Question is, what to do with a crashed Answer

Crashed my '97 Answer going downhill on a sharp right hander. I locked up the brakes, threshold braking skills are not what they need to be it seems. A driver was coming up the hill the other way and happened to be taking the turn a bit too tight, so we collided head on. Yikes. Thankfully no one was hurt.

The damage: Hood, L fender, frame rail (there is front damage, but it's also crinkled at the sway bar), cross members, headlight, you get the idea. The car still drives, in fact, there's no difference from behind the wheel that I can tell. It's no doubt "totalled" and because it was a joint fault accident, the insurance companies are still duking out the details on how much, if any of the damage will be covered. I've removed the damage bumper and sub-bumper.

So, I need to decide what to do with the car.

1. Sell it as a whole parts car, or Exocet or SpecMiata something other. Drive my E30 and forget the Miata, is that possible?
2. Part it out. The car has a Torsen I believe, but I'm not sure how much other stuff it has that anyone would want. Is it worth the hassle?
3. Try to fix it. If I go this route, I'd probably try and have a body shop pull or fix the frame, then do the rest myself. Not sure how much it would cost me, but I love the car, and I want to autocross it.

The first problem is the battery has a parasitic draw that I cannot locate after pulling all of the fuses. It's about .08 amp. Any ideas on this?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Sell it to me so that I can do unspeakable things to it?

Ghettocet definitly.

cough

SkinnyG wrote: *cough*

/endthread

RallyCross?

What part of the world do you live in?

You can do the front frame pull yourself. Just find a strong chain, an old tree...

Are you sure 0.08 amps is enough to be considered a parasitic draw? Many cars draw something from their batteries all the time, to keep memories stored and such. I'm not sure how much a Miata would be, but 0.08 amps does not sound like enough to worry about it.

If the car is beyond fixing, but drives fine, it sounds like a perfect Exocet donor as long as the subframes aren't bent.. Yum.

Sell it to me. I think the one I bought to cut up may be too nice... Did the engine/trans shift at all?

Personally, I'd just fix it. Pay a body shop to do the parts you're not comfortable with and do the rest yourself. Or, learn new skills and do it all yourself.

After my minor hit, one of the headlight doors was drawing enough to terminate a 3 year old battery in one night.

Thanks for all the responses!

I'm in the SF Bay Area.

I have thought about the the tree and chain method. I can pull the front cross member (not sure if that's the correct name for it) sort of straight, but the frame rail needs to be pulled from the side.

I am not totally sure what is considered parasitic on a Miata, but the battery is weak and won't start after sitting just a few days. I disconnected the trashed headlight, but the draw is still there.

Ross, I don't think the engine shifted at all. I will let you know if I decide on the sell it route.

You are going to need a parts car if you want to fix it, but it is quite doable to replace the entire chassis leg with nothing more sophisticated than a drill, a hammer and a chisel. And a MIG welder.

This looks scarier than it is. Just make sure that you fab up a jig so that it goes back in straight. The front crossmember will serve about 80% of that function.

A surprising number of parts are available directly from Mazda for that and the prices aren't bad either.

Exocet it

Sell as parts car. I also live in SF Bay. Plenty of good Miatas so not worth putting too much effort and $ into a wrecked one.

Exocet or catfish