Welding new passenger front frame to wreck 240z frame.

[voltron_boi]

 

My friend had decide to gave up on his reck 240z, and decide to give me the car for some exchanged parts that I had. Yesterday, i went and pick up the car at his house, and drove it home with no problem. When I got home I decide to take a look at the front end damage. The passenger side was smash in and bent the radiator frame. I was surprise that the dog leg broad, if thats what its called, wasn't damaged at all. 

  With a long talk with my next door neighbor, we both decide that it's best to cut the smashed passenger frame out and install a new straight passenger frame from the wrecking yard. 

     Picture reference is from my 260z, but is using as a example  that me and the neighbor planned on cutting from the z n the wrecking yard. 

 

So my question is would it be a good idea to cut where the red dotted line are, and reweld the straight frame back into my 240z?

 

Couple more shot of where I'm going to be cutting. 

 

[johnc]

Cut out the core support as one piece. Don't cut it in half, you'll never get it straight again. If you need to cut the wheel well and the upper frame horns in addition to the lower frame rail, cut it back close to the strut tower. Might as well use the strut tower flange as a guide to cut a straight line.

[Tony D]

I agree with John C on placement of the cuts, and logic behind it. I've done a few of these as 'wrinkles' from shunts usually are confined to the area in front of the strut towers and crossmember. It's fairly straightforward to lop off the piece and weld it back on...the strut tower flange makes a very handy reference point for measurement.

 

Make sure your donor is 'straight' and make a lot of measurements before cutting it so you know what your wreck is supposed to measure out to be once in place.

 

Measure 8 times, cut once.

Measure 15 times spotweld twice and then measure again before stitching it all together.

 

Nothing worse than headlight(s) that permanently look to one side of the road because you are a bit shorter on that side of the car...

[voltron_boi]

So it's okay to cut the dogleg, right? and reweld it together with a new straight frame with dog leg. I'm guessing the front suspension will need to be coming off before cutting is involve.

[voltron_boi]

Mine wreak 240z

[palosfv3]

Don't cut anything apart until the structure damage has been pulled back into tolerance, Then and only then should you start to remove the sections needing replacement. Check the r/door for proper fit . A hit of this type can create a sag conditon at the cowl hinge pillar area which will cause the door to drop when opening. The front section of the structure is also swayed to the passenger side . It may come back into alignment with the length pull on the r/upper and lower rails but you may need to make an additional pull to correct the sway. From the pics you posted it is possible to keep all work forward of the strut tower.

 

This is not the type of a repair where you just cut out the damaged section and weld in a new piece. The construction of the front inner structure of a Z actually has a built in safeguard to make sure things are back in tolerance . The hood fit to the fenders is critical as there is no side adjustment on the fenders . It may be less costly and more time efficient to have the structure pulled at a qualified shop. Since the Z has no HSS or UHSS as in todays cars. The correct shop may actually be able to save the side panels and upper rail.