'99 S70 Front End Surgery

[LouisvilleR]

I apologize in advance for the rough pictures. I'm using a burner right now and the camera is less than satisfactory.

Rear-ended a fine young lady's late model carolla about a month ago and trashed the front end of the S70. Replaced one headlight, hood, drivers side quarter panel and the large plastic piece that holds everything in, in front of the radiator.

This has been my first attempt at any sort of body work so in all honesty I think I did pretty well.

- the top bolts where the fender bolts down into the body had been ripped out the top end of the hole and the metal around the hole ripped backward. I don't have a before picture but - metal filed out, hammered/flattened back down, and bolts threaded through - I think they came back together well. this is after the minor fab lining things back up -

- during the reconstruction I had assumed that the bumper hadn't sustained any damage other than some scuffs and scratches but I'm thinking now that it may be slightly ill-aligned on the drivers side, as I had a harder time getting the new fender locked into the bumper than I did pulling the old one out. The alignment at the drivers door seems to bedamn close, so it would make sense to me that it's the bumper thats out of alignment in the front.

- another questionable bumper hint is the gap at the bottom of the headlights. If the large plastic bracket that everything bolts into is all lined up, the headlights should be in the correct position, but from the front everything just doesn't QUITE line up correctly.

- The hood ALMOST lines up perfectly, I'm thinking I can shim the passenger side bracket and that might put it just centered enough. Not really sure how to find an appropriate shim.

Anyway, turn signals are on the list for the next JY run probably Tuesday. I don't really plan on selling the car so as long as everythings fairly well secured, it doesn't bother me. I still learned a few things in the process. Let me know if anyone has any words of wisdom on some tweaking!