Jim De Arras

Russ Burns pointed out what may be the source of some of the misunderstanding as to Imola's state.

He quoted me, refering to the transmission mount:
"Again, they had time to be stressed back, the frame side of the
mounts rotated a bit, and finally the back end of each mounts fractured, cracking part way across the mount, but not completely. "

as the source of his concern about frame damage, he read that the mounts rotated at the frame, which was not what I meant, but is certainly what it says!

The engine and transmission mounts can be visualized as two triangles for each mount, where the bases of the triangles mount to the frame, and to the engine or tranny. The points opposite the bases meet, and slightly overlap. In that overlap section, there is a ball and socket type connection, where the ball is a lump of rubber, and is on the frame side, and the cup sits on the ball and is attached to the engine/tranny side.

Now, when I said "rotated" above, I meant the cup rotated on the ball, as the tranny side of the triangle "tore" on the rear side. The triangle did not tear completely through, and the forward bolt on the tranny side held, but just barely. The twisting of the fractured triangle bent the head of that bolt on both sides, and on one side, at least, it appears the leverage forces applied to it pulled one of the bolts out a mm or so. Either that, or the bolt stretched. This is the most serious damage I am aware of, and replacing the tranny is certainly on the table, I won't know until I get that bolt out and can inspect and test the mount point.

The "rubber ball" and socket on the engine is much taller, and that part simply distorted and bent. I am replacing it, and the frame side of the "triangle" on the engine, and all parts on the tranny.

And when I said:
"I will not lose a percentage of my re-crash ability, period!
"

that was not a statement of arrogance claiming I knew the car was perfect, it was a statement that I will not accept less than 100% of the original crash ability. If that is not possible, Imola will go.

I am paying the body shop to go over the car in detail, on the frame machine. 14 hours scheduled to make ALL know standard measurements, far more than they usually do.

Please believe me when I say my love for my car is not clouding my reasoning. I do not have a desire to start over again with a new car, I like this one, and if possible, I would like to keep it. But I will NOT accept any increased risk in a future accident. I will accept some drive train risk, given the insurance settlement will still cover extensive repairs after all bodywork is done. But I am convinced the engine is sound (if you ignore the power steering mounts, to be solved) and the tranny is internally sound, but the case may be weakened.

And, as I said, I plan to put a hundred miles or two on it as soon as I can strap a radiator (on national backorder!) to her, before I invest any more money in her.

But IF Imola passes all the tests, she is sound, IMHO.<p>Jim De Arras

<a href="http://www.imola.org">2000 00 Imola/Onyx/Alcantera S4</a>
MTM Stage II (Stage III on order)
MTM Full Suspension
MTM/Pagid Brake pads
UUC Short Shifter (original 20%)
Michelin Pilot Sports.
SmartTire Tire Monitor

GregM

Best of luck Jim with the repairs.....I know what you are going through right now as I have a Ski Nautique boat that I have just spent the last 3 months going over in detail......new upholstery, carpeting, teak, engine work, dash, stereo, etc,etc,etc.......and last weekend an oversight nearly sent it to the bottom......so things can be frustrating at times.......stick with it though.....

MyS4Rocks

I would be angry too.. actually more like F'in Pissed!

Russ Burns

Glad to hear it was my misunderstanding. Have fun with it.

Dank

Apology accepted. Now get to work on that thing! :-)

Bichon

Early in the week you said you wanted all opinions, next day you mentioned how you were enjoying the banter. So we all felt free to express our opinions; sorry if we hit a nerve.

You have to realize that many people have had either direct or indirect experience with a car that suffered a collision, was repaired by a licensed body shop with a good reputation, initially looked great but later developed many problems and was never the same. For those with that experience, the chance to replace the car without taking a huge financial hit, and avoid the possibility (however remote) of problems down the line sounds like a godsend.

Perhaps your comparison of replacing your car, a vehicle that absorbed an impact sufficent to deploy the airbags, to replacing one for a door ding was a bit overstated, and might have lead people to misinterpret your comment about recrashability as arrogance or ignoranance instead of a statement of fact.

I am impressed that you are paying the shop to spend 14 hours taking all possible measurements on their body alignment machine. It really does sound like you are doing everything in your power to determine whether the car is worth fixing, and hope that if you decide to go ahead with the repairs that all goes smoothly. I have really enjoyed reading your posts and updates, and hope you will continue to share the details of your story with your AudiWorld friends.

Todd W

Hey, it's Friday. Shake hands, go back to your corners, and come out swinging!!! The only thing is that you can't take anything personally, we're all living our alter egos here anyway. %^}

I too love these sagas, man are we whacked or what to care about these cars so???<p>Todd W