WITW - Ricky's van attack

[MikkiJayne]

Ok as a few of you have already figured, and probably inevitably, Ricky D's lovely green S8 has made it's way to the workshop following it's unfortunate incident with a van while parked. Mike and I went over and picked it up with a trailer and brought it back for further investigation.

Ricky kept his extraordinary wheels so I stuck some spares on for the journey home. We all agreed they rather suit it!



Getting it on the lift was no easy task with the rear end steering wherever it wanted! In the end I put it on forwards, since I would be mostly working on the rear end anyway.

It is leaking so much oil even BP is looking smug!



Uh-oh - a crack...



The rear subframe took the brunt of the impact and all the control arms are still intact. This is the bolt from the front right subframe bush!



The crack is along a weld and is about 50mm long by 1mm wide. There is a scuff on the fuel tank as the subframe came in to contact with it, but the tank is still fine.



You can see here how bent the subframe is. There is a dent in the mounting pad just in front of the threaded boss which is what has caused the crack.



This bump in the subframe bush (from the solid boss where the bolt fits) is what caused the dent in the mounting pad.



A closer look at the crack. This would be trivial to tig weld, were it not for the plastic fuel tank right next to it!



The subframe folded like tinfoil



The front lower arm mount is distended and twisted



Since the subframe is dead anyway I cut the bush out to get a good look at the threaded boss before proceeding. The good news is that the boss is still perpendicular to the body and has not shifted. It measures within 2mm of my Murple which means I'm 99% sure this can be saved



The lower rear bush tore out of the arm



The funky dual exhaust was made in one single piece and was a bit of a bugger to remove



and unfortunately tore apart under its own weight Not sure what I'm going to do about this at the moment, but I'll probably cut it in to sections and join them with sleeve clamps, then weld this back together.



Stripped the suspension with the subframe in place as it's easier than on the floor since it doesn't move about



The lower arm front bush went splat! I've never seen a rubber bush squished out of shape like this before



I'm learning lots of useful things for when it comes to rear subframe removal and refurbishment, like the handbrake cable bracket is an arse to get to! Its bolted through the diff mount with both the heat shield and fuel tank in the way so the front of the subframe has to be lowered to gain access.





Got it in the end



I left the driveshafts on the diff since they can stay put when it's transferred to the replacement subframe, but most of the rest came off



Some ballast in the boot to make up for the weight I'm about to remove!



Removal of the rear subframe is the same as for the front - lower the car to the ground, support the subframe, remove all the bolts and lift the car off it





The fuel tank:



With a good bolt in place you can see that the mounting boss is still perpendicular



The plan is to temporarily replace the rear subframe and the right hand suspension components and also the front lower arms since the right front also took an impact, and then see how it responds to a wheel alignment. Assuming it lines up properly and confirms my measurements of the floorpan, I'll pull the subframe and the fuel tank so the crack can be welded.

If you're wondering why not just pull the tank now and get it done, two reasons: 1, I'd rather take the subframe off multiple times than take the tank off even once! 2, my tig guy isn't available until January and I want to know if it can be fixed before then