Collision Resurrection

[mikesmith140]

I was hit by a 17 year old kid who chose not to look before turning left in front of oncoming traffic, unfortunately that oncoming traffic was me. Fortunately, no one was injured because I was quick on the brakes and he wasn't going very fast. I fought with the insurance company for 2 months trying to get the value of the vehicle up to a reasonable amount AND to keep them from totaling the truck. When I finally got the agreement I wanted, repairs commenced! : )
Pre-Accident

The damage

Early in the repairs

Hood & engine bay repairs complete

Fitting the winch

Fitting the bumper to the truck

 

[mikesmith140]

Finished bumper

Finished T4R! : )

 

[Quatre Coureur]

Way to go man! She looks fantastic!
What year grille is that ? Diggin the bumper. :thumb3:

 

[Kenworth]

Nice

 

[penbergm]

Is that a custom made grill. I'm liking it.

 

[liveoffroad]

wow nice, that's one of those lemons-to-lemonade situations, i'm sure insurance paid for all your repairs, plus the new bumper and more!

 

[Pisa 8687]

Way to go man! She looks fantastic! :thumb3
What year grille is that ? Diggin the bumper.

It's a 2x grill from like 84' to 86' or so

 

[Quatre Coureur]

It's a 2x grill from like 84' to 86' or so

That's what I was thinking... Hey Chris, u gonna make it Saturday?

 

[mikesmith140]

The grill was from a donor vehicle at the local pick-n-pull, I think it was an '82 or '85 pick-up. I love the bumper! The irony is that if I had built the bumper in October (when I wanted to, pre-accident, but was too busy), instead of February (when I finally got the insurance money), I may have only needed to repaint the scratches on the bumper instead of rebuild the front end, oh well. It's good now and I also have the winch I wanted. The insurance money paid for all the materials/parts, but my labor was essentially free. I would have been way over budget if I had paid a shop to do all the work.

 

[89FourRunner]

I think thats a two wheel drive grille - it does look really nice. Having the face black looks nice compared to the chrome. I recently got in a similar collision and also rebuilt my front end and now sort of wish I had went with that grille lol. Ill make a post about the work when I get around to it.

 

[mikesmith140]

Yep, it was a 2WD pickup. I couldn't remember the year model.

 

[Cali 4runner]

How did you pull the core support out and make everything so straight? Looks great!

 

[Nervo19]

The repairs look fantastic. I defy anyone to cause that damage again with that bumper.

Yeah. How DID you pull out the core support? Just cut and replace?

In the "before" picture it looks like your wheels are painted. What paint and color did you use?