Preparing For Re-Entry

Take one recently thrashed GVR4, add 2 parts manual labor, and 1 part hard currency. 

This is pretty much my starting point. It’s not a pretty sight at all, but it’s workable. The first thing you might notice is how the entire front end appears to have been yanked over towards the passenger side by the offending POS Kia. Fortunately, I’m not as concerned with how things look on the unibody as I am with the final appearance of the sheet metal mounted to it. As with any major automotive project, the best bet is to break the job down into its smaller, sub-projects.

Step 1: Removal of all the damaged sheet metal. As you can see in the picture above, this has pretty much been done already. The hood, while unable to be latched, is still “installed” in order to keep the elements out of the engine bay. Not that I’m worried about dirt in the engine bay (anyone who’s seen the engine bay can attest to that), but it just seems like the smart thing to do if you don’t want someone randomly stopping by to borrow items off your engine. At least, with the hood down, it doesn’t appear an easy target for thieves. Sure, they may not be able to use a damn thing, but how often do they take your faceplate even though they couldn’t really steal your CD player?

Step 2: Assessing the underlying damage. In this case, the unibody has definitely been tweaked. A bit towards the passenger side, absolutely, but the radiator core support has been pushed back into the engine bay a few inches to boot. So far, in fact, that the slim SPAL puller fan on the driver’s side is crushed into the turbocharger and manifold. The plate over the fan motor is actually bending and the unit coming apart at the seams. Bummer.

It’s not a total loss, however. Despite being as tweaked as it is, the sheet metal appears unaffected prior to the first set of welds connecting the very front to the rest of the car. This means the front suspension geometry might have survived the impact without issue. Only a test drive will tell for sure, so let’s keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

Step 3: Planning. Yeah. That’s kinda what this article is - my attempt at collecting thoughts on how this is going to proceed - but planning happens at many times in this process, if you ask me, so we’re going to come up with a game plan. Call it “Plan A” for now. As far as I can tell, the first order of business will be to source the parts which I *know* are damaged beyond repair. Those parts include:

• Radiator - I’ve tried patching one before. Yeah, no.
• Rad Fan -4G63s love their radiator fans. Not chancing it with something iffy.
• Grille- Can’t repair that which is crushed into dust and gone forever.
• Headlights - These are in eleventy-billion pieces, and I don’t have that much glue.
• Corner lights - Could have gone either way. Hate to have one just fall out later.

At the time of this posting, the headlights have been sourced and reside in the trunk. I’ve also purchased a replacement grille and corner lights from a cat on GalantVR4.org. The only things left are the radiator and fan. I’ve long heard about RadiatorBarn.com, but someone recently suggested I check out Radiator.com as well. Tried that tonight and was unable to browse their site. Instead, they forced me into some kind of mock chat where I was greeted by a stupid bot that obviously didn’t care what I said, so I’ll either be looking to RadiatorBarn.com (who only wants $130 shipped) or the old salvage yard. Probably go with the ‘Barn, but I’ll sleep on it a bit.

Worth noting is that I’m not going to use another Galant radiator this time around. Research on GalantVR4.org reveals that the use of a stock-sized radiator from a first generation (1G) DSM allows for the installation of an Dodge SRT4 front mount intercooler (FMIC). Minor modifications are required on either side of the core support to do so, but this support has already been worked over, so what’s that gonna hurt, right?

Step 4: Once I have the mission critical parts as I call them, I’ll put one of the two mature pines in my front yard to the test, along with my new ratchet straps. First attempt will be lashing the unibody to the tree and calling upon the AWD to do the dirty work of getting that core support out of the manifold. I’ll try to get the front end as straight as possible at this point, then the radiator will be coming out. I’ll have to re-evaluate things at that point and do some more planning.

Step 5: I anticipate this will involve capping off the lines for the 4WS system that were damaged under the core support. The PS system is nearly dry and even turning the steering wheel eversoslightly results in the same sound you hear emanating from any worthless, early 90s Ford product. The PS pump is crying out for help. I just want to cap those rear lines before I go pouring $7 a bottle fluid into the reservoir. Doesn’t do me any good on the garage floor.

Step 6: Installation of the new radiator and wiring of the fans. Since the cutesy-poo stock FMIC was effectively mangled by the hulk of a bumper during the impact, I’ll be addressing installation of the SRT4 FMIC and custom piping at this juncture as well. The goal for this step is being able to run the car without overheating. If that’s the case, we’re on to the next step.

Step 7: Installation of the head and corner lights and the grille. The grille I bought is white, so there will have to be some paint involved, but not a problem at all. There will be some bending and tweaking required to get the lights installed and aimed correctly, but once they’re in, the car will be drivable for the most part. Hooray!

Step 8: Repairing those parts which seem capable of being repaired and that would likely cost a fortune to ship in from out of state. Namely, the fenders and hood. There will be much banging and bending going on. If I *have to,* I’ll hit up some local yards for the pieces, but I think the ones I’ve got have some potential still. The really tricky bastard is probably going to be the narrow trim piece that goes between the bumper cover and headlights. This guy was bent really hard on one end. I’m keeping my fingers crossed regardless.

Step 9: Cleaning it all up and painting it. Man. I can’t wait.

Is there a time frame for all this? Sure. Sometime before it gets to be brutally hot out here in Arizona. There’s not much time left! Got to get on the ball, but there are some other things still needing done before I can even begin. Got to get some minor maintenance done on the Volvo and Amigo to get them ready for summer DD duty or I’ll be hurting down the road. Here’s hoping for the best! Look for articles on the site titled after these steps in the near future and thanks for reading!