JoeinCA Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Hey guys. After a 5 year Hybridz hiatus, fate(and a hankering for some V8 power) has thrown me back into the Hybridz world. Anyhow, I bought a 75 280z about 2 weeks ago. It drove down the road pretty well, it definetly pulled to the right, but not so badly that it wandered around on the highway, the pull only required a very light hold on the wheel, but was sufficient to change lanes in a normal distance on the freeway by just letting go of the wheel at 70mph. I notice that there was definite impact on the passenger side front. The bumper is higher by a half inch or more on the passenger side. Not only that, but the swaybar bolt was bent to about 30* from straight (violently and with a very certain fulcrum). Also, the *right* side valamce panel is gone, and the passenger fender is bent upwards from the bottom. I have some photos of the damage below. The body has very very very little rust. It looks like the stock springs were cut, for about a 3" drop. The tires are all badly worn on the inside, indicating an excessive drop leaving camber uncompensated. ANYHOW, I have a full poly kit for the suspension. I have the tokico ILK suspension kit on the way(should be here monday!). I plan to put new rims and tires, big brakes, rear disk conversion, my built(by my own hands) 355, T5WC. I already have a brand new 280z steering rack and tie rod ends and wheel bearins all around. I am purchasing new ball joints, which will be here soon. Now to the question... I am going to show you guys the pictures that best emphasize the frame damage that is present on the vehicle. I want your opinions, and reccomendations. I am goiung to use your reccomendations and suggestions to guide me in my project timeline. If you feel that i should take the body to a body shop with a frame puller, let me know. If you think that with the new parts, it will be fine with an alignment, let me know. If you think I would be best off buying adjustable tc rods or adjustable front LCAs, let me know. I think that the below damage occured during an accident related to severe understeer. Causing the vehicle to leave the road/ contacting a 7-10" high object on the passenger side front tire. the object would have severely damaged the RF valance(which isw missing) Bent the sway bar bolt, and then would have gone on to bend the passenger side fender upwards. With this impact, the load would have shifted the frame rails towards the driver side, causing the passenger side rails to stretch slighty on one axis, and compress on another axis (separated by mere degrees). this behavior would cause the GAP that you can see on the driver side. Based upon this assumption, I would estimate the speed of the accident to be about 25 mph at the instance of contact (meaning the brakes were fully applied/ locked) So what do you guys think? Start over with a new chassis? Get it straightened? Get parts to adjust for it? Or just see if i can align the toe to compensate for the bend, and pray that the 2" closer to stock ride height will keep everything straight enough? What would you do? Thanks guys. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 picture, driver side headlight bucket to bumper relation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 By the way, I think I am trying to marginalize the evident frame damage in my head. I know it looks bad, but i want to believe that everything will be ok..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palosfv3 Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Need better pic of lt rail & apron at cowl. Is the rear edge of the hood parallel to the upper cowl panel ? Are the fender gaps to the hood parallel ? Are the front egdes of the hood and fender extensions even ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Measure the distance between the frame rails. Compare it to the FSM diagram. It's on this site somewhere. That is a nice chasis but if it was bent, I would not put alot of time and money into the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Take it to a frame shop that can laser it. you don't want to dump money into a project to later find out it is bent in an area you didn't realize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evildky Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 am i missing somethign? the only hint of damage I can see appears to be a creasin on the inside of the passanger side frame rail, put it on a rack to get it straight, if the cosmetic crease bothers you cut it out and weld in new metal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 am i missing somethign? the only hint of damage I can see appears to be a creasin on the inside of the passanger side frame rail, put it on a rack to get it straight, if the cosmetic crease bothers you cut it out and weld in new metalYeah, I don't really see it either... His bumper definitely got pushed up though. With that in mind, I would think looking at the bumper shocks, mounts, and all that, you would be able to tell if it was just the bumper or the car that was bent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palosfv3 Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 The rusty area about 12 inches forward of the cowl could be a sign of damage , The rails would buckle in this area if hit the right way. The pics are not clear enough to tell if someone just ran a disc over the area or if its a repaired area. Thats why I asked the questions I posted and about better pics . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 Well... Ive already dropped the front and rear suspension. I guess i will just have to take it to a collision shop for the alignment when its done. Hopefully it wont be too expensive. Palos. The hood is off of it already, the gaps were pretty good. The gaps on the hatch are also good. I checked all the gaps when I bought it and it was acceptable. I dont know exatly what picture you wanted to see. so here are a couple more. I guess its time to bust out the tape and the FSM. fun fun fun.... Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 As you can tell the car is no longer a roller. Even though i was a mercedes tech, and did chassis and body fabrication, I have never seen a vehicle without wheels on a frame puller. (Ive done some straightening on a frame bench with a bare frame, but never a unibody.) I hesitate to try to straighten it myself. I have a very very bad back, so my entire project is being done at my direction, and not with my own hands. But, frame measurement is not terribly easy on the back, and when it comes to something so critical, I want to be the only one to blame. and I dont have a frame bench... Its great to be spoiled and have every tool you could ever want at your immediate disposal... Until it ends... Ok now I'm just rambling. Have any of you guys had your Z straightened? Any cost ideas? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech9 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I'm sure it would just cost hourly for the time for them to do it. There is a body shop close by that has a laser tester, and it takes them longer to set everything up then to pull it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trwebb26 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 IMO - having just done a new frame rail install... I don't think it is that bad. The car is INCREDIBLY flexible without subframe connectors. I'd put jackstands on the rockers - make sure it is level front to back, side to side, and diagonally (using a string level) and then figure out how far out of whack the chassis is... It isn't that bad to fix stuff if you know how to weld. Just need to check how bad it is. I really don't think it'll turn out that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-Z Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I still don't see it. Mine was bent/twisted. The way I could tell was because the area where the radiator support and the frame rails meet, had a 1/8" gap between them on the passenger side and the spot welds were stretched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 My daughter went off the road into a ditch and hit a concreat culvert with her saturn L100. I replaced the subframe and took it to a body shop to have the main frame pulled. It was pushed up 2" back 2" and in toward the passengers side about 1". It was a big hit, she broke 3 of the 4 motor mounts. They charged me $500.00 to fix the frame and kept it for 2 days. When you get your wheels back on take it to the shop, it's cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 Thanks guys. I feel better now. I measured the center to center on the shock towers and am within 1/16th or so. Havent done height yet, since Ive been out in san diego for the past few days. I will definetly be taking it to a frame shop when it goes back together. Thanks again for your thoughts, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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