Is this fixable

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daredevil

daredevil

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Bought my daughter this car when she turned 16 and got her license. Its a 2001 Grand Am GT. It was was 4500. and was really clean and ran well. Hell I liked it and it wasnt a Mopar. It lasted 6 days before she pulled in front of somebody. She failed to yield the right of way. I,m wondering if I can take it apart and have the frame straitened and bolt new sheet metal on or is this a unfixable total. I have more time than money. The Kids a strait A student and I feel she deserves a ride even though she screwed up. She wanted me to finish the 69 notch. Glad that didnt happen. Now i,m stuck not knowing which direction to go. If any body men out there can give me some advise I would appreciate it. Should I part it ,Put the Drive train and interior in another regular grand am with a bad motor i found for a grand. Or is this repairable. Let me know the truth i,m thick skinned. The first pic is her getting her award for all a,s all year. Sorry for the non Mopar post but I,m almost broke and running out of options. Thanks DD

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Just about anything is fixable but... is it worth it money wise? You could have another $4500 into it by the time you were done.

If your daughters 100% OK then that is whats important. The car itself is well, just a car at the end of the day and is 100% replaceable.

I haven't seen the car in person but I wouldn't fix it and then put my daughter (or son in my case) back in it.

Chuck
 
I think I would strip it and use the parts to fix the other car you said you could buy. It would cost more to fix this car then it's worth. Just my opinion.
 
Glad to hear she is a smart cookie. Congrat on her award. Sorry to hear about the car. Looks like she did not get hurt.
I am not a body guy but that looks really rough. Even if you just bought the sheet metal to repair I would guess it would cost more than a grand. Plus the expense of having the frame straitened. If it were me, I would pull the drive train, get another car and get it up and running in short order. If you tryed to fix this one would take you longer time to get it completed. And she would be out of a car wanting to use yours.
Good luck with whatever way you go.
 
Are you looking at another 2001 Grand Am?

The engine shows it would fit from 2000 thru 2002 as a direct interchange.

2001 is a one year transmission.
Just for future information a GT transmission has a different ratio (3.29 ratio) then than a SE does (3.05 ratio).
 
Its fixable and parts are easy to come buy and at a decent price.

Then again,these cars are a dime a dozen and it would almost be time and money better/easier spent by picking up a donar car and just doing a swap of parts.....strip the engine and dunk it in a different car and then part the car out and take the rest to the scrap yard.

Around here the grand ams and grand prix and olds aleros and what not all sell for pretty cheap.

Good luck!
 
I'm glad your daughter wasn't injured. I gave my daughter our first 67 cuda and she wrecked it. I learned my lesson and later put junior in a 88 Accord. It was wrecked when I bought it. We fixed it and he wrecked it again. No injuries Thank God.
Some of these little cars are very easy to fix ( like the Accord 87 thru 92 ). They are worth the effort too with their dependable engines and all.
I doubt you'll find anyone who recommends fixing that Pontiac. Sorry
The good news is both of my offspring learned a valuable lesson and have never been in another accident. Hopefully yours did too.
 
I've done some frames and stretches in my day, and from the looks of that one it would be better left to the scrap pile.......

If it belongs to you and not the insurance company, part the thing out....strip it down and cash in on the good stuff......But personally, I would never take on such a mess as this one for a rebuild.....very difficult to ever get it "right" again, and it would cost far more than a comparable used car in good condition by the time you were finished.
 
Sorry to hear this Daredevil. Maybe you can trade a big plumbing job for a car?? I'm sure you work constantly like me, but just a thought.
 
Just looking at the photos, it seems more than a simple left framerail pull. The passenger fender to door opening looks squashed, so the entire front box is not square. Also the rear driver's side door is open and from the pics looks like it wont close. That indicates the the push has moved the unibody out of square big time. If it was a collector car, sure, but I think by the time and money this one is unpretzled, you'd be further ahead with the swap.

Grant
 
Yep,too much work an money to fix.I,d look for a cheap donor(can be had for less than $1000)swap the drivetrain and tick off the list of..Lesson learned.Glad your daughter wasn,t hurt,it looks like some good impact was takin.Good luck.
 
Don't let the fact that the other is not a GT hold you up.....I think basically the only difference in the GT model is the body side molding and the front and maybe rear bumper? which some of that should still be good on the car you already have......and there may be something different with the GT engine? but if so....you have that too!......maybe the wheels to? I think the GT's had chrome wheels.

As for the sun roof.....yank it out of the car and set it aside until you can work up the cash to have someone install it in the donar car...or do it yourself.

just some ideas
 
DusterDude72 said:
Don't let the fact that the other is not a GT hold you up.....I think basically the only difference in the GT model is the body side molding and the front and maybe rear bumper? which some of that should still be good on the car you already have......and there may be something different with the GT engine? but if so....you have that too!......maybe the wheels to? I think the GT's had chrome wheels.

As for the sun roof.....yank it out of the car and set it aside until you can work up the cash to have someone install it in the donar car...or do it yourself.

just some ideas
Click to expand...

Engine is a direct interchange according to Hollander interchange.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Engine is a direct interchange according to Hollander interchange.
Click to expand...

Yes they are....I meant by the GT having something special engine wise....by maybe a different cam or something? but I don't think there was much different.

I know alot of the base model grand ams and the GT in 99 (start of the new body style) had the 3.4l v6 and later in production they started using the 3.8l v6 in more of them.

so first check to see if the donar car is a 3.4l or a 3.8l or if its a 4 cylinder for that matter.

I am not sure what if any issues there would be going from a 3.4l to a 3.8l or vise versa but no matter what you do....you have the car the parts came off of to make it work so it would just be a matter of swapping out parts!.
 
Glad to hear your daughter is ok. It probably wouldn't be worth it Dare.

The hole front end is swayed, and I'm pretty sure you got some frame damage there.
You would have a lot of money tied up into fixing it, more than the car is worth.
If you were to strip the front end and then post some photo's I could tell you more, but that just might be a waste of your time.
 
Wait a second....... Did the air bags not even freaking pop on that thing?

GM for ya
 
Sorry DD but you might as well stick a fork in her cuss she's done. I wouldn't be surprised if you found that CV joint broke the tranny and the tranny output shaft. It's good to hear that your daughter is OK, she was lucky, a couple more feet to the right and.
 
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