2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

So me and the wife were headed to the family's house the day after Thanksgiving. Decided to drive the Goat since it was nice....hopped on the highway and all of a sudden BAM!! Locking Hood pin sheared completely off on the hood side and allowed the hood to fly up and smack the windshield and roof. I fortunately kept it straight and just pulled over. Also luckily neither me nor my wife had any glass in our eyes. I did have one small piece embedded in my forehead.

Lessonlearned.... Don't use these cheap locking style pins. They were on the car when I bought it but I never trusted them. For good reason.

Was pretty tore up about it... Drag racing was the one thing my wife looked forward to all the time no matter how bad she felt (she has some health issues).

I'm confident it'll end up better. I purchased a donor car that was actually destined for the scrap yard. I'm just going to re-skin the roof. I'm confident I can tackle it this winter. If anyone has any threads where someone has already done this on a Gto.. Let me know. I searched for quite awhile and came up with nothing.

I'll prob just used this thread as a build thread/pic dump of the progress. Probably will point a 6 point rollbar in it as well while thr skin glass and interior is out. My track is pretty picky about running faster than 11.49 with no bar. My wife went 12.70 in it last year with a just 5.3, mediumish cam longtubes and a stall. Spray or boost will definitely push it past that point.

Couple pics of the damage and donor.

2ToeRacing

iTrader: (5)

thank goodness no one was hurt. I have a friend the Won't use anything that's cheap or a knockoff. Good work pulling it off the road.

AnotherWs6

iTrader: (17)

That sucks a high hard one. Donor looks clean as S.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

It really does man... But could have been worse. Insurance is also going to cover it under Comp so I won't get dinged.

And the donor honestly is super clean. Before pictures didn't look bad either just a bit of cosmetic front end damage. There must be more to the story. Core support is 100% straight as well. Got a nearly perfect 04 hood and a set of Hotchkiss sway bars as well on the deal. trunk lid is perfect.

MuhThugga

The story on the donor is probably a summation of the low value of the car and the high price of parts. So, a simple fender bender totaled the thing.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

Worked on the car a bit. Got the windshield out and started to drill all thr spot welds out so the skin can be separated. The skin is completely loose all the way to the back brace that tucks under the rear glass. I've got a glass guy coming to get the good windshield out of the donor along with both back glass. I'll try to get some more detailed pics of where I drilled and what to do and not to do. Could not find another roof skin replacement thread so maybe this will help someone in the future.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

So I got the roof off tonight. Wasn't too terrible. I pinched a nerve in my neck the other day drilling spot welds so had to take a couple days off. I was also banking on he glass guy coming but he was booked this week and said he won't even try until it's in the upper 40s again. (which won't be for awhile).

I decided to try to remove the skin with the back glass in place. Pics speak for themselves.

ACCLR8N

Always interesting to see how things come apart. Thanks for posting the pictures.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

No problem. haven't seen any other threads on roof skin replacement for gtos at all. I'm not scared to tackle anything so figured if give it a shot.

Got a little more done on the GTO . Got the plates fitted to the floor and the rear plates bolted down. Fronts are going to be bolted as well. Rear plates I decided to weld as there was no good way to bolt them besides onto the wheel tubs. Main hoop is sitting pretty much where I want it. I'll try to get a bit more done this weekend. Basically just a lot of test fitting. Going to try and get ALL of the interior back in. My wife had to go in for surgery today so the last couple days have been hectic.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

Bummer! Where are you located? I have a factory 06 gto hood from my donor car if you are close/need it.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

I am from southern IL so a bit of a haul. I have a perfect 04 hood that I'm planning on using. Just out of curiosity how good is the hood and what are you looking to get for it? I've got a buddy that lives in dearborn..but not sure when I'll get up that way.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

Its red and I believe it in nice shape, my donor car was rolled over but the hood looked un touched. I would be open to what ever you thought was reasonable, its not doing me any good just sitting.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

One badbowtie... I'll talk to the wife and I'll get back with you. I myself are kinda partial to the flat 04 hoods. She likes the 05-06 a bit more.


The wife was feeling good enough for me to go out to the garage for a bit tonight. Got the rest down bars cut , mocked up and tacked in. Going to be a bit uncomfortable for people in the back seat but I knew it would. No-one has ever sat back there anyways.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

Looks good. No worries on the hood, it’s not going any where. Just pm me if you end up wanting it.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

Just did a bunch of cleaning and test fitting some panels tonight. Rear seat
And A piller trim will go back in with no issues. Rear side trim panel with armrest will go back in with a little trimming and ALOT of persuasion...lol. Also once its in....I'm never taking it back out...lol. Once everything is back in...you will be hard pressed to tell I had to do anything to fit. Also removed the speakers behind those panels. I'm going to just bypass those anyways. .and this way I never have to worry about replacing them...lol

I have my PVC door bar mock-ups how I want now as well. It's just a matter of copying it to the tube and putting a small bend in it. I hope to have them done by this weekend.

Couple pics of the cleaned out interior and panel trimmed up.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

Progress has been a bit slow. Wife is still recovering from surgery which doesn't leave me much time between working , taking care of the house and her.

But Got the door bars bent up with my newly acquired bender. Was able to get the drivers side completely fitted and tacked in. Still have to work on the pass side a bit and tack the harness bar in. Then can burn it all in.

Also bought a couple drive shaft loops and a pair of CF grills that need a little work

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

Got the rollbar 100% welded up tonight. Pretty happy now it came out.

2004silvy

iTrader: (2)

It's need a little bit since I updated . Car is almost finished. Cage is painted, interior back in, new roofskin is on, windshield in. Also everything is seam sealed and glued in. Pretty much all that is left is to vinyl wrap the roof and hood and then drive the **** out of it. Unrelated to the crash... I also have a fresh set of Mickey type R drag radial to mount up and test out this year. Between the linelock and those... she shouldn't have a problem hooking up. Pretty good timing as well as our track opened up last Friday, but the first event was rained out. Anyways a few new pics of the progress.