About a month ago, I was involved in a car accident. I escaped with minor injuries. To make it worse, just days before it was in the shop for the first time to fix a few annoyances I couldn't fix on my own. I'd put a lot of work into this car when I bought it, fixed it up and make it into a reliable car that I went another 50,000 miles on before it started squeaking, which then got fixed. For a few days the car was more awesome than ever. Too bad it wasn't long enough to burn the nice feeling into my memory.
I decided to buy the car back from the insurance company. It was hard to say if the engine had suffered damage and I needed to remove the engine cover to make sure pieces didn't fall down between the timing belt and gears. So I couldn't find out before taking the $700ish? dollar risk if it would run again. I figured I could sell it for parts and maybe get that much back, but I got my hopes up.
I got to work. Found a big chunk of the valve cover sitting on the crankshaft timing gear. So I'm glad I didn't try to start the engine prematurely. Soon after it was running and driving again. I was positive that I could bend the warped metal out, replace the bumper, hood, fender and some other damaged pieces. Then get it back on the road in a few weeks.
Well, the warped metal couldn't be bent back out. I managed as close as possible but it doesn't quite line up. On the bright side, the hood closes and the headlight opens, with like 1mm to spare. It may be able to be driven, but for now Miku's fate is once again unknown. If I can get it on the road, I'll take it to a body shop for an estimate but I worry it'll be far more than the car is worth despite the work done.
In addition, the stress or something has left me with
Shingles and 2.5 weeks later it and the pain it brought has yet to go away.
Update: Miku passed and is legal to drive again