How I acquired my "Deer Smear" Yaris

[3lbtrigger]

Hello everyone. I'm a recently new Yaris owner. Not at all new to Toyota though. I'm a 12 year veteran Toyota MDT in West Texas. I never thought I'd ever own one, but I'm going to roll with it

I had a customer driving cross country in his 09 3door 2 weeks ago and he ran OVER a deer. Lined it up straight down the middle. Bent the lower radiator support up and back, the radiator and condenser are both bent at the bottom, broke the signal wire receptacle on the starter, and left one hell of a mess under the car. TONS of hair, blood, meat, and I'm guessing a little excrement. Didn't seem to damage anything else amazingly.

He was adamant he needed to continue his drive that day. While I'm no body guy and no parts in stock to fix his car, I advised him to trade it in as there was nothing I could do that day. I sent him up front to the sales office and he bought a used car.

Come to find out, our sales manager wasn't offering anything in trade value for the Yaris and the vehicle was left out of the car deal and was left at the dealership. The guy left in his new car. I parked the car as far away as I could so the rotting flesh odor wouldn't be within nose range. I figured, once the smell goes away, we could use it as a shop car to pull other cars in and out that were inoperable.

Fast forward to Monday 03/15/21 and the sales manager came and offered me the title! The SOB sent in his title once he got home! The funny thing is, I got the hour diagnostic for looking at it, I got $100 for the referral, and now I have the title! He essentially paid me to take the car.

I've located some replacement parts needed to repair the vehicle and I'm going to daily it once fixed. I'm torn between lowering it or lifting it. So far, I will only have about $20 of my own money into the vehicle (not including title transfer fees). I think I'll try getting custom plates that say "DEER SMR".

[Leegamer]

That's awesome!

[zoidberg444]

That is awesome.

My Yaris had a nasty encounter with a rock in Denmark in 2016 - amazingly despite bending a lot of the rad support, putting a hole in the bumper and bending the radiator I was able to drive 6000 miles on the rest of my trip thanks to some cable ties and duct tape and another 13,000 miles commuting before I fixed it with £150 worth of parts from the scrapyard.

It doesn't sound like anything a session with the jetwash, a solder crimp and maybe a hammer and some cable ties wouldn't have fixed.

[3lbtrigger]

The radiator was bowed in at the bottom enough the tabs on the core that hold the lower tank on were opened and the radiator was leaking. The lower support was bent so bad the radiator was just dangling unsupported by anything but radiator hoses. The mid pipe hangars on the exhaust are bent (fixable). The side brackets for the radiator support are bent as well.

The organics could definitely be cleaned �� ��, but I have a weak stomach.

[briankalaya]

Hi 3lbtrigger! I've got a similar situation with the lower radiator support, just without any deer being involved. I drove straight onto a median curb on a rainy night and it bent the lower radiator tie bar inwards and back similar to what you described.

Luckily, I was able to get home safely, but the next day I realized the signal wire receptacle on the starter also broke, but i taped it tight so it wont be loose, and she fired right back up.

Question/seeking advice:
1) How do i replace the radiator support? Should I only swap out only just the lower radiator support tie bar, or should i replace the whole square?

2) Any welding required or is it bolt off and bolt on type of work?

3) No leaks, but the radiator looks slightly damaged at the bottom. Swap out to a new one?

I've included pics and vids here.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3g?usp=sharing