Please can anyone help me. After my wife re-designed the front of my 2005 Mk 2, Blobeye, wagon WRX I was told it was a write off.

Apart from the £ this annoys me from an ecological point of view and i'd like to repair it. From what I can see it needs front wings x 2, sump guard, fog light x 1, headlights x2, bumper x 1. ??? nothing else.

I've found quite a few threads on how to bolt on / bolt off wings, remove the bumper and the headlights (which seem the most tricky) etc. Is this a job that a average DIY, basic mechanical knowledge bloke with common sense can do himself please ? I'm thinking it could even be almost 'fun' like playing with meccano used to be !

I've sourced most of the parts I think are needed and these'll be £500-£1000 total.

This price is a lot less than replacing my dear old scooby. The advantage of keeping her is that she's an SL with leather seats, I've had her from new and know what she's done, I've got 2 sets of wheels and run winter tyres (not that these helped the Missus last night LOL), she's got prodrive, anti-roll bar and after market uprated struts. So the 'your car's only worth £3500 and needs writing off argument doesn't quite wash.

I'm gonna take her to a garage tommorrow to get it confirmed that there is no structural damage but the gaps between wings and doors, wings and bonnet look fine and the crash was an angulated into a hedge at 45mph one. i.e. nothing really solid hit. So i'm 90% sure it's just cosmetic damage.

Sorry for long thread but any advice, pointers most welcome. I could put pictures up if anyone is really interested.......


Simon

(PS I'm an A&E doctor so normally fix different kinds of damage !)

 

Put up some pics.

Look for damage to inner wings, inside wheelarch covers, bumper support bracket, slam panel etc.

Sump-guard? Do you mean the undertray?

 

Should come in alot less than you think if you get parts off a breaker. Might find it easier to find saloon wings. All bolt on easy fit d.i.y items mate. Maybe fit some sti stlye fog covers? If you do fit wings only do bolts finger tight so you can adjust to get gaps right to door/bonnet

 

Wow guys thanks for the prompt replies. I think I might mean undertray - it's a plastic thing hanging down with dirty fabric bits hanging out from it (?? engine heat protection from the plastic).

I'd forgotten the 'wing arch liner splashguards' too, but they're only ~ £30 on ebay.

I'll take some photos tommorrow if i can. Dark & raining +++ here right now.

 

I had the whole front end of my Bug and a wing wrecked after hitting a roe deer, and got it back together using breaker parts and stuff bought from members on here for less than £500, including having the affected areas sprayed. Took a couple of weeks of straightforward work that anyone could do. Chuck the under tray away.

 

Guys thankyou for your posts. It gives me reassurance that I'm not being an overoptimistic fool. What a great Scooby community there seems to be out there.

I will try and get some photos up for you all to have a chuckle at !

 

Offside




Offside




OS front wheel in view - front of car at top of picture.




OS front wheel in view - front of car at top of picture.








Offside




Offside




Offside




Offside - front




Nearside




Nearside




Nearside






Offside




Offside (? slight bend to headlight casing)




Offside




Nearside

 

Hey Scooby lovers I had a bodyshop man look at it today. He told me that yes I need wings/splashguards/headlights/?foglights x 2 & bumper x 1. He told me that the two bent bits of metal don't matter (? bumper bar & something else) and that the chassis is OK. Quoted me £300 for labour but said I could do it all myself and gave me some advice. Isn't it great to meet kind people in the world ?

So can I ask two things please:

1. Do you agree with my bodyshop man

2. Can I put a 2003 STI bumper +/- wings on my 2005 wrx wagon ? There's a chap with an entire black front end for sale which would be great and although i'm not too much into trying to make my car look 'racy' I quite like the bulge on the STI wings and the grille.

Thanks again in anticipation of your ongoing help chaps.

Simon

 

The wider gap between O/S door and wing low down is just cos the wing is bulging outwards there (can't quite see that in the photos).

Body shop man also told me that the 'interior wings' are fine with no cracking in sealants or stuff like that. I'm not sure yet about the 3 other things alcazar suggested but am banking on the fact that if I can't do it the bodyshop man could. He said one or 2 bits of metal might need a wee bend out with some clamps.

 

Can't answer about the wings, but:

Is the suspension OK? I'd get it looked at once the bodywork is done.
Is the rad OK?

If you replace the bumper (plastic) do replace the support bar, (metal) as without that, it's hard to get the bumper to sit level and gaps to look right...the metal bar deforms on impact.

There'll be lots of parts on ebay, on here and even at breakers, Google "Subaru Impreza Breakers" for a list.

 

Alcazar, thanks again. Will do.

Do you know whether the STI bumper fit please ? (I've already got some wagon wings from ebay if I need them).

 

Why not just get it written off and buy back from the insurance co.?

Probably could fix it up and get a holiday out of it.

 

Not sure how that works. My excess is £1000, the books say it's worth £3500 as a write off so I'd end up with £2500 then need to pay £3500 to buy it back right ? Plus premium increase due to claim. Or did I miss something ?

 

Guys

Could you give me one piece of advice please ? I've decided to get a professional body shop guy to do this as it needs some metal bending to fix. Just that 2 experts have given different opinions with respect to the bent 'front cross member' that can be seen in pictures 3 & 4. One tells me I need a new one (£400 from Scooby plus welding to fit it) the other tells me it can be bent back into shape. The 1st guy says it's important for the strength of the car and the other says it isn't and that when it's pulled back he can refit the radiator peg (that snapped) into it.

Luckily they both agree that the C section of the subframe can be left as it is.

I'm wondering if the decision is dependant on my future driving style:

1. Miss Daisy - straighten the bent one
2. Colin McCrae - replace it

Could any other experts out there give me their opinions please?

Thanks

Simon

 

I'd go with the guy that says he can bend it back, obviously has a brain of his own the c section cradle doesn't matter, it bolts on and can be bought for £20 off here if needs be, it's also not fitted to a couple of variants for weight saving purposes and it's a popular mod to remove it.

What you have there is superficial damage, may need a bit of metal bending back but it's nothing critical, you need to get the saloon bumper to go with the saloon wings and then it's a straight fit, again it's a popular mod to fit a saloon front end for the blown arches look.

if the rad is toast just get a japspeed alumium one as the ebay oe coppies are a bit hit and miss, also fit top and bottom silicone rad hoses while you're at it as they are a known weakness.

 

You're in the same boat I was about a year ago, without even looking at the car I was told it would be wrote off �� Decided to do it myself and managed it without paint for just over £500 and in less than a week �� Although I got lucky with a complete car being broken locally. That front cross member can just be removed, search " u brace" on here.

 

When I fixed mine after a deer strike I took everything off that was bent/broken and then assessed what was required. As stated the 'C' section can be rejected as it's heavy and unnecessary. Parts such as the slam panel can be pulled back into shape and the rest can be purchased from breakers. It can be done if you're determined and lacking professional skills. Spraying where required is the only job to leave to the paint pros. Oh, and don't let your wife near it once it's done!

 

Decided to go for the saloon front as it was easier to find. I might have a set of wagon front wings in black if your interested? But will have to check the condition as they've been in storage.

 

You only pay a fraction of what they will pay out for it. As an example, sister in law smashed her car. They offered £2900 for it to write it off and the buy back was £475. The repairs would have cost £500 DIY. Her excess wasn't a grand tho.

 

Guys

Thanks again a million times for the advice. It's particularly interesting and reassuring to know that the C subframe picece and even cross member are so unimportant structurally that they can be removed - remarkable. I presume from this that the main strength / rigidity comes from the monocoque type structure of the body/chassis combined ?

Peskett, many thanks for the offer of wings but i've already got (saloon / STI ones) them. I was very lucky and found a guy selling his entire 'front end' in black ! Winner. Understand I may need to get spacers to put the wheels out a bit now though.

Very interesting to see your photos too - think yours was more front end than mine.

I think the Missus has already learnt from this episode. Ironically though I may have contributed to the crash by telling her 1. Always get past things as quickly as possible when overtaking (learnt from my old man, advanced driver) and 2. The scooby with winter tyres sticks to ice/snow like s--t to a blanket. She told me felt invincible in it but even a winter booted scooby can't break the laws of physics. I think she just had too much right boot when she pulled out.

I drive 1000's miles on snow / ice each year as my commute involves 15miles thru the Scottish borders on an ungritted/unsalted B road. About 3 years ago I realised the true awesomeness of scoobys when I got it wrong in a corner, overcorrected, fishtailed and was about to go off the road.....then pressed the accelerator. It was gobsmacking. The car stuck itself to the road and drove around the corner. Brilliant. I love this car !

 

Couldn't find anything on 'U brace' on here. Is this a 'Strut brace' with the principle being that even if (theoretically) one looses a bit of stiffness with a bent front cross member this can be made up for with a strut brace?

Thanks for the write off / £ advice. Think I'm just gonna keep this to myself though. I don't wanna trigger a chain of unstoppable events and hassle with the insurance. Looks like my total bill is gonna be £900 including labour of my 'bend it back' body shop man. Or £600 if I try and do it myself..... We'll see.

 

As has been said you can get £2500 back from insurance then buy the car back for alot less say £500. So you will be £200 better off. Down sides are it would be registered as cat D and it would slightly increase your insurance for next few years. Plus you have to make sure your insurance company would sell you the car back.

 

For the saloon front, make sure you've got the front bumper and arch liners aswell.
Its all pretty straight forward for a saloon front end swap it's the saloon backend that's a bit trickier =)