I need EXPERT HELP & ADVISE on repairing my 99 SLE PLEAS

[Brazenhawk]

Greetings everyone!

I am in dire need of some good expert advice on repairing my 1999 Solara SLE. Its been a PERFECT car, until my birthday back in October of 2004, when my wife hit a parked truck! Luckily it was a very low speed collission, about 15 MPH. But, the truck she hit was raised and the bumpers did not meet. So the impact was directly into the passenger side front light, cumpling the hood and passenger fender. Luckily it did not hit the engine/trans and no fluid leaks at all.

I have found some places to get some of the repair items. Such as the hood, an OEM for $229 and fender for about $169. The bumper itself was slightly hit, so I will replace that..I had a cost of about $129 for the bumper (metal part) itself. I found a very nice looking R34 full body kit, which includes the front bumper cover area, side skirts and rear bumper cover, all for $330 if I pick it up.

My main concern right now is the repair of the metal frame part around the light area where the impact occurred. How can you properly repair that area? The radiator support was hit in that area, but the radiator is fine. So it looks like I need to replace the entire radiator support, since it is all one part. Can anyone give me some good advice on this??? I can send pics of everything to get a better idea of the damage that was done. I just don't know enough regarding body work to know what to do to properly get this part repaired. I work with computers, not cars. I can bolt on a fender and hood, but thats about it in my body works department.

Any and all help.advice is GREATLY APPRECIATED! I would love to be able to show off this great car once I get it back on the road.

Best Regards to ALL!
Brazenhawk

[DatSRBoi]

Do you know how to do metal work? Both of the solara I have was wrecked too and If you know how to bend metal and hammer it to perfection then you wont have to spend anymoney other then the hammer and flatting tools. The process isnt fun and is very time consuming. Other then that you can have that front light frame cut out of another solara and welded on.


You cant even tell which car was hit or not. Both was front and back damage and was hand repaired.

[Turbosolara]

From what i know is that in CA, it is illegal to weld the radiator support by a person who doesnt has bodywork license. i could be wrong.... but the ghetto way to fix is hammer it by yourself. but the downside is that you lost your resale value because i am sure buyer can tell it was not fix by professional.

[Brazenhawk]

Thanks for the replies already. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do metal work. I can build one hell of a computer network and make it run like a super-trick super-charged Solara...but I'm not a mechanic or body man. Anyone know a good body person in Southern CA that is reasonable? Otherwise I'll just have to put it up for sale.

Thanks again!
Brazenhawk

[Mole]

wow... you're way inland.

[Brazenhawk]

Not too far..about 90 miles in from LA.

[townboy2]

Do you know how to do metal work? Both of the solara I have was wrecked too and If you know how to bend metal and hammer it to perfection then you wont have to spend anymoney other then the hammer and flatting tools. The process isnt fun and is very time consuming. Other then that you can have that front light frame cut out of another solara and welded on.


You cant even tell which car was hit or not. Both was front and back damage and was hand repaired.

from the picts it won't tell much but i'm pretty sure it been hit from the drive side or the hood because the gap in between is so damn BIG

[DatSRBoi]

from the picts it won't tell much but i'm pretty sure it been hit from the drive side or the hood because the gap in between is so damn BIG

Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu What they dont know wont hurt them. Ill take pics of the under the hood repair tonight. Its bentless and looks brand new. Other then that, good luck fixing it bro. You live too far for me to give you a hand.

[indiglosolara]

I can tell from the photo the silver was front end damage and the white front does look like it was damaged but if it was thats a good repair. But on the silver you can kinda tell.


On the silver the cornor lamp isn't sitting flush with the lower part of the bumper and the headlights dont look alligned.

Correct me if im wrong...

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

isn't there a dude on ebay selling is solara cus his wife rammed it into a truck too..you the same person??

[Brazenhawk]

Jai, Yes, thats me! I was told about this site by Jazz here about an hour and a half before the auction ended. Thats why I came here. You can see the other details listed under the "project car?" listed by Jazz here.

Best Regards!
Brazenhawk

[jazzlara]

yes. pctech, this is you. lol, i thought it was. I see your trying to salvage your sol huh..lol, i knew it.

Are you in the IT business? if so, any jobs by you....?

[Brazenhawk]

Yes, I'm in the IT business. Networking and hardware ends of the business for almost 15 years now. The area I live in, there is not a lot of IT jobs, since most of the local companies are small with usually under 15 employees. But I have my own small business clients, so I keep busy most of the time. It usually happens that I don't get one call in two weeks, but then 4 clients call in one day and everyone wants it done NOW. My work is like the old Maytag repair man. If I build it, it doesn't break, so I wait on new calls and then when my clients want to upgrade or add. I just retired a Pentium 90 system I built for a client some 8+ years ago. It was still running fine, just can't hold any of the new software now

You in the IT arena too Jazz? If so, what part? There are some Indian Casinos out here that hire well, if you are in the area of IT.

Let me know...and thanks again for the intro to the Solaraguy site!

Best Regards!
Brazenhawk

[jazzlara]

Yes, I'm in the IT business. Networking and hardware ends of the business for almost 15 years now. The area I live in, there is not a lot of IT jobs, since most of the local companies are small with usually under 15 employees. But I have my own small business clients, so I keep busy most of the time. It usually happens that I don't get one call in two weeks, but then 4 clients call in one day and everyone wants it done NOW. My work is like the old Maytag repair man. If I build it, it doesn't break, so I wait on new calls and then when my clients want to upgrade or add. I just retired a Pentium 90 system I built for a client some 8+ years ago. It was still running fine, just can't hold any of the new software now

You in the IT arena too Jazz? If so, what part? There are some Indian Casinos out here that hire well, if you are in the area of IT.


Let me know...and thanks again for the intro to the Solaraguy site!


Best Regards!
Brazenhawk

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