Tag Archives: repair

SpecE46 Wreck Repair

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After the Spec E46’s debut at Barber Motorsports Park, I was left with a crumpled and undriveable car.  The initial visual inspection at the track showed that I’d be in need of the following:

  1. HoodBashed front left SE46
  2. Left Fender
  3. Bumper
  4. Left and Right headlights
  5. Left control arm
  6. left tie rod
  7. Airbox
  8. Left aluminum engine mount
  9. Apex Wheel
  10. Radiator core support

Once I had the car home, I immediately unloaded it directly from the trailer into the shop and up on jack stands.  From there I started to dismantle the front end.  With the hood, fender, and bumper off, I got a much better look at what lay ahead.  I then found the following would need replaced:

  1. Front left wheel housingGutted Front Car
  2. Front subframe
  3. Left and right engine mounts
  4. Steering rack
  5. Power steering pump pulley
  6. Radiator
  7. Front bumper crash bar

The whole left front had been pushed to the right and rear, forcing the wheel well up into where the DME box and brake master cylinder/ABS/booster are located.  Several welds had pulled apart, and I don’t think a simple frame pull would get it back to where it needed to be.  So I opted to order brand new OEM sheet metal.  BMW offers the entire wheel housing and frame horn as a replacement part, though it’s certainly a special order item.

Bent Y-PipeThe engine came out, which was in surprisingly good order, other than the torn Bimmerworld engine mounts and cracked aluminum mounts.  I got lucky in that none of the bolts pulled from the block.  The crash did manage to put a ding in the Y-pipe, but I decided to leave it alone.

The engine subframe was twisted at the engine mounts, so it went in the trash.  I sourced one from a junk yard, as well as a used core support and crash bar.  The subframe was cleaned up and a set of Turner reinforcements were welded on.

I completely cut away the original wheel well by drilling out all the factory spot welds, leaving the front left firewall completely bare.  The new housing was squeezed into place, and leveled using tape measures and a plumb bob.  I welded it back on using the factory spot weld locations.  The interior of the transmission tunnel needed a patch plate where some original metal tore during removal.

The left control arm bushing had stripped the threads from the frame, so I ended up drilling it up a size and inserting a helicoil.

Primered Front Wheel HousingWith the new metal final welded into place, I gave everything a good scuff with a 3M pad, followed by cleaning, then a coat of automotive primer.  I then sealed up the gaps with some plain seam sealer before painting everything a matched 300 Alpine White and a coat of catalyzed clear.

Everything went back together as it did the first time.  I did find that both frame horns slightly shifted (~1/8″) to the right when checking the frame for squareness.  A little extra effort on panel gaps brought everything within factory spec and the car aligned properly as well.  I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Note: While everything was apart, I took the opportunity to replace the brake master cylinder and booster.  These weren’t damaged in the wreck but were original to the car (~220k miles).

[foogallery id=”7886″]

 

Titan Rear Bumper Repair

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A momentary lapse in my normally focused driving resulted in slamming my otherwise perfect ’09 Titan backwards into a heavy-duty steel pole.  The bumper was crumpled just to the left of the center step and the tailgate also got a nice big dent.  Both of these issues were very easy, albeit expensive, to fix.  I simply ordered a new bumper from Nissan, which came unpainted.  I dropped it and the tailgate off at a local body-shop, who had them back to me in a couple days.

The real challenge was the damage done to the underlying steel step that is integral to the trailer hitch.  This piece is welded solid to the hitch, and at about 3/16″ thick, impossible to straighten out.  So my solution; find a near matching piece of steel to replace the damaged portion.  Fortunately the piece was a fairly standard 4″ wide.  I stopped at a local steel building supply, and they happened to have a 2×4″ piece of scrap steel for a couple dollars.

It took quite a bit of grinding, a cutoff wheel, and a pry bar to get the old piece off the hitch.

Grinding and cutting off damaged bumper. Old step removed.

Then on to duplicating the step using the scrap steel.  The piece I used was slightly thinner (~1/8″) but still plenty strong.  It was still a challenge to cut, as I have no miter saw or plasma cutter.  I used a pneumatic cutoff wheel and a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade.  Then I clamped the piece in place, measured it to make sure I had the same placement as the original.  Tacked it into place with the MIG and test fit the plastic cover before burning it in.

New step cut out Fitting fabbed step

I coated everything with semi-gloss black.  I now had to duplicate the four odd-shaped holes that the plastic cover clips into.  I used a 1″ hole-saw, then shaped them to fit using a carbide bit and the pneumatic die-grinder.

New and old step next to eachother.  Cutting holes into new step.

Before installing the plastic covers, I stuck a bead of butyl-tape down.  This isn’t required, but it should keep the plastic cover from riding up and down.  The original pieces had rubbed the paint from doing this.  Everything clips into place, with no signs of any damage.  Still need to install the tailgate, but I’m planning on installing a lock actuator on it first.  See that in a future post.

Butyl tape on new bumper Bumper finished