The front mount heat exchanger on my redline is bent far worse than at, and still holds coolant... I dragged it in my moms driveway, and bent the bottom core backward under the unit, then straightened it(ish) with a crescent wrench... Still leak free, lol

 

I hate to see good cars go by the wayside because of a dumb mistake. Glad to see you are going to get it back running.

 

Oh no! I see this was last year. How have things turned out?
-Caryl
ps I always wanted the station wagon. :-)

 

This was just last month, it looks like the car is back on the road.

 

oh dear, blonde moment! I am glad to hear she is back, playing on the road. :-)

 

I discovered that in Virginia a car will not pass state inspection if body parts are held on with duct tape. A rejection sticker is good for 15 days.
Guess what got pushed to the top of the priority list?

I finally had a chance to work on the Saturn and try to fix the bodywork yesterday but I had no money for parts so things got interesting.

First, removing the Gorilla tape was a chore in itself. Whoever came up with that inspection rule must have never worked with Gorilla tape. That stuff is NOT just another duct tape. Once that was off I was able to pull all the damaged body parts off. I had a damaged front bumper cover, shattered inner fender liner, broken lower support, twisted metal backing plate, side markers that had retaining tabs broken off and many of the plastic rivets were shredded or missing.

A propane torch carefully fanned across an area of that plastic fascia will soften it enough to mold things back in shape (several areas were twisted and stretched severly from the wreck). A couple of the tears I was even able to "weld" back together with the torch. I used a 16oz claw hammer to beat the metal backing plate back into shape and got it re-inserted into the bumper. Some scrap metal and screws patched up the bottom where it had been ripped completely loose. The shattered inner fender liner got a layer of Gorilla tape on the inside (where the inspector won't be able to see) to hold it together. The two marker lights are now screwed in from behind in addition to the one on the outside. Bulb replacement will be a pain but that doesn't matter right now. Fortunately I had purchased a couple of boxes of plastic rivets a few months back (so I could reattach the lower air dam when it got ripped off by a rock in the creek I was crossing. I never got around to putting it back on.) so I was able to use those rivets to replace the ones that got damaged in the wreck.

What surprised me was how easy it was to put the front back on and that it's only held in place by plastic rivets and the six little screws connecting it to the thin plastic fender liners.

Should pass inspection Monday and didn't cost me anything but my time in the freezing cold.

 

Fine job sir! And good to see you back!

I especially love how once you fixed it, the whole world turned upside down.

 

Just like my Dad used to tell me. If you don't have what you need,find a way to use what you have.

 

I admire both the repair work you did and the incentive to actually accomplish it. Having gone through about the same thing, an accident on a high mileage 7 year old vehicle which I had bought new totaled it. A vehicle I had planned on driving double the mileage on and was not replaceable at the at the value determined to pay up on. It was both mechanically and cosmetically acceptable yet had very little cash value and certainly one could not be found that was serviceable that could be purchased at the price. I did actually find a match (well sort of) at a dealer. A trade in that was the same year and mileage and in rougher shape but acceptable. The dealer would not accept my offer for the car which was what my insurance carrier was giving me for mine. I guess at the time while wrestling with the mental attitude of the accident itself along with the dire need to replace the van and Valeries extremely difficult lung transplant surgery and the questionable at the time my need for some resolution vascular solutions I can say that making rational decisions were questionable I guess I was trying to figure out who was fooling whom as to values of vehicles.
I ended up purchasing a one year old Dodge Caravan and both the gadgets that made up the day to day operation (as there still is are few not figured out as they are not in the owners manual ) the power of the 3.5L V6 being double or so of the 3.3 the other had but it was a 2007 and the performance of the 6 speed transmission is best described as awesome. points out that I have never seen such advancements in engineering over less than a decade in time.
The transmission of my '94 S coupe, a 4 speed with performance/ economy button is similar in concept and operation to the Dodge from a user's stand point, and it gets used. As does the same controls in the Dodge. But the Dodge is crisper in operation, the extra 2 speeds are usable and get used (a different mechanical standpoint as to how it works) and with a HP rating in the arena of the 1970 Muscle car level out of an engine almost half the size (200 Cu in vs 390 cu in) pushing a huge box vs a pony car the thing got 21 mpg on it last tank of gas in mixed city/freeway driving.
My pony car never gets better than 10mpg in the city although has seen 24 on the open road. But then again the Dodge regularly sees 24+on the open road with the double A/C on at some serious speed limit + some.
Technology has finally hit the automotive world! The thing almost gets the same gas mileage the Saturn S car gets on the open road.

 

Huh? 24 mpg highway from a 94 SC2? I have gotten about 35 mpg highway at 65-70 mph in both of my SC2's (95/97) since they rolled off the factory floor.

Must be the extra weight of the heavier 20W-50 you run in it