Help! A Arm separated from body while driving

[Sam]

The front mount of the left a arm in my 89 sheared right off the body. This was very scary basically equivalent to a ball joint separating. What do i do next? Is it curtains for this car?

[DeLorean]

Generally when a failure of this nature happens, it's time to do a full assessment of the rest of the condition of the car. If you can genuinely say the rest of the car isn't that bad, it MAY be worth fixing.

By the "mount" - what do you mean? What broke here? -- http://www.jimellissaabparts.com/showAs ... bly=408257

If by "mount" you mean none of the parts in the diagram, you mean the driveshaft tunnel gave way and the A-arm tore off of the body, this can be fixed too, but as to if it's worth doing... Generally no if it's actually torn off entirely, this is just the tip of the iceberg rust wise. Some times you have to say fuck it and cut your losses

[Sam]

thanks for the reply. basically #16 pulled through the sheet metal leaving a hole of its exact shape. There is likely damage to the rear as well because the wheel got pushed back.

Meant to say right side a arm, its the battery side as always.

[DeLorean]

Aah, yeah that's not good. Took out the aluminum cross-member too I'm guessing? When they get real rusty, that's all that holds them together anymore, and they are not strong enough to do it all on their own.

To the average person, that's the end. If you want to get involved with piecing it back together, it's gonna be a bit of time, money or both. It's usually best to catch this failure before it tears off if there is any hope of fixing it reasonably easily. There is a lot of complicated structure in this area of the car and a tear out isn't going to make fixing it easier.

At the same time, if the rest of the car is still good, it CAN be fixed. There are a few good pictures here- http://www.progasengineering.com/?page_id=1312