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[terry paget]

I have removed the bumper and boot lid. Damage seems mainly in the bumber beam, the boot floor, lower boot panel and boot lid.




Fuel tank looks fine.
How should I proceed?

[Nick W]

Pay someone who has done this work before to pull it straight enough to fit a good bootlid and bumper. You could try it yourself with winches, straps, other vehicles, well fixed posts, big hammers, blocks of wood etc but without experience you are much more likely to set the damage in place. One application of force did the damage, careful and considered force in the right direction will reverse most(if not all) of it. It's the sort of repair that a small backstreet bodyshop do everyday.

[neil74]

As nick says get someone to get it somewhere near straight again and put it back together yourself. as my sisters 07 astra is having similar work done to it despite the insurers wanting it to be scrapped even though theres no damage to the boot floor or chassis legs.

[terry paget]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. I suppose I should remove the tow bar, it will obstruct straightening work and I have no use for it. Also I should remove and straighten the bumper bar and its brackets. Should I seek another boot lid? That would enable the professional body repair man to resahpe the boot surround to fit it, although it does not look too mishapen now.
The bumper is flexible and I imagine it will serve again. I had a similar experience in Berlin in a Senator. I continued my travels and drove the car home. Then I took off the bumper, bumper bar and brackets, bashed them straight and reassembled it all, and it did not look too bad. In this current case I am not lloking for an 'as new' job; as long a it is respectable , that is good enough. 

[Doctor Gollum]

Bumper alignment relies on bracket and bar... Better to replace with good second hand than to straighten.

Question regarding the tank was more to see if the straps were distorted by way of where they mount on the chassis rails

[terry paget]

Tow bar now removed. Here it is parked beside its big sister, wife's 3.2. Doesn't look too bad, does it?

[Nick W]

Tow bar now removed. Here it is parked beside its big sister, wife's 3.2. Doesn't look too bad, does it?

No it doesn't, which is why the application of some real expertise is the way to go.

[Doctor Gollum]

Rear panel, and therefore boot floor, pushed in an inch or so... Boot floor will be both ends due to way tow bar mounts...

[terry paget]

Rear panel, and therefore boot floor, pushed in an inch or so... Boot floor will be both ends due to way tow bar mounts...

The forward towbar mounting is a single bolt to support that end of the bar, it would not carry much fore and aft force. The rear mount is much more substantial, and supports the bar and bears pulling and pushing loads. The floor is bulging upwards between the mountings, suggesting that the front mounting has not moved.

[Doctor Gollum]

A couple of hundred spent getting it pulled out would be well spent... You can replace the rest with good second hand bits for peanuts afterwards

[terry paget]

Today I received a 'without prejudice' letter from Hastings Direct, dated June 14th telling me they would be sending an engineer to evaluate my vehicle. That's good to know.

[terry paget]

Thanks for advice.
Found a spare bumber beam in my spares heap. The drop supports for the bumper are not in the same slots, and look different lengths, but the bar is OK.

V8S, member of this forum, is selling a boot lid in Nautilus blue.
On advice, today I visited VW Autobodies, in Temple Cloud, and he agreed to push my boot back into shape for £100.

[Doctor Gollum]

Top bar is estate and therefore useless for your needs.

New used to be around £35-40 but good, ie straight second hand fine.

What condition is the foam in?

[Doctor Gollum]

Terry, save your time... Give either Steve at Omegaspareparts, or Nigel in Nottingham a call... Save getting decked around on costs etc

[LC0112G]

If it helps -

Best scrappies round here (Yeovil, South Somerset, North Dorset) are Angel Autos, Clay Pidgeon half way between Yeovil and Dorchester on the A37, and Langford Car spares on the A350 5 miles north of Shaftsbury.

Both normally have a couple of Omegas in. There are a couple of smaller scrappies, but it's a bit hit and miss with those.