[grouch]

This is not hotrodding, but I know there are some good folks on here and would like to take advantage of the knowledge. Friday, my daughter was in a wreck. Everybody is fine. She's 3 hours away from home but at a university where immediate transportation is not a problem. I think the car can be restored and have gotten some good info from a thread in the Lounge ( air bag replacement? totalled? ). Here are some photos:

http://edge-op.org/images/wreck/

My nephew lives in that university town and has quite a bit of automotive experience. He took a look at the car and gave this account:

The impact hit the driver's front corner and shoved the core support back and to the passenger side. This pushed the passenger side fender out a bit and back. It's touching the passenger side door. I don't know if that door opens but I wouldn't try. The passenger side fender itself looks fine.

When the core support moved, it popped the radiator out of its upper mounts, so the fan is hitting the shroud. It also appears to have wrinkled the front of the passenger side inner fender structure a bit.

The impact shattered both headlights and the driver's side marker light. It also has put the bumper cover in a bind. The bumper cover may be repairable, but that remains to be seen.

The airbox is also shattered, but the MAF sensor looks okay.

So, from a parts standpoint, you need to replace:
Driver's side front fender. It's not worth fixing.
Radiator core supoprt.
Airbox / air cleaner assembly (both the box and its lid that attaches to the MAF)
Both headlights
Diver's side corner lamp
Hood latch (it's bent pretty far, and it's too cheap to fool with)
There are probably a pile of little parts that you'll find once you get into it.

You'll need to fix the hood -- the driver's side corner above the headlight is rolled under a bit but it's fixable. The hood latch is bent pretty far but the boltholes in the hood are fine.

When you lower the hood there's a significant gap between the front of the passenger side fender and the hood, so I expect you'll probably have to doze the frame a bit, too. If it were mine I'd take it to a frame shop and spend a couple hundred letting them doze the frame. I couldn't tell if the driver's side frame horn was bent but nothing under the front end looks bad, and I didn't see any obvious bends, kinks, or wrinkles. I've fixed plenty of wrecks by prying and pounding, and the cost of the frame shop is worth it in time and ultimate fitment. Expect between $100 and $500 to doze it.

I *think* the core support took most of the damage. I don't think the frame where the core support bolts in did much bending, though it probably moved a bit. I don't think the suspension is damaged. The front tires weren't obviously pointing in the wront direction, and I didn't see anything broken, obviously bent, or wrinkled.

It won't start due to the transmission / starter interlock. It rolls forward and aft in any gear which leads me to think the shift linkage has moved and you cannot get it into Park. You can move the shifter into 2nd but not 1st (indicated) which leads me to think 2nd is actually 1st, and Park (on the shifter) is actually Reverse. Sarah mentioned you have done a shifter repair before -- perhaps something has become "unrepaired"? I may try adjusting the shift linkage to get it to go into Park. If I can get Park, Reverse, and Drive then it should be mobile.

The plan:
I can't get the hood to latch because the core support is moved enough to keep the latch from latching. I don't have a heavy chain or I'd pull the core support out with my S-10 I'll zip-tie the hood closed. I'll zip-tie the radiator to the core support to keep the fan from hitting the shroud. I'll adjust / repair the linkage to get it to start and shift into Park, Drive and Reverse. We'll have to hack together some sort of air filter (I'm thinking a sock or similar zip-tied to the MAF?) You'll have to drive it in daylight since there are no headlights, but it should be good enough to drive [home]. There are worse cars on the road here

Ok, it's a looong post but what I'm asking for are nit-picks and thought details were necessary. He's going to check around for local frame shops to see if he can get it checked out without committing to full body repairs.

Is anything being overlooked?

[skeeveman]

I would say that looks like a very do-able fix. See if you can find a doner car that was hit in the rear end. That way you can get all the replacement sheetmetal, broken engine compartment pieces, headlights, and the radiator support/front framerail sections, and all the other whatnots. It definatly needs to be pulled and put back into square, but after you get it all pulled as closely as you can get it to being perfectly square, I would replace the radiator supprt and framerail sections that have been damaged. Might be hard finding a shop that will do just that for you though, withought the rest of the body work.

[gROCERYgEtteR]

Believe it or not I know a thing or two about wrecked Volvo's. My Wife, Her sister twice and her brother I don't know how many times. The real problem with Volvo's is you can beat the *&^% out of them and it takes a real pro to kill them. I didn't look at it all that well but the metal in there is pretty good stuff, you can get most your parts and a wrecking yard and you should be able to pull the stuff on the inner fender wells and engine compartment out, We have done it that way a couple of times.... I'll have to look again.
Oh they were all in college at the time as well as a matter of fact i meet my wife because of her Volvo and it's master cylinder. '76 original almost everything 325,000 miles then I went out of town on a job and she killed it????

[gROCERYgEtteR]

A new radiator support, i think they bolt in fix the inner wells you might be able to find a parts car cheap, You could if you were in Oregon. Oh the other thing is they are all still alive as well, my daughter will probably get one "Volvo".
Good luck

[grouch]

Thanks everyone!

Finding a donor car out here in the sticks is not likely but maybe there is one around that university. I've located the replacement parts listed by way of a link provided by 1Fast65Elky in the other thread. Naturally, it will be tomorrow at the earliest before I hear from any of the vendors. Silly salvage yard operators don't seem to work on Sunday night even after the football is over.

I've never done any collision repair work before, which is why I'm a little nervous and asking for opinions. This is her first car (and first wreck) and she has been very meticulous about checking fluids. Hopefully there won't be any hidden mechanical damage anywhere.

[gROCERYgEtteR]

Ya we have had some a-arm damage as well that slipped past us, just to be found later. Not having any experience makes some difference, but even old dogs can learn new tricks. My father and law was the same way and we kinda learned them together. The biggest hassle will be keeping track of all the parts you take off, and remembering where they go after the panels are replaced take some pictures take allot of pictures if you are going to do it yourself, and recruit some help you cant be expected to remember every detail the first couple of times. IPD is the Volvo parts source for little bits and hard to find stuff. There are allot of 240's out there. Oh and take off as many assemblies as you can, big chucks instead of each little part that way when you get your new major component you know right where it goes.

[gROCERYgEtteR]

my wife just reminded me she jumped one of her Volvo's once off the side of the road, she crazy the family Volvo count is at 10, 9 240's 2 turbo wagons holly cow that is ridiculous time for some family counseling.

[grouch]

Originally Posted by gROCERYgEtteR

my wife just reminded me she jumped one of her Volvo's once off the side of the road, she crazy the family Volvo count is at 10, 9 240's 2 turbo wagons holly cow that is ridiculous time for some family counseling.

Now yer scarin' me. How in the world can 1 family kill 9 Volvo 240s? Those things are built like tanks. Even the NHTSA commented on them in reports because they ranked outside their weight class in safety. They may have the aerodynamics of a brick, but they steer and stop like a sports car, protect like a full size car, and inflict damage like a compact.

[gROCERYgEtteR]

No, no they didn't kill them all that is the ownership count. Most of them were sold and traded out for newer models. Only 2 died by our family's hands,the jumped one, and one other accident but most were repairable and resalable, and one of the 2 really hurt cars was used for parts ...... allot of teenagers, young women, same old song. Oh their electrical is a bit quirky, but manageable.

[grouch]

Originally Posted by gROCERYgEtteR

[. . . snip . . .]
Oh their electrical is a bit quirky, but manageable.

I've been through that with my '83 240. Volvo had an extended brain fart from 1980 to 1987 and experimented with what was supposed to be "environmentally friendly" wiring insulation for the engine. It turned out to be very UN-friendly because it broke down under the heat. I found out about mine when mysterious electrical gremlins started jumping up. The insulation crumbled from some wires and turned into a kind of chewing gum-like stuff on others. I finally found the answer online and was pointed to
http://www.bartonharness.com/volvoharnesses.html

From that site (ugly color scheme, excellent information):

The factory original engine harnesses installed in all Volvos during the 1980 through 1987 model years started to disintegrate after a few years of exposure to engine heat. The vinyl protective sheathing would also get hard and brittle and begin to crack... although this is not the major offense, since a hardened outer sheath will not directly affect performance (but it IS a first symptom you'll often recognize in an old defective harness). The REALLY BAD part is that the insulation on the individual wires would get soft and crumble away, eventually leaving exposed wires to short out and cause all kinds of problems with electronic systems. THIS PROBLEM IS CAUSED BY HEAT attacking the defective insulation over years, and was accelerated in turbocharged cars due to the much higher heat conditions in the engine bay.

I ordered a used engine harness (my ignition harness was and is still good) from Dave Barton for less than 1/3 what a new, OEM harness costs. It came with a pile of excellent diagrams and was the easiest rewiring job I've ever done. The sample diagrams he shows on the web page just don't do justice to those he sends with the harness. That was 2 years ago and no gremlins have come back to haunt me. I think Dave is one of the good guys.

[Edited to add:]
I forgot to mention -- new, OEM replacement harnesses use PVC insulation that does *not* break down under heat. Dave gets used harnesses of that type (based on part numbers) from salvage yards, cleans them, checks them and sells them.

[grouch]

Update on my daughter's wrecked '91 Volvo 240:

My nephew managed to drive it (maximum 40 mph) to his house a few miles from where it had been parked after the wreck. He described his "quickie repairs" as:

"Nylon zip-tied the radiator to the core support.
Nylon zip-tied the MAF to a strut tower wiring harness (see a trend here?)
Tied the hood closed with some nylon rope "

He said it drove straight with no wandering and didn't feel like it had been wrecked.

Thought I should update since I asked for opinions on it.
Thanks.

[gROCERYgEtteR]

The 85 turbo wagon had a nasty fuse box, you'd be driving down the road just fine and everything would shut down. So pull over roll the fuse around in the holder and fire up and off we go until the next time. It didn't look like there was allot if any side damage, nor did it look very deep in the front.... for a Volvo.

[grouch]

Did you ever find a cure for those fuses? My '83 has that problem. It never has quit going down the road, but it has refused to start until I do the fuse rolling thing. I'm going to try using some of that anti-sieze that has copper in it to see if it helps. Maybe some of that aluminum paste that Doc talks about in the Electrical forum would help. It has to be some kind of corrosion issue.