So a week ago my passenger side front wheel broke in half while I was cruising at about 45 and caused me to veer off the road head on onto a telephone pole. With out collision insurance I was sure that i was screwed. So I spent $400 on a running dodge shadow so I could get back and forward to work. After making some phone calls the most I could get for my car is $800 from a junk yard.. No, I'm not about to take that big of a loss. I could part if out for a few thousand but if I'm going to have to take everything off I might as well rebuild it.. So.. This Friday (3 days from now) I'm driving a few hours to pick up a rolling chassis that was a flood vehicle. This shouldn't effect me since I'm swapping my engine into it. That's where this thread comes into place. I figured might as well show the steps and how I'm doing it and my daily progress

 

Day 0: before

 

Day 1: the wreck

 

What kind of wheel was it?

 

Day 2: bought a new ride (temporary replacement) for a whopping $400.. Yes it runs and drives!

 

Stock 03 touring wheel. I'll post a pic of where it split in half

 

that's a hard blow...or it looks bad...

in for the journey is documented well

 

I wouldn't want anything to do with a flood car. Swapping in a new motor is the least of your worried.

 

Day 3: removing broken body

 

It's not a "flood car" so to speak... It's literally just the chassis.. No interior, no electronics, nothing. Just a frame and suspension so I can roll it. I've already had the guy take the engine and every single thing out so when I pick it up and bring it back I'll have to switch every thing out, from tranny to the carpet on the floor.. It's just a shell.

 

well, i guess top of the list is forged wheels.

kidding aside. good luck with build.


oh, did the wheels have any cracks before the accident?

 

It had one crack in the spoke.. I actually had new tires put on a few weeks ago and they put them on all but that one wheel.. Because of "liability reasons" which I now understand. But what stumps me is the wheel was cracked in the spoke.. And the wheel actually broke around the entire lip of the wheel

 

Day 4: remove intercooler,radiator,ac lines and start removing my main wiring harness. (Passenger side wiring harness was pinned and cut halfway through) I'm hoping this is why my engine immediately cut off. And I plan to solder these back.

 

Looks like a fun project, sucks you have to do it.

FI and stock wheels, WHY?

 

Correct. That was probably my first mistake.. I had 9psi (well over 400hp) and stock wheels.. But I put the kit together myself and did all the welding and fabrication for the turbo so I trusted it.

 

Day 5: intake plenum, most all hoses connected to engine. Oh and I forgot to mention I'm trying to have this done in 30 days.. Is that even possible?

 

where is the donor car?

 

This is the best picture he sent me.. And this was before he sold the engine and trans. So I'm just getting the shell. And bad news.. It's a automatic, and silver.. So I'm going to not only paint it but also I have to switch over the entire clutch assembly and pedals and so on. And definitely my electronics not only because it was a flood car. But my uprev Osiris tuner files are on my ecu.

 

Lot of work, looks like it comes with an aftermarket front sway bar


Why only 30 days

 

there was a ntsb issue for some oem wheels. were yours painted or powder coated?

kinda your fault for driving on a cracked wheel. hard to feel bad for you since you were told about it. you can get a set of used oems for under 200 which is a lot cheaper than what youre paying now.