Minor Collision, Money Issue

My friend is currently not allowed to drive their explorer, due to two collisions in two weeks (she has the worst luck). Her parents aren't too thrilled. The first collision did nothing to her car, because she hit a parked altima in the passenger door. The second collision, she rear-ended a range rover and did some minor damage to her car. The left headlight is jammed in (4-way knocked out), hood is damaged on the front left, front left fender was pushed back slightly, but enough to not let her open her driver door more than a few inches, and there is a very small dent in the bumper. As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be frame damage, and all mechanical parts are intact.

I went online the day after to get an estimate on the parts, and it costs around $600. Now, I'm no auto mechanic, and I've never done any installation on a car, so I am wondering how hard it might be for someone like me to install the parts myself instead of her spending twice as much as they got the car for a garage to buy the parts for it and charge around $2500 for the whole job. I'd really like to do this for her, frankly because I have an interest in cars and the like and hope to study mechanical engineering in college. I figure that this would give me some decent hands on experience, seeing that I'm in the same financial boat as her.

 

[99SportX]

Welcome to the site. I too am pursuing the Mechanical Engineering path. You might even be able to fix the explorer for less than $600 if you make an attempt to buy some parts at a local auto salvage yard, or even on this site. There is a nice for sale section here.

I think this would be a great experiece for you and you would learn a lot. If you have any questions during the repairs, there are a lot of members here who will be able to help you.

What year X does your friend have?

 

[Blee1099]

You can attempt it however once you start tearing apart and realizing things don't line up like they should, you might be over your head. Especially if the frame is diamonded, which is very likely based on your descriptions.

 

[MONMIX]

odds are the frame is NOT diamond. The damage doenst sound too hateful to me at all. The only isue would be in the upper box of the engine compartemt. At that it still doesnt sound too bad of a hit.

Post some pics and I can give more value to my two cents worth.

 

[joetime]

Sorry it took so long. She's got a '93 XL. Looks like her Dad is going to the work himself. Ah well. He got a mechanic to look at it and there's no frame damage. He used to work on cars himself (had a couple motorcycles and a '69 Mustang). He's not too familiar with SUVs, but hey, if it saves money...

Oh, and another problem I noticed was that when I would drive it, the automatic 4x4 didn't seem to operate. It had for a time, but now it just won't turn on, no matter if I'm moving or not. By the time she'll be driving it again, it'll probably be snowing and it'd be nice not to get stuck with your rear-wheels spinning out of control. It's bad enough trying to use front-drive in the snow.

 

[MONMIX]

It is unlikly you took enough of a jolt to cause damage to the t-case.
You would have major, obvious problems beyond that.