Ok, got some measurements (all done from centre of bolt):

First of all, the front panel. The bit which was obviously bent:

Scuttle mount peg to headlight bolt (orange) - 33.5cm
Scuttle mount peg to rear front panel bolt (red) - 26.5cm
Rear front panel bolt to rear front panel bolt (green) - 120.5cm
Bonnet lock sticky up bit to scuttle panel rubber rear edge (blue) - 45cm

And the probably bent lower arm. Distance in parenthesis is the likely bent offside if different:

Rear wishbone mount (plate with 3 big bolts):
Inner bolt to outer bolt (blue), either one - 23.5cm
Outer bolt to outer bolt (not coloured) - 13cm
Front of rear mount to front of front mount (green) - 34cm
Front front mount to wishbone's balljoint centre (orange) - 34 (32) cm
Front rear mount to balljoint centre (red) - 44 (45) cm
Balljoint centre to front edge of hole in jacking point (unmarked) - 46.5 (49) cm!

It looks like the n/s/f wishbone (which is much newer than the other side) appears to actually be stretched by 1-2cm, which is weird, it should be shorter. No signs of any damage to the lower wishbone mounts or subframe either to explain it.

Not quite sure how a cast wishbone can get stretched, seems extremely unlikely. Only things I can think of are that the wishbone bushes became ovalled in the crash (won't know for sure 'til the wishbone's out) or that the wishbone, which appears to be a recently fitted pattern part, is actually the wrong wishbone for the car, and thus the camber difference is unrelated to the crash 

Got the Konis and Eibachs on all round:



So started dismantling the front end ready for examining the chassis leg to make sure there's no hidden damage, before welding in the new section. And then found this with the hub carrier:



Aside from looking different the Abarth carrier (on the right) has 3 degrees less 'incline' than the 1.2 Pop one on the left, which would certainly explain the odd camber - without a little bit of a bend where it's bolted onto the strut the wheel will be facing straight in towards it!

Admittedly this isn't a 'final answer' since the 1.2 hatch hub carrier (which I bought cheap for reference) has a different wheel camber to the Abarth / 500c / diesel (which all have the same) so I'll need to wait for a replacement Abarth one to come in via Ebay, but it certainly looks like the cast hub carrier is indeed bent. If my findings are right and the camber is exactly right with a new hub carrier, that's confirmation there's no lower chassis damage so I can get on with a road test once the lower arm's replaced (still waiting for that to be delivered) and the bumper mount's been repaired (still waiting for that too)

Good work.

I take it that may sort the alignment issue?

Alignment looked fine once I'd got the wings on - both sides looked identical, so unless everything goes wobbly and wonky when I drive it, I think that's all the crash damage sorted. And then I moved onto a job I'd been dreading - replacing the bent water and turbo pipes.

It was an entire day's job and involved removing all the turbo heat shielding, the cat + mounts, the battery tray and ecu, unclipping a lot of cables, undoing both the hvac pipes, removing the air filter assembly and all intercooler pipes and removing every pipe to the turbo bar one.

I needed to replace a couple of turbo pipes anyway because they were bent, but I'd definitely recommend steering clear of any car with a corroded / damaged water pipe, it's basically almost all the steps you'd need to follow to change the turbo and clutch...!

Still, on the bright side I'd say I'm a couple of evenings' work at most from being able to drive the car, well assuming none of the oil / water pipes leak after all that fiddling about.

Actually not quite right - the Pug XU10J4 2.0 was a an inline four, but it was very revvy and well-balanced so if the engine itself sounded like anything but a well-oiled sewing machine you knew it was done for.

A nice little bluetooth ELM 327 adaptor just arrived in the post, connected it to Torque Lite, cleared the fault code for the damaged wastegate actuator which I replaced, and it didn't come back instantly.

Just need the new tyres (for my new wheels), V5 (so I can get some new number plates) and a fresh MOT, and I can start driving it.

Quote from: mj2k on November 17, 2021, 02:55:19 pm

And the light clattering has calmed down, must have been because it hasn't run for quite a long time.

Hydraulic tappets

I hoped as much, I'm guessing it's been a good 2-3 months since this car's last been run

I agree with you regarding the steering feel, much too artificial in sport mode.

I am not aware of a work around.