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errantemberSo I recently had one of those "oh-thank-God-no-one-was-hurt-*AND*-they*didn't*ask*for*insurance-I'm-*so*-lucky - my-tags-were-out-and-Dad-was-in-the-car-it's-going-to-take-*HOW*-much to fix?!?!?"-kind of fender benders while scoping chicks or some other more-important-than-not-killing-people-while-driving activity, to the tune of about $2500.00. And this estimate was from a Christian missionary that's a personal friend of my father's, which is the next best thing to Mom honesty-wise. It was one of those "each piece is only bent two degrees, but you have to replace them all and there are twelve"-kind of estimates. There were three resulting problems, two of which I was able to fix today via a process that began with wrapping a chain around a nearby tree...
This has been stressing me out because the car is out of inspection, and probably wouldn't pass with:
1) A hood latch that won't latch
2) Headlights that almost point forward on high-beams, but otherwise illuminate a patch about 5 feet in front of the front bumper. You've heard of fog lights? These were now frog lights.
3) A massive crack in the front windshield
The registration sticker is also out, and although I've obtained a new one, I don't want to attach it to the windshield if I have to replace it, so *both* tags are currently cop-bait.
The main problem was that the front chassis of the car was bent inward by the impact, both to save the life of myself and my father, and also to get lots and lots of money for the auto repair industry. I tried several other solutions that involved modifying the latch mechanism, but to no avail. I took off the plastic bumpers , and saw clearly where the impact had pushed the center of the chassis backward into the radiator, which luckily only suffered superficial damage. Although I had originally planned using a bridge abutment or some other Supernaturally Stationary object to execute the Bad Idea bubbling through my brain, it was hard to keep visions of my ghetto fix being illuminated by the headlights of an SXSW-overworked APD cruiser, so I decided instead to try the large ash juniper in my front yard, conveniently located mere feet from the driveway.
This was tree racism, BTW. I wouldn't have done it with one of my oaks!
I went inside and removed the chain I have for hanging my 100 lb boxing bag. It's not nearly thick enough for this sort of activity, and I got it at Wal-Mart, but it was the only one I had and I was impatient. I didn't want to spend more time with my CR-V chained to a tree in front of my neighbors than was strictly necessary. I wrapped the tree trunk with some vinyl flooring my roommate found, put the chain through a likely spot on the front bumper, and tried backing up.
SSSSSSSQQQQQEEEEEEEEEEL!
SSSSSQWWWWWEEEEEEEEEL!
SSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK-POP!
By the time I was done, I had gone through a quart of oil (*whew*!), broken the chain once, and sent a spare stainless steel quicklink from my fire gear to the ninth level of Chinese Hell. However, I reversed the damage from the original wreck to the tune of 1 inch away from the radiator the chassis had previously been embedded in, was able to re-do the latch to get the hood closed, and got the headlights at least 5 degrees closer to full-horizontal, which is probably enough to pass inspection!
Now I just need to find out what I can do about the crack...
This has been stressing me out because the car is out of inspection, and probably wouldn't pass with:
1) A hood latch that won't latch
2) Headlights that almost point forward on high-beams, but otherwise illuminate a patch about 5 feet in front of the front bumper. You've heard of fog lights? These were now frog lights.
3) A massive crack in the front windshield
The registration sticker is also out, and although I've obtained a new one, I don't want to attach it to the windshield if I have to replace it, so *both* tags are currently cop-bait.
The main problem was that the front chassis of the car was bent inward by the impact, both to save the life of myself and my father, and also to get lots and lots of money for the auto repair industry. I tried several other solutions that involved modifying the latch mechanism, but to no avail. I took off the plastic bumpers , and saw clearly where the impact had pushed the center of the chassis backward into the radiator, which luckily only suffered superficial damage. Although I had originally planned using a bridge abutment or some other Supernaturally Stationary object to execute the Bad Idea bubbling through my brain, it was hard to keep visions of my ghetto fix being illuminated by the headlights of an SXSW-overworked APD cruiser, so I decided instead to try the large ash juniper in my front yard, conveniently located mere feet from the driveway.
This was tree racism, BTW. I wouldn't have done it with one of my oaks!
I went inside and removed the chain I have for hanging my 100 lb boxing bag. It's not nearly thick enough for this sort of activity, and I got it at Wal-Mart, but it was the only one I had and I was impatient. I didn't want to spend more time with my CR-V chained to a tree in front of my neighbors than was strictly necessary. I wrapped the tree trunk with some vinyl flooring my roommate found, put the chain through a likely spot on the front bumper, and tried backing up.
SSSSSSSQQQQQEEEEEEEEEEL!
SSSSSQWWWWWEEEEEEEEEL!
SSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK-POP!
By the time I was done, I had gone through a quart of oil (*whew*!), broken the chain once, and sent a spare stainless steel quicklink from my fire gear to the ninth level of Chinese Hell. However, I reversed the damage from the original wreck to the tune of 1 inch away from the radiator the chassis had previously been embedded in, was able to re-do the latch to get the hood closed, and got the headlights at least 5 degrees closer to full-horizontal, which is probably enough to pass inspection!
Now I just need to find out what I can do about the crack...
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 12:07 am (UTC)Glad it worked though, at least, hopefully enough.
It does kinda turn me on that you can be so creative in finding ways to fix stuff yourself.... ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 01:04 am (UTC)I now have two chains instead of one...
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 03:47 am (UTC)*kiss*
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 05:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 06:59 am (UTC)The broken comment was really tactless. I was literally fucked up on food and shouldn't have been writing. I subsequently passed out for four hours on the couch, then passed out again in the bathroom. Definitely not working properly. Probably shouldn't be writing now.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 12:07 am (UTC)Can you keep the registration sticker on its backing and just tape it to the inside of the windshield for now?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 07:10 am (UTC)