Raptor's Rebuild Thread
Raptor's Rebuild Thread
Well, here it is. Fourth time is a charm, eh? 
About two weeks ago I was involved in an accident. A teenager pulled an illegal u-turn in front of my truck. By the time we made contact, he was almost turned around, so my right front made contact with his rear end. It was a 2001 Rav4 (little one), and I mashed it up pretty good. He admitted fault as well as my witness. He was given a citation for reckless driving/failure to yield.
A few days later, my insurance appraised the vehicle. It took some time (due to my 98 to 2003 front end swap) but eventually I got a check for $2850. Instead of dumping almost three thousand dollars into a truck that's almost 14 years old, I'm going to allot myself $900 for the rebuild, and the rest to pay off my credit card and pocket the rest for rent/phone/gas/etc. I will be killing several birds with one stone here as a few months back I had a new A/C compressor installed. A month after that, I installed a new radiator which I accidentally punched a hole in the condenser, so now my $600 I spent on A/C was knocked out. So the condenser is getting replaced, as will a whole new exhaust. I am getting Magnaflow high-flow catalytic converters (found out my drivers side one is bad) and I've been thinking about ordering a Flo-Pro muffler and just have a whole new exhaust system. And now, here are the pictures (like you didn't skip all this and look at them first anyways).
Overview of the damage:
Close up:
What's left of my STX/Harley fog light:
Hood damage:
Header panel damage:
Valance and my one good fog light removed:
Grille and surround removed. The actual Lightning insert is fine (whew). Coincidentally the two pieces that would be the most valuable to replace (STX valance and Lightning grille) are the only two that weren't damaged
I can now open my passenger door again!
Some unknown part that goes to the vacuum system. (If you know what this is, please let me know!)
Like I said, truck is getting several birds with one stone. Lots of vacuum going to be replaced.
Some vacuum box behind the battery.
Body panels. All getting trashed sans the grille insert and valance.
Now the shopping begins. So far I'm looking at a header panel (~$75), grille surround (~$50), fender (~$100) and bumper w/ brackets ($75). I will also be ordering new blacked-Lightning headlights, with the blacked-out corners, with a clear reflector, and going with a switchback LED. My HID kit is nice, but the beam pattern and lack of high-beam finally made me go back to Sylvanias. So that is getting taken out and Sylvania Silverstars put in. The fog light is the SVT style, for about $75 for one, and the bracket from Tasca, for $35.
I will be taking the valance along with the panels to a body shop for proper prep and paint. The valance will be getting touched up and repaired, as will the hood. Everything else will be new. As for my fender badge, I can't decide if I want to swap it over or go with the new 09 badges. I might give them the rear bumper as well and have them paint that so I can get rid of the chrome all throughout the truck. I will also be getting a shorty antenna. So far that's it, I'm about to do a little shopping first. Stay tuned.
About two weeks ago I was involved in an accident. A teenager pulled an illegal u-turn in front of my truck. By the time we made contact, he was almost turned around, so my right front made contact with his rear end. It was a 2001 Rav4 (little one), and I mashed it up pretty good. He admitted fault as well as my witness. He was given a citation for reckless driving/failure to yield.
A few days later, my insurance appraised the vehicle. It took some time (due to my 98 to 2003 front end swap) but eventually I got a check for $2850. Instead of dumping almost three thousand dollars into a truck that's almost 14 years old, I'm going to allot myself $900 for the rebuild, and the rest to pay off my credit card and pocket the rest for rent/phone/gas/etc. I will be killing several birds with one stone here as a few months back I had a new A/C compressor installed. A month after that, I installed a new radiator which I accidentally punched a hole in the condenser, so now my $600 I spent on A/C was knocked out. So the condenser is getting replaced, as will a whole new exhaust. I am getting Magnaflow high-flow catalytic converters (found out my drivers side one is bad) and I've been thinking about ordering a Flo-Pro muffler and just have a whole new exhaust system. And now, here are the pictures (like you didn't skip all this and look at them first anyways).
Overview of the damage:
Close up:
What's left of my STX/Harley fog light:
Hood damage:
Header panel damage:
Valance and my one good fog light removed:
Grille and surround removed. The actual Lightning insert is fine (whew). Coincidentally the two pieces that would be the most valuable to replace (STX valance and Lightning grille) are the only two that weren't damaged
I can now open my passenger door again!
Some unknown part that goes to the vacuum system. (If you know what this is, please let me know!)
Like I said, truck is getting several birds with one stone. Lots of vacuum going to be replaced.
Some vacuum box behind the battery.
Body panels. All getting trashed sans the grille insert and valance.
Now the shopping begins. So far I'm looking at a header panel (~$75), grille surround (~$50), fender (~$100) and bumper w/ brackets ($75). I will also be ordering new blacked-Lightning headlights, with the blacked-out corners, with a clear reflector, and going with a switchback LED. My HID kit is nice, but the beam pattern and lack of high-beam finally made me go back to Sylvanias. So that is getting taken out and Sylvania Silverstars put in. The fog light is the SVT style, for about $75 for one, and the bracket from Tasca, for $35.
I will be taking the valance along with the panels to a body shop for proper prep and paint. The valance will be getting touched up and repaired, as will the hood. Everything else will be new. As for my fender badge, I can't decide if I want to swap it over or go with the new 09 badges. I might give them the rear bumper as well and have them paint that so I can get rid of the chrome all throughout the truck. I will also be getting a shorty antenna. So far that's it, I'm about to do a little shopping first. Stay tuned.
Last edited by Raptor05121; Nov 2, 2010 at 07:53 PM.
I agree with the shaved badges, it shouldn't be much more, just go ahead and remove the other fender and take them the tailgate too.
As for the headlights, you should do the projector retrofit that thomas_w did. would be really nice, and you can still probably afford it with some of the left over moola.
As for the headlights, you should do the projector retrofit that thomas_w did. would be really nice, and you can still probably afford it with some of the left over moola.
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,920
Likes: 5
From: Washington
Alex, the "box" is the vacuum reservoir, it can be deleted. I think its mostly there for your vac controlled climate control/blend door. The small round vac res, IDK? Both those lines were black, not sure.
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wow i feel your pain that EXACT thing happened to me last year after school i hit a chevy truck goin about 25. We both got tickets, he got one for illegal U-turn and i got one for failure to control speed. Good luck with the rebuild
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,920
Likes: 5
From: Washington
Ok I'll buy the first two, but officer my wheels NEVER touch the road way, neither do yours.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,480
Likes: 0
From: Nashville, TN
How much can you get for an old set of cats?
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 254
Likes: 0
From: Lubbock, TX
I was paid $15 a piece for mine, I know the mechanic turned around and scrapped them, it's probably somewhere around $25-30 a piece.