I'd only had my 3rd Lude for 6 days when I had to take evasive action to avoid a Spanish holiday maker on their way back to the airport - the result of which was my Lude running onto a roundabout, up the kerb and into a sign-post...
The insurance company said the car was a right-off and would be scrapped, so I said no, No , NO!
And withdrew the claim. After paying the excess I would have been left with about £150 and increased insurance premiums for the next few years so I decided to do the repairs myself.
After some advice from the good folks here at Lude Generation, I sourced the bits I needed from EBay breakers and have spent the last 4 days rebuilding my Lude. The near side wing needed replacing (T-cut just would not do it!) and thanks to Honda making them bolt-on's this was achieved (after a bit of panel-bashing with my trusted lump-hammer). The headlight, indicator, reflector and washer bottle were all supplied from EBay as were the upper and lower suspension arms. Total cost of parts £260.
One thing I love about these 'old' Honda's is the way they were made 18-odd years ago - all nuts, bolts, ball-joints etc. just came apart rather than rounding off, breaking off or needing to be cut off.
Once it was all back together a trip to my local tyre fitters sorted out the tracking and the slow puncture and now she drives and looks as good as she did when I picked her up a couple of weeks ago. Ok, so the bumper still has a couple of tie-wraps holding the inner wheel arch liner in place, but once I get the vacuum 'can' thing in the post I'll get that sorted, along with filling and repainting the marks & holes on the bumper.
So although I've spent nearly £300, at least I've managed to save a lovely Mk4 Lude from the scrap-heap and I still have her to drive around in!
Here's some before and after photos:
The crash
The damage:
The lower suspension arm - it should be straight, not bent like a banana:
And now, after all my efforts, here she is:
Dobbs.
