89Ru Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 2008 outback 2.5L auto, 217k. Car is totaled by insurance. As I have a lot invested in this car I feel the value is worth more than its presently calculated. Not doing a job like this before, just how fixable is this car? Plan is to remove the bumper and replace the metal framework and broken bits (headlight(s), radiator, condenser). Aside from the obvious damage below, what pitfalls if any are there? Early AM drive at highway speeds, was able to slow a bit but still much carnage. Deer stumbled and fell prior to impact, otherwise it might have gone through the windshield. Unavoidable front end impact to large buck, torpedoing the grill and inwards. No airbags or significant bumper damage. Significant hood damage. Radiator and condenser caved inwards. Lots of plastic shrapnel: radiator cooling fan blades/housing broken/Air guide smashed/t-belt cover punched. T-belt appears intact. No obvious fluid leaks. Alt/Bat light on. No power steering. Car didn't cut out. No CEL. Car able to drive away a few miles from impact site to nearby town which apparently is the classic car capital of the world incidentally. Not verified. Kind of impressed that the car is running. Was able to pull back the crossmember and place a spare alt belt, getting up to operational status fairly quickly. No apparent mixing of coolant and transmission fluid (as the trans fluid looks clear, and not suspecting internal rad damage to the transmission cooler portion). I'll try to post pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88SubGL Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 Without pictures, it’s hard to know, but it sounds like most of the damage is to pieces that bolt on. If the radiator support is bent, you might be able to use a come-a-long and a tree to help straighten it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted December 1 Author Share Posted December 1 https://imgur.com/a/vDzDdMQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted December 2 Share Posted December 2 I reckon you got off light - and your insurance company is being lazy. To me that’s not a difficult fix unless the engine crossmember or strut towers have moved, if it drove fine afterwards I’d say it’s fine. Buy the replacement parts and go to town on it. You’ve got nothing to lose from what I can see from those pics. I thought you’d have more carnage than hitting a kangaroo but apparently not. Cheers Bennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted December 2 Share Posted December 2 Easy fix. I've done several of them. While you can pull out the support, if you have a self serve yard and you can cut out the parts you need from a undamaged car that's the way to go. You can cut out the damage and weld in the new parts. Cutout more than you need and then trim back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted December 2 Share Posted December 2 Yep, totally fixable. Hood, grill, LH headlight and bracket, upper radiator support (still available new from Subaru), maybe latch support, radiator, RH fan shroud and blade, condenser (hard to tell how damaged, and if you want A/C), air intake duct. Maybe bumper cover and/or tow hook cover. Upper radiator support is spot welded in, there's a few ways to deal with that, depending what equipment you have access to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted December 15 Author Share Posted December 15 On 12/1/2024 at 2:40 PM, 88SubGL said: Without pictures, it’s hard to know, but it sounds like most of the damage is to pieces that bolt on. If the radiator support is bent, you might be able to use a come-a-long and a tree to help straighten it out. Going to try the come-a-along method first. Rad support is mangled, maybe too far gone. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted December 15 Author Share Posted December 15 On 12/1/2024 at 8:58 PM, el_freddo said: I reckon you got off light - and your insurance company is being lazy. To me that’s not a difficult fix unless the engine crossmember or strut towers have moved, if it drove fine afterwards I’d say it’s fine. Buy the replacement parts and go to town on it. You’ve got nothing to lose from what I can see from those pics. I thought you’d have more carnage than hitting a kangaroo but apparently not. Cheers Bennie Awesome, those kangaroos pack a punch eh. Engine crossmember and strut towers good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted December 15 Author Share Posted December 15 On 12/1/2024 at 10:42 PM, lmdew said: Easy fix. I've done several of them. While you can pull out the support, if you have a self serve yard and you can cut out the parts you need from a undamaged car that's the way to go. You can cut out the damage and weld in the new parts. Cutout more than you need and then trim back. Good to know. Have a friend who can weld if it comes to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted December 16 Author Share Posted December 16 On 12/2/2024 at 11:21 AM, Numbchux said: Yep, totally fixable. Hood, grill, LH headlight and bracket, upper radiator support (still available new from Subaru), maybe latch support, radiator, RH fan shroud and blade, condenser (hard to tell how damaged, and if you want A/C), air intake duct. Maybe bumper cover and/or tow hook cover. Upper radiator support is spot welded in, there's a few ways to deal with that, depending what equipment you have access to. https://imgur.com/gallery/vDzDdMQ/comment/2433311575 Found a donor, grabbed most of above, after pic.Not sure about getting it painted to match or not. Might keep it two tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted December 16 Share Posted December 16 Two tone makes it easy to find! Several folks that I've fixed front end hits for love there two tone Subarus. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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