Bora 4mo - To Resuscitate or not

[beale187]

Hello Dubbers,

I'm hoping for some advice on what to do with my 4mo. In short I had a car accident last week, after the accident I drove it for about 10kms when it started to make a "tapping" noise, followed by losing power. So I pulled over and noticed smoke out the tailpipe and steam from the engine bay, yet the temp gauge remained on 1/2way the whole time. Little did I know the accident had busted the radiator and she'd been leaking coolant. Let it cool down, filled it up with water but she wouldn't start. Some before / after pics below.





I actually have another Bora 4mo at home as a donor, I could swap the engines over (or throw in a R32 donk ). Or is it worth rebuilding this one? Any idea's on how to diagnose it? Or how difficult a swap over is? experiences anyone?

Sadly even after that problem is solved and she's running I've still got the panel damage to fix at the front and some old damage on the n/s/r wheel arch and rear bar which I refer to as "Bankstown Rash" e.g. uninsured driver hit me.

Near impossible to get these in white otherwise I'd just buy another one.

Any input from you guys would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Michael

[LeStig]

If you can do the work yourself then go for it .....
forget fixing the engine in the car .... massively expensive and difficult to find someone with the experience to do it in the first place !!!
I did almost the same thing ... cooked the engine in south coast Bora .01. Couldn't get the same series engine - I think there's 3 different versions ... and the original car had some issues with air con and heater so I transferred everything over to a slightly later model with perfect electrics and a much better engine !!
In my case that meant the full interior, all the suspension, brakes, wheels, sound system, lights and body kit .....
These things are pretty complicated and lots of car for the money .... that also makes them very good value for us enthusiasts .... most problems are too expensive to repair so the resale values are rock bottom ....

[dylan8]

the white isnt that rare, behind black, silver and blue its prob the most common in AUS.
body kit is worth saving, if there is damage to the chassis I wouldnt bother. can pickup boras for peanuts these days

[beale187]

forget fixing the engine in the car .... massively expensive and difficult to find someone with the experience to do it in the first place !!!

.

sigh... thanks mate I thought that would be the case but I guess I needed to hear it from someone else. I just didn't want to swap in another motor with 175,000kms on it only to have an issue in a couple of months time.

[beale187]

the white isnt that rare, behind black, silver and blue its prob the most common in AUS.

I'm in the car / insurance game and I cannot find one white 4mo on the market atm be much easier to just buy another because you're bang they're peanuts to pickup another.

body kit is worth saving, if there is damage to the chassis I wouldnt bother.

I'm going to strip it down and take a look but I'm thinking the rail should be ok because it's hit high up, but if there is anything on the rail or skirt even then it's getting parted out.

[beale187]

So quick update, not much has happened here wife just had our 3rd baby which means less time for my other baby (The Bora). So here's a pic of the donor and pic's of the tags on both. Engines codes both BDE, but the gearbox code on the donor is slightly different. Anyone know what the difference is between FZM and FMP? Just ratio's??

[Markomir046]

Hey!
It's a real shame what happened to you. Really like the look of white with that body kit on the Bora.
Hope you don't mind me asking a bit of an unrelated question...
Did you buy that donor car or is somebody else wrecking it?
Thanks

Mark

[beale187]

g'day Mark,
My work purchased the donor, I purchased it from work. We are an independent contractor to most major insurance companies. This includes providing them with Market Value Appraisals (mainly when a claim is in dispute about the settlement amount) AND we buy wrecked vehicles, marine, aviation, plant machinery basically anything anywhere Oz wide. I originally bought it to swap out the suspension, zhorst and a few other bits... So in short, it's mine and I can't believe it's written off! The damage is very minimal.

[PranK]

You'll have a lot of peeps to part it out to when you get to that stage. (Like me!)

Mine dumped all oil into the cooling system and then super over heated (again, temp guage happy at 90 - make sure you replace your sensor like I did). After what it went through it blew me away that once the repairs were made, the engine ran beautifully like there'd never been an issue.

That said, with a donor car I think you'd be silly not to save it. I can't expect there'd be massive damage behind the front bar and nothing that the donor wont have (rad, reo-bar, etc).

These cars are too good to let them disappear after an incident. Its up to us to save them!

[beale187]

You'll have a lot of peeps to part it out to when you get to that stage. (Like me!)

Mine dumped all oil into the cooling system and then super over heated (again, temp guage happy at 90 - make sure you replace your sensor like I did). After what it went through it blew me away that once the repairs were made, the engine ran beautifully like there'd never been an issue!

Again? Or are you referring to the great overheat of 2015?

It's impractical to save it due to the low resale value but you're right they are too good to let them go and there's really nothing else on the market in the same price range that has the similiar features (luxury, N/A power, AWD, 6sp, mid-size sedan) Especially when most of the bits i need are sitting 3metres away. My biggest issue is my house is on a hill so I don't really have anywhere flat to work or store them.

I'll make the decision once I strip it down I guess...