OPINION:bent frame

[turbo2nr]

well as some of you may know my s14 was involved in a hit an run in NOV,i have basically parted the car out with the exception of the basics ( frame/interior/ some body panels)

the whole driver side was damaged (rear quarter all the way to front fender) the driver side strut tower moved to the right about 2".

now that i have sold most of the parts and made money back.. payed off debt and have enough for a down payment for a new car..

Is it worth it to resurrect this car? pull the strut tower back out to spec, tub the front, add rear overs and start fresh. ( new coils/brakes/motor/tranny/ect)

basically i have a damaged frame as of now. is it worth it to fix damage and re-build her over time, or just let her go and start fresh with another s14 with no body damage..



thanks

[nathanong87]

pull it so it looks 'ok' and just missile missile missile

[PoorMans180SX]

Do you have friends that do good body work? If so, then definitely yes.

If not, that door opening is going to be hard to repair, You'll basically need a whole new side of the car.

Everything I see in that picture is fixable though, why not strip it down to a bare chassis and make it better than Nissan ever could? Seam weld, foam fill the frame/pillars, epoxy primer it, and go from there.

That being said, if you don't plan on going the full-rebuild route (which WILL be a lot of money if you don't have hook ups), then you should probably just get rid of it.

[uLmighty]

dude i got in a front wreck too the 2nd of this gay month and driver side is bent. i have a 97 kouki and i been reading people saying there's not many of them left so im goin resurrect my boo boo! do the same for the love of the koukis

[CrimsonRockett]

I've seen cars in worse condition than yours be fixed. So, it is possible.

Just be sure to measure everything properly. Take it to a frame shop that knows what they're doing.

After that, pick up some replacement panels and you're good to go. If you don't feel like worrying about the quarter panel, throw some overfenders on it and call it a day. I'd personally get the quarter panel cut out and have a new one (err, replacement) welded in, but not everyone is as anal as I am.

[h2v7]

i mean you can grab a shell pretty cheap so why risk it get a nice and straight one so you dont even gotta worry about it.

[Drifting-pedobear]

man, just make it a missile, get it so it drive straight, toss a cage in and a motor and go smash shit up.

wall rides ftw

[turbo2nr]

thats the thing tho.. i dont want a missile car..

i want a nice cruiser, refined not the "drifterlookatmeihavea240sxzomgbbqstyle"

i dont mind rear over fenders as i would run a 11.5-12.5" rim out back anyway. In front i would want to tub the front to keep the bay looking clean.. but the shifter strut tower scares me.. also the door piller shifter a little so the door doesnt close easily you have to force it closed.. so it will feel like a put together car..

im on the fence, i cant seem to justify buying another s14 and cutting it up to do tubbed fronts ect..

[CrimsonRockett]

Originally Posted by turbo2nr

thats the thing tho.. i dont want a missile car..

i want a nice cruiser, refined not the "drifterlookatmeihavea240sxzomgbbqstyle"

i dont mind rear over fenders as i would run a 11.5-12.5" rim out back anyway. In front i would want to tub the front to keep the bay looking clean.. but the shifter strut tower scares me.. also the door piller shifter a little so the door doesnt close easily you have to force it closed.. so it will feel like a put together car..

im on the fence, i cant seem to justify buying another s14 and cutting it up to do tubbed fronts ect..

I was recently involved in an accident with my daily driver (G20).

Shifted frame rails and all. Strut towers were moved as well. After the accident, it didn't drive straight at all.

Paid a shop to pull the frame and align all of the parts for me. Drives 100% straight now and haven't had a single issue since. My dad commutes over 100 miles each day to work and back and he hasn't had any issues with it either.

Before:



Accident:




Now:



It's not exactly pretty, but it gets the job done. Might have some free time by late February. I'll probably pick up a new bumper and respray both the hood and bumper to have it all 1 solid color again. Still waiting on my JDM P11 headlights to come in to replace my mismatched headlights (one Sport and one Touring headlight).

But, yeah. I believe the FSM has all of the chassis measurements. Pay a shop to pull the frame. Then (as mentioned above) stitch/seam weld it, throw some overfenders on it and call it a day.

[ericcastro]

I would not waste the money.
A S13 shell can be had for $250 here in LA all day long. (nick needs to get rid of his by , well, tomorrow, lol)
And a S14 doesnt go for that much more.
Soooooo. spend the big money to pull frame or gut the thing, and get a straight shell and put all your nice interior into it.


And from experience, a bent frame never goes back 100%.
Maybe driving on the street you think so, and the car doesnt drift into another lane with your hand off.
But when you start tracking and drifting a car, its noticable, especially when really low.


Just my 2 cents.
But no reason to waste your life and money fixing up an inadament object.
When your 80 you wont give a fuck you saved a S14 shell.
Just get another and start over

[stricnynel0s]

dont do it, just get another shell and xfer everything, your like me you daily your car everyday, and doing all that makes it suck its no point if u cant enjoy it everydat

[Irresistible]

Get a new shell, throw everything over to it. S14 shells can be had over here for like 500 at most. And that's a pretty damn clean shell. Tub those fenders, and call it a day.

[s13dan]

If its just going to be a race car or something to play around with I would say fix it. Frames are often stronger after repair when done properly. You will always be able to tell it was in a wreck. For functionality and sentimental value I would say stick with it and make it awesome again.

[drivens13]

Just take it to a body shop like everyone says and have them measure the lower frame rails and especially the upper rails/strut tower area.Request before and after print out sheets.keep in mind though the labor rates for frame straighting are not cheap so can shop around to see if shops will match prices and whatnot.
BTW the shops will be able to source new, used and aftermarket parts from accross the U.S.

[drivens13]

Also before you go in to deep, ask for a trained tech to give his opinion on the upper rail as to weather he would replace it or repair.From the looks of it the lower frame rails could be swayed to the right.They will probly want to replace the core support and then the upper rail,apron,wheel well,stut tower as one used assembly

[ericcastro]

New shells also save you over a grand for that rear quarter and a new door. Plus i be that with a new door on there, its not gonna seal up right and you will always have the wind blowing in making your left elbow cold. That door frame is most likely a touch off.


I now believe it would be considered pissing your money away to try and fix that heap of metal.

Be happy. Transfer shells.

[jesse_s13]

your crashed car looks cleaner than my car

[negrosx13]

Honestly dude..A s14 shell which is clean isnt a easy task to find and ON top switch everything over is killer on time..Its your money and your car,i know you've own that car as long as i can remember(4years++).If i were you i would get a price on fixing it. A good body shop make that car look like nothing ever happen. But it all depends if your down to spend the money.
Like 2 years ago i wrecked my car pretty nasty and i was on the same boat, i bent the front corner of the frame down. Yea its a s13 but the car more value to me and possibly the cleanest shell im ever get my hands on..I end up keeping the shell and get it pulled..anyways i hope you see you back on the road either with this shell or another

[R33E8]

Yeah seriously.. I've been trying to find a clean shell locally but it's been a pain the ass.. Most of the clean shells are so stripped (non-rolling) and far away that buying the shell and towing would be the cost of buying a fairly clean running 240..

[Silverbullet]

Unless you can find a shell for mad cheap and are willing to spend the time and energy into swapping everything over, i would just get it fixed.

modern day chassis shops do wonders.

from NASA forum
If this can be fixed and re-raced, anything can

[upsdude]

Originally Posted by turbo2nr

i want a nice cruiser, refined not the "drifterlookatmeihavea240sxzomgbbqstyle"

if that's the case don't even bother with another 240....get something newer or something

[ericcastro]

How much did that picture above cost the shop??

How many man hours, plus parts??


You are in NY??
Matt lives int he boonies of NY, but literally cuts an S13 or S14 shell up every month and trashes em. Why dont you contact him and let him know what your looking for, he will source one out for you.

Go ask a body shop though, just take the pictures.
I am guessing over 4K easy.
And thats just the estimate.

[codyace]

Originally Posted by ericcastro

How much did that picture above cost the shop??

How many man hours, plus parts??

Beat me to the punch!

That's an easy 3500-4000 dollar job right there on that BMW

[negrosx13]

The cars i seen matt chop up is beat up s13,never a s14..He lives like hr and 30mins from us city forks..Its either finding a whole car or trying to find good shell,which neither can be found easy..

Also that damage on that bmw is way wayyyy worst than the damage on the s14

since when do our cars have a FRAME


uni-body kids


time, money, time and money. time = money

whats so special about that smashed hunk of shit? cars like ours are fucking disposable.

get a real car and dont waste money on a beatup shitpile. make money parting it out and call it a night

[codyace]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

since when do our cars have a FRAME


uni-body kids


time, money, time and money. time = money

whats so special about that smashed hunk of shit? cars like ours are fucking disposable.

get a real car and dont waste money on a beatup shitpile. make money parting it out and call it a night

While I don not discredit them being 2 dollar econoboxes, for all intents and purposes you may as well call it a 'frame' to make sense on here. 'Oh I need my unibody straightened' would throw off about 99% of the members (and not to mention the search feature) here

our cars have frames, err.. FRAME RAILS.

remove your chassis from your frame, let me know how it goes.

look at the fsm, tell me what it says about frame alignment. nothing

it does however say plenty about measuring and aligning the unibody.

[turbo2nr]

so got an estimate , had a body guy friend come over..

its would cost aprox. 1500 just to get the car straight as the strut tower is moved and the support by the firewall is shifted..

i rather take the 1500 and buy a shell ..

sux i kinda wanted to save this one but guess i have to let it go..

[codyace]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

our cars have frames, err.. FRAME RAILS.

remove your chassis from your frame, let me know how it goes.

look at the fsm, tell me what it says about frame alignment. nothing

it does however say plenty about measuring and aligning the unibody.

We know you're right, whats the point in rehashing the issue?

Bent frame brings up more results/tag related searchs than 'bent unibody' or etc etc. Who cares if it's not proper, it's not like these guys are fixing it in their backyard, a rack shop will know what to do, and not care if they say 'bent frame' or 'bent unibody'. It's like saying 'we have propeller shafts' when everyone uses driveshaft. Tomato/Tomato

Ya know?

[bc.]

Fuck no it's not worth it. Too much headache and when you are 'done' fixing it, it could still be fucked up.