How tricky to fix a crash damaged Elise/VX220?

[10speeduk]

Hi all,

doing a bit of day dreaming so bare with me!

I have the urge to buy a crashed elise and fix it myself. I have no previous experience of this, but lots of interest and patience to learn as I go.

Am I totally barmy? I think restoring a car will be a much more rewarding experience than just buying and driving.

I know there is an element of 'how long is a piece of string' ie. how mashed up it is Vs my talent. But does restoring a crashed elise make financial sense over buying a non-binned one?

I hope some experienced PH'ers can advise and humour me.

Cheers

Paul

[redgriff500]

Having seen a few 'being repaired' I wouldn't touch a recorded one with a bargepole.

IF YOU ARE SURE it only has fibreglass damage then fair enough but most don't.

[anonymous-user]

Tricky repair I seem to remember -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxn9Gloa008&p=A...

[Herman Toothrot]

If its only clams that are not too badly damaged so can be repaired on a VX then easy enough,.. however anything else will be big money. Do some research on VX220.org or Seloc.

[bazking69]

9 out of 10 turn out to need alot more (specialist) work and repair than first thought.

[snoopstah]

10speeduk said:

Am I totally barmy? I think restoring a car will be a much more rewarding experience than just buying and driving.

It's not an entirely bad choice. They are a lot simpler than most modern cars so there's fewer bits to replace!

Bear in mind that any damage to the chassis is fatal due to it being effectively unrepairable, so you need to be absolutely sure what you're looking for when you go along. The front wishbones can damage the chassis if the impact was large enough, so be especially careful of cars with significant damage to one of the front corners, but you really want to be taking along someone who knows their way around these cars before you even consider buying one to repair.

10speeduk said:

I know there is an element of 'how long is a piece of string' ie. how mashed up it is Vs my talent. But does restoring a crashed elise make financial sense over buying a non-binned one?

It can do, but you generally need to buy all the parts second-hand off eBay (which means your speed of repair is effectively limited by part availability) and do *all* the work yourself (with the possible exception of painting). If you start buying parts from a dealer then you will have no hope of cost-effectively repairing it (a front headlight alone for a VX220 is in the region of £400 new!) I believe Elise parts are generally cheaper, as well as (obviously) being more common.

Also, resale value is worth considering -- Cat C/D repaired VXs/Elises typically sell for roughly 20% less than an undamaged (or uncategorised!) one. Make sure you take plenty of photos before and during the repair, as any sensible buyer will expect to see them when you sell up.

The best thing to do is to go to the VX220 or Elise owners clubs and take a look round -- there are plenty of people on both who have repaired written off cars, and have documented the process thoroughly.

[JungleJim]

if the tub is damaged it will need to be replaced. It cannot be repaired.

[Ozzie Osmond]

IIRC a bent VX/Elise will only be properly sorted if it's been back to the factory - at a price.

[VXED]

[quote=snoopstah]
(a front headlight alone for a VX220 is in the region of £400 new!) quote]

Ahem, more like £920, or mine certainly was a couple of months ago, thankfully not paid for myself!

[freecar]

On the wrecks to riches episode linked earlier, the guy looking at the car managed to miss some substantial damage to the subframe and he does it for a living (so I was led to believe by the squeaky seatbelt-between-the-boobs one!)so I wouldn't want to try to assess one myself and I've done a couple of accident repairs.

[Boosted LS1]

Have a look for PH member FLD (Matt). He'll tell you of a few horror stories that he encountered.

[JungleJim]

head over to the elise/exige/vx section.

then seloc.org

they'll give you the full SP

[kambites]

Depends on what's broken. The front crash structure just unbolts so that can be replaced, all the body panels can be replaced easily enough.

However, if any part of the chassis (including the suspension mount points) is damaged, you'd be looking at welding aluminium which is not easy. Generally it will mean a new chassis which, including stripping everything out of the old one and rebuilding it, will cost far more than the value of the car.

Edited by kambites on Monday 18th October 21:10

[GKP]

kambites said:

Depends on what's broken. The front crash structure just unbolts so that can be replaced, all the body panels can be replaced easily enough.

The front crash box is bonded on.

[kambites]

GKP said:

kambites said:

Depends on what's broken. The front crash structure just unbolts so that can be replaced, all the body panels can be replaced easily enough.

The front crash box is bonded on.

Is it? I'm sure I've seen cars advertised as having had it replaced?

[Silent1]

kambites said:

GKP said:

kambites said:

Depends on what's broken. The front crash structure just unbolts so that can be replaced, all the body panels can be replaced easily enough.

The front crash box is bonded on.

Is it? I'm sure I've seen cars advertised as having had it replaced?

It is a replaceable part as I saw one at an approved vauxhall repairer having it changed. That's the point of them they stop the chassis being written off

[Justin S]

kambites said:

Depends on what's broken. The front crash structure just unbolts so that can be replaced, all the body panels can be replaced easily enough.

However, if any part of the chassis (including the suspension mount points) is damaged, you'd be looking at welding aluminium which is not easy. Generally it will mean a new chassis which, including stripping everything out of the old one and rebuilding it, will cost far more than the value of the car.

Edited by kambites on Monday 18th October 21:10

Welding ali with tig is easy if you know how. Trying to fit a whole chassis in an oven to case harden the material around the welding is harder. Basically bent chassis and needs a replacement. Not an impossible task as long as the base car is finacially priced right and you have lots of spare time. There are plenty out there and will be more in the coming damp months with just clam and fibreglass damage, which is doable. Make sure you keep the pictures of the repairs in progress to prove the extent of the damage in case you sell it on for the next owner. Do add up the costs for some components. eg a crash box ( which is bonded on) you won't get much change out of £650 for alone. Add it up and add another 25% as Lotus are basards to work on and use crap fixings which add to the costs and then redoing the crap plated wishbones etc etc.............Good luck with your ideas if the work out. If in doubt, walk away...............

[kambites]

Silent1 said:

It is a replaceable part as I saw one at an approved vauxhall repairer having it changed. That's the point of them they stop the chassis being written off

I didn't think you could re-bond without an oven?

[eightseventhree]

Im not sure how hard a VX220 is to repair . . .

But if you do dont try and flog it on here without damage history unless your name is Imran (without covering up the trail of parts perchased and posts relating to your "brothers" coachworks)

Edited by eightseventhree on Tuesday 19th October 12:21

[R360]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yes i remember him, might also be worth visiting his brothers bodyshop in Surrey as they seem to specialise in red VXR's