Yay, Finally some progress on the car. 
My dad and I managed to bend out the main beams over several weekends of work. We bolted a 12 foot stainless steel unistrut to the end of the frame rails and, with some cutting, got the rails back close to alignment. After they were straight, we riveted some peices of angle on to the tops of the beams where we had to cut them. You can see the peice of angle with rivets in it here:
After those were straight, it was time to work on the supporting sheet metal. I spent many hours working on all of that with 2 pair of vicegrips, a pair of channel-locks, an iron pipe and a big screwdriver for prying, and a hammer. After much pounding and cussing, my friend Jake and I made some meaningful progress.
WE GOT BODY PANELS ON!!!
The new panels are off of a later model, series 5 instead of series 4, so the trim doesnt line up perfectly where the fenders meet the doors, but you can only tell if you get within a foot or two. The upside of going with the S5 bumper is that it has a larger opening for the radiator and for the brake cooling ducts. I may also choose to put the factory S5 foglights in, not sure yet though. The new panels are kinda beat up as you can see so once I get everything back together, I will have to start saving for a paint job. A real paint job I mean, not some Maaco shit. I dont know what color I want repainted though. The car was originally gold with black accents. Pics from pre-wreck
What do you think? Stick with the gold or try something else?
I am on spring break now so I have this whole week to work on the car.
To those of you who said it couldnt be done:
Peace
Andy.
Edit: Dammit, pics are too wide. Post wreck pics.
My dad and I managed to bend out the main beams over several weekends of work. We bolted a 12 foot stainless steel unistrut to the end of the frame rails and, with some cutting, got the rails back close to alignment. After they were straight, we riveted some peices of angle on to the tops of the beams where we had to cut them. You can see the peice of angle with rivets in it here:
After those were straight, it was time to work on the supporting sheet metal. I spent many hours working on all of that with 2 pair of vicegrips, a pair of channel-locks, an iron pipe and a big screwdriver for prying, and a hammer. After much pounding and cussing, my friend Jake and I made some meaningful progress.
WE GOT BODY PANELS ON!!!
The new panels are off of a later model, series 5 instead of series 4, so the trim doesnt line up perfectly where the fenders meet the doors, but you can only tell if you get within a foot or two. The upside of going with the S5 bumper is that it has a larger opening for the radiator and for the brake cooling ducts. I may also choose to put the factory S5 foglights in, not sure yet though. The new panels are kinda beat up as you can see so once I get everything back together, I will have to start saving for a paint job. A real paint job I mean, not some Maaco shit. I dont know what color I want repainted though. The car was originally gold with black accents. Pics from pre-wreck
What do you think? Stick with the gold or try something else?
I am on spring break now so I have this whole week to work on the car.
To those of you who said it couldnt be done:
Peace
Andy.
Edit: Dammit, pics are too wide. Post wreck pics.