire 1500
(pre-rear frame extensions) that was soundly whacked in the right rear by
a reasonably large Pontiac. (Neither car was mine, and I wasn't in any
way involved, before anyone asks.) The impact was sufficient to push the
right rear in a good 18" or more and do some serious crumpling.
The good (beyond the fact that belted occupants were basically unharmed):
despite the serious impact, both doors were still operable, and the car
could roll and drive, save for the fact that the very bottom of the RR
wheel arch sheetmetal was trying to regroove the tread of the RR tire.
The bad (beyond the basic fact that the car was totalled): the impact was
enough, without rear frame extensions, to transmit loads throughout the
tub and chassis such that the chassis was quite "sprung" and
(realistically) not reparable. We soon discovered that the impact had also
seriously weakened the u-joint on the RR half-axle. We'd managed to get
the sheetmetal away from the tire enough to drive the car around the yard
until we were ready to part it out, but after only a little bit of such
driving, the u-joint snapped. I'm quite sure it was impact related.
My bottom line here is that the car should be very thoroughly measured for
either body or chassis dimensions that are out of square, and it should be
restored to those correct dimensions as best that can be done. Otherwise
(assuming that damage is present) I'd wonder if any of the four wheels can
be aligned enough to keep them moving with each other as they should.
After that, any and all of the rear suspension and drivetrain should be
thoroughly checked as well for any crash-related damage.
I hope this insurance company really is willing to live up to that goal
they set of "better than before" -- it can be a challenge.
My $.02....
--Andy
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