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Written Off. 200

If your description is accurate, this damage is entirely repairable, a lot more easily than you would think, considering how bad it looks. Where I live, it happens a lot, from collisions with deer. The end result is very similar to what happened to your car. I've had it happen to me several times, with 140, 240, 740 and a Mercedes. It sounds as if it is pretty unlikely to have damaged the suspension or other structural elements of the car.

If you want to fix the car, the best thing to do is get right on it. First, you will need a work area, preferably inside if it's cold where you are. If the car is sitting in a storage lot, racking up a $20/day bill, get it home ASAP!

Your first step is to tear into it. Remove all the broken plastic and bent sheet metal. In order to get the radiator support, the bumper has to come off. Carefully inspect the water pump. If the radiator was pushed back into the fan, it may be damaged. If anything is pushed back as far as the timing cover, remove that too, and make sure the belt is unharmed. If the battery got broken open, neutralize spilled acid with baking soda and flush with plenty of water.

When you are done removing the damaged parts, YOU NO LONGER HAVE A DAMAGED CAR !!!!
You have one that is partially disassembled, and missing a few parts, which is another matter entirely.

Now you need to start the search for parts. Your best option is salvage yards, if there are any in your area that have 240s. There are three ways to keep track of what you need: As you disassemble the car, either write down or take a picture of everything that comes off, and use that as your shopping list. Or, find one car that has everything on it, and strip it down as far as you did yours, and buy all the removed parts. In any case, get all the fasteners that hold it together. It can be useful to have extras when putting it all back together.

Others below have mentioned a flat-hood conversion. I would forget about this idea, as it requires A LOT of extra work, including changing the front fenders, the wiring for the lights, and perhaps the bumper as well. You want to find one or more 86-89 cars to take parts from. It may be that you can use stuff from a newer one (90-93) I'm not 100% sure though. If you want to do an upgrade, now would be an excellent time to go for a pair of e-codes, if the budget allows, instead of used US spec lights with yellowing plastic lenses.

If you can find an early (85-89) 740 turbo grill, it is fairly easy to adapt the large black mesh to the 240 outer shell. (I believe it was Aye Roll who did this---it looked great)

Ideally you want to find a hood in the same color as your car. If you are not so lucky, try to get one in a solid color other than red. Paint preparation is easier that way.

When looking at a radiator, carefully examine the water outlets if it is OEM (Blackstone) They become brittle with age and can break off of the plastic body of the tank. If you can find a good one, OEM radiators are excellent. Make sure it is reasonably clean inside too.

If you have AC, and want to keep it, you will almost certainly need a new condenser. As soon as you remove the damaged one, cap the ends of the hoses with something airtight, to keep moisture out of the system. When putting it back together, do a full 134a conversion, if it was still running R12. This includes replacing all the o rings, the dryer, and draining the old refrigerant oil, which must be replaced with new stuff, compatible with 134a. Then evacuate the system, (or have someone do it for you) make sure it holds, and recharge. This is another reason to forget about the flat hood. It probably takes a different condenser, which may or may not be compatible with the hose fittings you presently have.

Leaving out the issue of paint, which you may or not need, it will probably take a couple of days work, and somewhere between $200 and $300 (e-codes additional) to get it back on the road, depending on how much was damaged.

Sorry, I can't do much to advise about dealing with insurance, tickets etc., that varies a lot from state to state.






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