Small project turned a bit of a nightmare

[Nesmy]

Hey lads and gals (if there are any here )

I'm looking for advice. Having reached a midlife crisis while not necessarily having very deep pockets (NHS nurse here so no surprises) I got myself my dream car - a KIA EV6 GT. Wanted to try an EV for a while but I ended up in a situation where it would either be a Nissan Leaf or a much nicer salvage.

Managed to get it for a reasonable price and it was a cat N. Wasn't overly worried as I'm quite good with spanners thanks to my dad, spending summer holidays wrenching in his garage. Car got delivered and I noticed a dent in the pillar where front drivers door hinge bolts on. I stripped the car to assess the severity of the damage. To my layman eye it didn't look too bad but no local shop wants to touch it. The only quote I got was £12k which I presume was a "go somewhere else" quote.

Any idea what should I do with this now? I got all the parts to put it back together, I even managed to get a cheap quarter panel but I definitely am not in a position to drop that kind of money without remortgaging my house...

Located near Glasgow.

Attached some pictures of my lovely yacht blue wreck

 

[frank horton]

welcome for a start.......
having done quite a few over the years...U'll need a dozer.....I'd say plenty of used ones about.....if poss get one with a swiveling head.....this alows u to pull at odd angles......
then by welding plates on end at the place u want to pull and for the most it''ll come out...
looks like it missed the chassis leg....
now the pro's all have Lazer's and comp's ....hence the price.....
as for u, put the rear door on and just keep pulling untill ther front door fits nicely.....it will be quite a fiddle esp when getting the front wing and bonnet to fit well...,.,
It'll just take loads'a time.....seen worse.....

 

[Nesmy]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply. I suspected I will need a dozer and already looked up a couple of used ones. They can be had for reasonable money.

The only issue I see is everybody seem to agree pulling UHSS which the upright beam is made of is an impossible task. That what actually worries me. Otherwise I would be probably already tinkering with it

Chassis leg is intact, front aluminium beam didn't even have a scratch on it and came off easily. Legs didn't spring in any directions upon removing it.

 

[northwest]

Way back when in the mists of time my pal and I couldn't afford a Dozer (or anything else really) but they were pulling a few factories down not too far away and we managed to get one of the lads to cut us a big chunk of RSJ off at a demolition and somehow managed to get it in the back of my tranny van, on the bump stops all the way home. Then we made our own. My pal, who was a whizz at this, managed to pull out some spectacular crumples with it as @frank horton says, they are cheap now and all it is going to take is time and patience.

 

[Nesmy]

Actually might give this a shot. Whats the worst that can happen... Solid concrete floor bolt it down and hope for the best

 

[northwest]

Solid concrete floor bolt it down and hope for the best

If that's the case I would absolutely have some floor anchors, when fastening to them though get as steep an angle as possible for pulling against.

 

[eddie49]

Were any airbags deployed?
Before you dismantled it, was the car able to enter "Ready to Drive" mode?
Have you pulled the High Voltage service disconnect plug/fuse?

 

[Nesmy]

Pretensioners, front passenger and driver airbags deployed - passenger airbag smashed the window. Car was turning on okay, I didn't get any keys with it so I had my friend who is an automotive locksmith program a new fob to it. Then I pulled out an airbag module, had it cleared and connected new airbags. Then it entered a ready to drive mode. Then I got encouraged to take it to bits so I can inspect the damage. I de-energised HV system prior to it.

 

[eddie49]

You are lucky it went into Ready to Drive mode. On some ( most ? ) EVs, if the airbags deploy, a signal is sent to blow a pyrotechnic fuse inside the HV battery pack.
Was it a Coparts car?

 

[Nomad]

Brave project, hope it works out for you, keep us updated

Have you looked on Facebook - that seems to be where a lot of owners & scrapyards now advertise.

I bought something similar many years ago (Nissan sports car, Turbo petrol) that had a mangled front corner / inner wing.
A good used new inner 1/4 (+ outer wing, bonnet, headlight, bumper...) were collected over a couple of months, then I stripped what I could and gave the car & new (used) panels to my local accident repair place so they could remove the damaged inner wing and replace, then refit everything and repaint...
Not cheap but the cost was fair as results were up to insurance approved spec.

Tip: If you need lots of expensive parts ask for a chat with the parts manager at your local dealer. My local place offered me a new inner & outer wing + bonnet at near cost (they normally add a large % markup, in my case even a small % would give them a good markup on a handful of parts costing over £2k)

 

[Nesmy]

Got all the parts for it already... Jumped on it a bit too quick but I've seen a breaker that got the same spec as mine but with rear damage. Got a good deal on all parts as it was bulk buy effectively. Issue is none of the suspension components and even steering is the same compared to lower trims as this is the sportiest one. Even dash and steering wheel differs. Now I just need to think how to tackle it anf get it back to a reasonable shape...

Yes, got it off copart. Main pyro fuse did not blow.

 

[Matchless]

I was at one point a salvage dealer for Norwich Union and repaired a lot of salvage cars, could you post up pictures of the car pre strip down, or send by private message, it helps me to get the full picture,

 

[m_c]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply. I suspected I will need a dozer and already looked up a couple of used ones. They can be had for reasonable money.

The only issue I see is everybody seem to agree pulling UHSS which the upright beam is made of is an impossible task. That what actually worries me. Otherwise I would be probably already tinkering with it

Chassis leg is intact, front aluminium beam didn't even have a scratch on it and came off easily. Legs didn't spring in any directions upon removing it.

I suspect some people posting in this thread are missing this issue.
The pillars on EVs (and other modern vehicles) are made from Ultra High Strength Steel aka sprung/carbon/boron steel, as dropping a car on it's roof upside down with a 500+kg battery bolted to the floor pan requires a bit more strength than cars of old to prevent the occupants being crushed by said battery, should the car land on it's roof for any reason.

The big issue is you shouldn't apply heat to the steel used, which also means that you shouldn't weld to it, which greatly limits repair options, other than full replacement.

 

[Nesmy]

I suspect some people posting in this thread are missing this issue.
The pillars on EVs (and other modern vehicles) are made from Ultra High Strength Steel aka sprung/carbon/boron steel, as dropping a car on it's roof upside down with a 500+kg battery bolted to the floor pan requires a bit more strength than cars of old to prevent the occupants being crushed by said battery, should the car land on it's roof for any reason.

The big issue is you shouldn't apply heat to the steel used, which also means that you shouldn't weld to it, which greatly limits repair options, other than full replacement.

Yes that is absolutely true. The upright beam where front doors bolt onto is all UHSS. I have found a diagram for this particular car. Attached in the post. Red is UHSS, blue is HSS. Kia uses hot stamped ultra high strength steel with a value of approx 1500 MPa. Also the car is 2200kg so it does need some strength to the chassis.

 

[Nesmy]

I was at one point a salvage dealer for Norwich Union and repaired a lot of salvage cars, could you post up pictures of the car pre strip down, or send by private message, it helps me to get the full picture,

How do I DM you? Can't seem to be able to find an option.

 

[jimbo84]

How do I DM you? Can't seem to be able to find an option.

Top right of the page there is an envelope symbol next to the notification symbol. It's possibly restricted for new members.

Good luck with the project, watching with interest.

 

[Nesmy]

I don't know what magic you've done here but I can now message folk. Thank you Will keep you guys posted, I'm not too easily discouraged. My wife said to give it up and sell it on so obviously I need to finish it now! Challenge accepted I suppose

 

[indy4x]

@Nesmy once you reach a certain number of posts it unlocks the ability for you to send private messages

 

[Nesmy]

Thanks. That does make sense now. Now just need to learn how to mig weld and I'm brand new

 

[indy4x]

There's some good tutorials on this site, have a read through, then its practice, adjusted settings, practice and repeat and you'll get there