The story of rebuilding a Tomcat after destroying most of the front!

After hitting a large tree the following damage was done:

• Left hand chassis rail crushed back eight inches.
• Right hand chassis rail bent and cracked.
• Right hand engine mounting bracket bent and ripped out of block, pulling the heads of the bolts.
• Right hand gearbox mount sheared.
• Front axle spring pan ripped off axle.
• Right front damper bent.
• Bodywork smashed.
• Steering lower link bent, column shortened six inches, drag link bent.
• Foot well crushed and brake master reservoir crushed.

Top left clockwise, view across the front chassis showing how well the rail absorbed the impact, the front cross member now with wood inlay! the shortened steering column compared with an intact one.

However, many of the bit I had engineered to survive a crash actually did! Result.

• The oil filter and cooler were mounted on a separate bar at the front and this moved back as a complete unit and did not suffer any damage.
• The brakes still worked, i have used steel braided brake hose from the master to the calipers with a bit of slack in so even though the master was pushed back and the brake lines got twisted they did not rupture or pull apart. Unfortunately the damper got wrapped round the reservoir and so some fluid was lost.
• No coolant was lost. The radiator is in the back and i routed the hoses such that they could move in the event of an accident without breaking.
• The electrics still worked. All cables were put in conduit and secured such that they would not get crushed if major bits of car moved, also there was enough slack to allow things to move if needed.
• Left hand engine mount on chassis did not collapse, the gusset plate seemed to work. On the right hand side it didn't stand much chance.

After the crash I was impressed with the helpfulness of all present including some other competitors who stopped to help, don't know who they were as i was busy being concussed but i remember they had blue overalls, cheers lads.

Once home I had the problem of maneuvering the car into the shed which involves a 90 degree turn in a narrow alley with the steering completely locked and the front axle binding, once again friends turned up and saved the day, many thanks yet again.

So, on with the strip down, after the wash down (top trivia, there was about 50 kg of mud still on the car) the bits of body work came off. The head light that had been wrapped round the side of the tree was intact! Sam had made some Lexan guards held on to the wing with ally brackets, the brackets had crushed completely but 3mm Lexan protected all the lights. Splendid.

I take the powertrain (engine and gearbox) out as one lump, the engine will be stripped down to find any damage.

The front axle comes off so now i can see the extent of the damage. Amazingly the damage stops at the front bulkhead, i have measured the chassis and from there back it is straight (better than most landys from the factory! ;).

Most of the modifications on the chassis are at the back, panhard rod, diagonal cross brace, roll cage, rear cross member, tank mounts etc... so I decided to replace just the front section of chassis. In order to make it as strong (if not stronger) than the original I have put in extra strengthening around the join area. It is important to remember that this area has to bend if I am unfortunate to repeat the crash so as to absorb the impact force so the strengthening plates should not increase its bend resistance by much. I have cut it in such a way that i can use the original gearbox mounting holes to align the chassis halves.

The whole lot was jigged up and welded, a lot.

I refined my pedal box design yet again but most of the rest is the same design as before.	Temporary bonnet fitted, engine and axles on, just needs wiring, lights and a new wing. So it lives again....

This time I have used a servo and brake master from a discovery, this is shorter than the Vogue unit by a couple of inches allowing the pedal box to go a little bit further forward giving a bit more leg room.

The bumper mountings are a bit stiffer so nudging fence posts wont bend the chassis any more!

The front protection bar is the same as the Tomcat design which works very well.

So, a few bits to finish off and it should be ready for action.