# Soooo... I Wrecked My Corvette!



## Junkman2008

... and it wasn't pretty either. :doublesho



















I went all NASCAR and taped it up so that I could drive in home.














































This is why I couldn't pursue the guilty party.










Here's what happened. It was 0-dark thirty at night and I was rolling at around 80 through the mountains of Chattanooga, TN. I was coming down a bridge when this semi threw a retread. I had a concrete barrier on my left and right and was going to fast to swerve so I grabbed the steering wheel with both hands just in time for the impact. The car shimmied and I immediately pulled over. I knew it was bad, I just wasn't really wanting to see how bad.

I got out of the car and looked at it and just stood there in disbelief. Semi was long gone and there I was in a little shock.

The insurance company wanted to put the car back to stock and raise my rates but I wasn't going to have any of that. So I told them to go screw themselves and I went shopping for a new provider. In the mean time, I'm fixing the car myself and this thread will chronicle the experience.

I have already started ordering the parts I need thus far. A new Tiger Shark fascia from Starcraft (by way of J.W. Motoring), a new fender and a new wheel housing. That was over $2000 for those three parts alone.

We're just getting started. :wall:




























Okay, here are some updates!

Since the inner fender housing was damaged beyond repair, it had to come off the car. This was not a fun time as the inner fender is glued to the frame. :thud:



















You can see how it is glued in this picture.










The horns were all finagled and bent every which way. I straightened one out. Check out what is left of my fog light. :doublesho










Test fitting the new inner fender.










Prepping the new bumper.










Test fitting the fender and bumper:



















What's left of my fog light... 










I finally got into the hood and found out that the fiberglass wasn't cracked, thank God. It was just the paint that was damaged so I got that knocked out. I also got my alignment all together so all of my seams look great.




























Finally got the inner fender in place and glued to the frame. That is an adventure unto itself. I don't wish that on nobody. 




























It appears that my skids were slightly bent and I darn near crapped on myself trying to pull them straight. I finally unfangled my horns too. I am going to replace my turn signal sockets while the bumper is off and redo my fog light wiring. I'm also going to replace my high beam 4300 HID's with 5000's. I'll probably do away with that 197 bulb. I don't like how it matches with all my HID stuff. The 197 bulb is the one that is illuminating the inside of my high beams in this picture.










Tomorrow, I go get my paint. I should have it primmered and ready to paint by this weekend but I have to do a detail clinic in Texas so I'll wait until next week. I'm going to have to do a lot of clean up after all this is done. My hands will probably be worn out after all the buffing I'll have to do too. I want to make sure that every drop of orange peel is out of the paint so there will be a lot of wet sanding and clear shooting in order to match the undamaged paint on the car.

I am going to paint the entire dog house and blend into both doors. I am not going to chance having any unmatched paint lines. 

I finally got all the body work completed and laid my primer and paint.



















Halfway decent for a "brutha' in his friend's garage production" (my friend has the air compressor I needed)!




























Now comes the fun of wet sanding all the orange peel away. This is as much fun as claying, another arm burning activity. I'm starting with 2500 and working my way through 3000. I'll then re-clear everything and go back again with 3000. I'll then re-clear again and it will be slick as snot, with plenty of clear on the car.

My first clear, wet sanding and buffing...










In progress...























































And the saga continues...


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## twoscoops

Holy cow man that was a bit of a mess but you have done a craicin job so far at getting it back into shape. Keep the updates coming!!

Tim


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## twiggy99

Thats what happens when you show an American car a bend =D


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## Maggi200

Wow that looked bad before! Glad you're okay though. I absolutely loved your video of you ragging it around that track on your youtube, had me in stitches a few times. Did you not make a how to wet sand video though?!


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## paulmc08

Ouch!!

good to see the car in tip top shape again:thumb:

oh,and great work too


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## Junkman2008

paulmc08 said:


> Ouch!!
> 
> good to see the car in tip top shape again:thumb:
> 
> oh,and great work too


It's not all the way there yet, but it's getting there. :thumb:


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## TOGWT

You're a braver man than I am; even at your age I wouldn't have attempted a re-build like that...way to go :thumb: :thumb:


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## Mick

subscribed :thumb:

this looks like it will be an epic rebuild.


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## johnnyguitar

You are possibly insane, but I like it!


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## VIPER

Nooooo!!! I know you love that car dude, so I'm sorry to see it in that state 

Wow! first class work getting back to where it is now - you're not half bad at this caper are you?  :thumb: :lol:


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## steveo3002

twiggy99 said:


> Thats what happens when you show an American car a bend =D


c5's are awesome ..do you drive something nicer?


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## Junkman2008

Viper said:


> Nooooo!!! I know you love that car dude, so I'm sorry to see it in that state
> 
> Wow! first class work getting back to where it is now - you're not half bad at this caper are you?  :thumb: :lol:


Well, it's not my first rodeo! :lol:

I'll take some more pics to day. I'm just about done. I still need to work the paint some more but she is looking like new. :thumb:


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## DrDax

If I'd done that to my mustang I'd b gutted.

Yes, US cars d corner.... once all suspension is changed, lol.. Roush handling pack on mine, awesome

P1000 GB Overcome 2.0.x


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## SimonBash

Sorry about you accident junkman, epic work so far. Looking forward to more updates and videos:thumb:


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## [email protected]

Sorry to hear about that J man hope you get it back to how you love it again


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## Junkman2008

Well, I finally got all the headlight wiring figured out and repaired. Everything is nice and bright again. First, my halos or "angel eyes".



















Then the high beams, which I changed over to HID's...










And the low beams...










Now here's something that you have to consider if you are a C5 Corvette owner and decide to goo all HID's with your high's and low beams. When switching from low to high, the high beams need a few seconds to reach their correct brightness. That means that when you first switch over, you'll practically be driving in the dark! :doublesho

This of course is not good. Thus, I needed to make sure that my low beams stayed on whenever I switched over to my high beams. This can be done by what is known and the "4 on or high four" mod. It can easily be done by changing the circuit design in the following manner.










Now I have enough light output to land a 747!










Next, I installed the brake cooling ducts...










Then came the fun part. Installing the bumper was an adventure to itself because you had to keep the fog lights and brake ducts in place as you did the install. This was a PITA! I must have spent 3 hours trying to get that darn thing back on!

After getting the bumper on, I kid you not that I spent about 6 hours trying to get the alignment perfect. There's obviously a trick to it at the factory and trust me, I don't know the trick. Thus, I had the fun experience of learning it. I have it presentable right now, but I know I'll spend a couple more hours messing with it again. At least it's straight.





































Next, the lights went back into the car...














































I still need to enclosed the headlights with their shrouds and add the covers but hey, that was 18 hours worth of work that you just looked at!


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## james_death

Stunning recovery...:thumb:


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## ITHAQVA

Amazing work after all that damage. :thumb::thumb:


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## chrislondon

cant help but think a bit of Tcut would have sorted that out!


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## Junkman2008

Well folks, the "Junkmobile" is rolling again! I want to thank all the well wishers in this thread and all those who jumped in just to have a look. I must say that I am very happy about the way it turned out, much better than any dealership could have done. My alignment of the body panels is better than it was at any point. I still want to tweak it a bit but hey, I'm always trying to go for perfection. :thumb:

The first thing I needed to do was get her back into the garage and put a 2-bucket wash on her.










After that, I took her out for the post-wreck cruise.





































Now I have a lot of detailing to do to the paint and engine compartment but hey, that's what I do. At least I can take advantage of the summer weather now. Total cost for the repair was around $3100 with me providing the labor and food for my buddies. It's the small things that nickle and dime you to death. I am not looking forward to ever having to do this again!

:doublesho

The Junkman :wave:


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## The Cueball

Cars can be sorted, glad you were OK, and glad the car is back together and looking lovely!!

:thumb:


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## Junkman2008

You are so right. There are a bunch of Corvettes on the planet but only one Junkman. I would like for him to stick around for a little bit.


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## SimonBash

Car is looking stunning again Junkman, superb work:thumb:


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## Junkman2008

Thanks mate.


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## Kneller

Looks very nice now mate, well done for doing such a good job!


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## TOGWT

Job (well) done, like it never happened :thumb::thumb:


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## Eheis5

Tough break on the wreck AJ, nice to see her back and better than ever though.


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## Junkman2008

Thanks mates.


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## big ben

woooaahhh missed this thread buddy! gutted, at least you have done it yourself with your mates, im sure you will have it perfect before long to!


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## Skodaw

Brilliant work done, sorry to see you have to go to all that work!!


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## Brisa

Sucks that the damage was done but the important bit is your still here to detail! brilliant job on the vette!


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## Junkman2008

And detail I have to do. I need to correct the paint all over the car again and I also need to wet sand one of the doors to remove all the orange peel. Still a lot of paint work to do, although a normal Joe wouldn't realize anything needed to be done.


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## JMAPUK

Top job Junkman, if anyone can bring it back from the dead you can !!!!


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## Davy

Just discovered this thread. Junkman that is some serious work you've put in and I'm seriously impressed.

Wish I had the guts to wet sand my car!

Very very well done on an unbelievable turn around :thumb:

Davy


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## Junkman2008

Thanks mates. I for some reason didn't think twice about it when I saw that the inner fender was damaged. I just didn't trust the dealership to get that part of the repair right. I knew that the entire doghouse would be off if that fender was off. So I just reached down and confirmed that I had a pair and went for it. Man, it was not a easy repair!.


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## dwmc

it seems you have about as much faith in your dealerships as we do over here in ours 

great DIY repair you`ve done there , 2nd to none to say the least :thumb:


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## Junkman2008

dwmc said:


> it seems you have about as much faith in your dealerships as we do over here in ours


:lol:

It's a world wide theme so it seems!


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## badman1972

Outstanding turnaround, very impressive as always!!


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## Leodhasach

I've missed this thread until now...firstly, sorry about the accident, it's never easy when something happens to your pride and joy! :doublesho

However, you've done a fantastic job, and full credit to you for just getting stuck in :thumb: I wish you and the Vette many more happy miles.

Andrew


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## Junkman2008

Thanks guys. This car and I have a love hate relationship. Right now, I'm in the garage fixing the rear wheel sensor, the A/C compressor, the PCV manifold hose, changing the oil and replacing the right side output shaft seal. This is way more work than I wanted to do and I need to be done by tomorrow so that I can take it to the oldest Corvette gathering in the USA. Man, when it rains it pours!


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## NarN

Hé Junkman, nice vids man. An enjoy to watch and very educational!

Now make some more!


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## rdig1984

Good that nothig happen to you!! but sad for the car but seems like the final work looks better then when was new!!!


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## Junkman2008

Thanks mates. I am working on some new videos as we speak. :thumb:


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## Junkman2008

It's taken me all this time to get through detailing the engine. I actually broke out a tooth brush! I wouldn't do that for anyone else unless I was seriously paid. This engine has 130,000 miles on it right now.



















I threw that one in for the blokes! 

The paint is coming along right nicely too.










I probably won't be satisfied with the paint until this winter. By then, I should have had time to inspect the paint inch by inch.


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## tzotzo

seriously guys, what is up on DW everyone posting their gfs on their details.
Not bad, just wondering.
Great job Junkman


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## Junkman2008

tzotzo said:


> seriously guys, what is up on DW everyone posting their gfs on their details.
> Not bad, just wondering.
> Great job Junkman


There's more girls on here? I need to go read some threads! :lol:


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## voon

Nice job, wish I could fix things like this  Haven't quite understood, what happened, though.... and what's with the "this is ehy I could not show it"? A self made brake cooler or whut?


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## nick_mcuk

Junkman2008 said:


> There's more girls on here? I need to go read some threads! :lol:


Was that Mrs Junkman.....if so dude DAMMMMMNNNN!


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## Junkman2008

voon said:


> Nice job, wish I could fix things like this  Haven't quite understood, what happened, though.... and what's with the "this is ehy I could not show it"? A self made brake cooler or whut?


As far as what happened, a semi threw a retread and that's what did all the damage. The brake cooler duct was jammed into the tire when the accident happened. It made a loud noise and I had to immediately pull over because I didn't want to blow the tire. That's not my design, that's the way GM designed the car to help keep the brakes cool.



nick_mcuk said:


> Was that Mrs Junkman.....if so dude DAMMMMMNNNN!


There is no Mrs. Junkman per say, only candidates. I'm still trying to make up my mind...


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## nick_mcuk

Don't choose the second one down then!! 

You dirty dog love the fact that you got different girls in the same pose.

Classic!


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## Junkman2008

nick_mcuk said:


> Don't choose the second one down then!!


She's the one with all the money!


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## Cadillacman

Fantastic job, awesome sleek looking car...
Love the C5 Corvette's

.


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## Cadillacman

Cadillacman said:


> Fantastic job, awesome sleek looking car...
> Love the C5 Corvette's
> 
> .


LOL...Just noticed the "C5" has turned into an advertisement for a wheel sealant...:spam:

How do you prevent that?

.


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## Junkman2008

You can't. There is software built into the forum that you have no control over.


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## tzotzo

Dude are you a






?

I thought lincolns are the pimpmobiles.


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## Junkman2008

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## SiliconS

Awesome. Maybe the best thread on DW.

Where did you buy the body panels? I guess you can still get C 5 parts from GM? Pattern Vette panels from the after market fit notoriously badly but yours look good.


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## Junkman2008

That panel came straight from General Motors. Yes, we can still get all kinds of parts from GM, but there's also the salvage yards and 3rd party sales. Parts are not hard to come by for the most part. I don't know how bad the shipping cost would be but I could just about find you anything you need.


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## SiliconS

That's kind, thank you. But yes, shipping is the killer. Fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to use USPS for international despatch, even to 'reliable' places like the UK. Getting hold of large or heavy components costs a bomb. However, I have a friend who is an airline pilot... ;-)

Good luck with today's little jobs, BTW. Those half shaft seals are a common problem on the C 5 aren't they?


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## Junkman2008

SiliconS said:


> However, I have a friend who is an airline pilot... ;-)
> 
> Good luck with today's little jobs, BTW. Those half shaft seals are a common problem on the C 5 aren't they?


That's a nice hookup!

Yes, the output shaft seal on the *driver's side* is notorious for going bad. Not so much on the passenger's side. Did you see my writeup?


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## muzzer

Just come across this thread and have to say you were lucky in the crash, could have been so much worse and then how would i learn from the Junkman :lol:. Top job on the repair, can i ask when you are going to do videos on wet sanding for novices and stone chip repairs? :thumb:


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## Junkman2008

I have done plenty of wet sanding videos, the latest being on my DVD. Stone chip repair will happen one day, if I ever get around to it.


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## Matty77

Subscribed!


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