I'm rebuilding, need advice

[Guest iskone]

Some of you might know my Z got hit I was gonna sell it and had it on Ebay, but I didn't really want to sell her and she didn't come close so no I'm forced to rebuild.

 

The damage done really crunched my inner fender up in the area behind the headlight bucket and also damaged the area abover the core support. Frame appers to be straight but it looks like the inner fender might have been pushed far enough to move the strut tower.

 

In a worst case type scenerio lets say i have to replace the whole front 1/4 of structial sheet metal. What would be best? Cut up another Z fit it in and weld or tube frame the front end.

 

Of course I like the idea of the tube frame front end but it does sound like overkill. I won't know for sure how bads untill I pry open the hood and take some measurements.

 

I'll take some pics and post tonight.

 

Thanks

Isk

[Pop N Wood]

You might consider taking it to a frame shop and having them measure the misalignment. I know at one point I had an alignment shop refer me to a second alignment shop because they thought I needed to have a strut bent slightly. As long as the metal is not rusted or excessively crumpled, they should be able to pull it back into factory spec.

 

Probably not cheap, but I am sure someone who works in a frame shop and knows more than I do will chime in.

[Guest iskone]

I'll have to post some pics for sure.

It's very crumpled.

 

Isk

[Guest iskone]

Here are some pics of the crumpled area. You can also see how much the inner fender got pushed. ITo me it looks like the area after the strut tower would have to be replaced, maybe even more.

 

Isk

 

 

 

[S15 200sx owner]

iskone,

 

What did you end up doing here, as i have to make the same call, rebuild standard rails or cut the front off and tube frame it.

 

Tube frame would be the way to go for strenght and setup wise as i can put things where i want.

 

But then again i like the idea of keeping it stock in that part.

[Guest iskone]

Well, I never had the chance to do anything with it because I had another surgery in my wrist this summer.

 

To tell you the truth I've been thinking about selling it off again. Or at least cutting part of the fender off so I can move it. I still start her up when people come by to hear her ROAR!!!

 

Isk

[Ed260Z]

It doesn't look all that bad. The Rad support looks unsalvageable though. The frame rails are probably out of allignment too. You can use a rad support for any S30 to replace the one that's trashed, and I'd replace the Frame rail "While your at it" to a heavier gauge box. The inner fenders look like they can be staightened back out.

Find a GOOD Frame shop and have them do the work.

As far as selling it, that's a judgement call. If you don't plan on getting another Z dump it. If you want a Z get a quote to repair it, and weight that against getting a new car. And doing all the work you've done so far all over again.

Just my 2 cents.

Ed

[Dragonfly]

I think all of that can be fixed without to much dificulty. A good body/frame shop will put the car on a rack, attach clamps to it and apply force to it while tapping the dents and they will pop right out. The rest of the work is cosmetic. In the pictures I could not realy see the front of the frame rails but as long as they are not torn they can be straghtened out fairly easily. If some place gives you an outragous price to have the work done go somewhere else, in my opinion outragous would be above 8 hours labor.

 

Dragonfly

[jtmny1999]

My Z was also hit just like urs the same parts of the interfender bent and also a bit of the core support. I was able to get that fixed by putting my Z in a frame machine and just pulling out that bent part. I did have to beat it out with hammers and 2x4's but it came out clean and no damage was made to the suspension and frame.

[Guest iskone]

My frame rails are straight, they have already been strengthend take a look at my album.

 

Selling it would just be for conveince at the moment. I'll still plan to drive a Z in the future but since I want a V8 it makes selling this one a little easier to deal with. The engine in my Z is truley one of a kind though.

 

Isk

[mom'sZ]

Since a lot of people seem to be posting, saying they are in a similar position, I'd like to make a comment here. The question is 'my car is crunched in the nose, should I repair the stock inner structure, or cut it off and weld a custom structure in it's place. Well, I did frame and body work, heavy collision for twenty five years. And my STRONG advise is have a competent frame shop repair the unibody regardless! Even if you are just going to cut it all off all the way down to the firewall, you still would want the unibody straightened first. Here's why, in the business we had a term 'secondary damage' it meant the damage to the unibody well beyond the actual damaged area. Like DragonFly states, the frame shop grabs the car in clamps made for unibodies, which hold it very rigidly, and counter force is applied with the frame machine to the damage. When a unibody gets hit, the entire structure absorbes the impact and depending on how hard the hit, gets damaged. It's easy to see when they're really nailed hard.

So... for iskone, that looks like a street car. From the pictures it doesn't look that bad. Go to the local body shops if the car will drive. Bend the fender with a bar if it's rubbing. Tell them you will supply a fender, how much to just realign the sub structure. I'll bet you'll be suprised, maybe a couple hundred. I'm sure they can save the core support and inner fender, straighten all of it.

S15 200sx owner, are you looking to repair the race car in your signature? If that's the case then it's doubley important because you want the alignment perfect on a road racer even if you are just going to cut the substructure off anyhow. The frame shop can tram the car and make sure it's square.