frontend damage questions......

[tokes¹]

i crashed my car the other day due toa bad case of snap oversteering and a few questions popped up my head as i was taking apart the frontend. the damage didnt look to bad at first so i decided to just fix everyting myself. i took off the front bumper and the reinforcement and i noticed that the rails were slightly bent and the radiator core support got shifted alil to the right...not to mention all the fuckin rust! anyway here are a few questions that i wanted to ask you nissan guru's..

can i just hammer the rails back into place?
how hard is it to remove the radiator core support?
and would i have to weld the new/used core support back onto my car?






passenger side...


driver side...

[SpdElemts]

To remove the core support you need to drill out the spot welds that hold it in. Also if you need a core support i have one that i can sell it is already out from the car all you need to do is pick it up. It was going to be put onto my car but i ended up not useing it.

[chuki]

id put a new one on anyways just to clean it up a bit. Yea you can drill them out or use a grinder. Drilling is easier though just dont go to fast you'll burn the bit then have to re sharpen, which is just more time. You can reweld if you want, but they do make this epoxy (name of it has slipped my mind, i can check at work) that is used commonly on stuff like this. It saves on time. Iv done many truck bed-sides with this shit. You just have to make sure you get it lined up and then clamp it in place. THe shit is strong, so if you get it all over wipe it up or you'll have to scrape it off with a razor.

[HyperTek]

thats not soo bad, ive seen worse. we usually tie a chain to the front rad support to a pole and drive in reverse jus a lil bit to pull the support back in shape.. then hammer everything back. a tourch helps too .

Not done to my car by the way.

[Jonnie Fraz]

For drilling spot welds I have had great success with Black & Decker Bullet bits. Use like a 1/4" or 5/16" and drill away. They are way cheep and cut well.

[SochBAT]

Thats alot of rust. i've got the same problem. I hit a few boulders a few nights back, so my hinge with the boltholes near the bottom of the radiator is bent, my wheel well is semi-bent, my tierod is bent, and the LCA brace is kinda bent too. All my bodywork is going to be done by myself too. Wish me luck, and i wish you luck also. for my buddy's car, we tied it to a big tree and reversed it quick to pull a big bend out.

[kazuo]

Originally Posted by tokes¹

can i just hammer the rails back into place?

you mean the frame rails? They got bent? If so, nah, can't exactly hammer them back into place. Might wanna take it to a bodyshop so they can put it on the frame rack and check it out.

how hard is it to remove the radiator core support?

Some bolts and spot welds, IIRC.

and would i have to weld the new/used core support back onto my car?

Yes.

If you can get a used support thats not bent, I'd do that, get it installed and have the frame checked/realigned by a bodyshop.

If you need it, I know a couple good bodyshops in the City (San Francisco) that I can refer you to. Good work and good prices.

Good luck

[aznpoopy]

my friend and i did this very job on his civic.

if you have a spot welder and all that jazz available to you, you can do it yourself.

othewrise, it's quite an investment to buy all the tools you need.

DIY if you needed to, you could probably do the whole job in a day. realistically it'd take 2 or 3 probably, especially if nobody knows what they are doing.

[tokes¹]

RIGHT ON FELLAS thanks for all the help! anyway i busted out the FSM and got all the body alignment measurement info off of it. then i compared them to my car and im glad to report that im only off by about 10-20mm. the only thing that needs to be bang'd back into place are the top cowls?..the part where the fender bolts up to.

im heading out to venus tomorrow and hopefully the silvia front ends they got are in good condition. anyone out there rocking fiberglass fenders? venus is selling the conversion with fiberglass fenders and they wanted 150 more for the metal ones.

Originally Posted by kazuo

you mean the frame rails? They got bent?

just the end where the bumper reinforcement bolts on to(see pics above). the rest of the rails are still straight

im thinking of just running no reinforcement so i dont have to worry about getting the end rails perfect...even though thats what saved my radiator and motor LoL

[the head]

Removing the core support is easy and a new one from nissan is not expensive I replaced that and the two panels in the front when i got my car

I use unibits to drill out spot welds IIRC there are three on each end

[JaeTea]

Originally Posted by tokes¹

just the end where the bumper reinforcement bolts on to(see pics above). the rest of the rails are still straight

I would worry about frame damage. My brother's car was in an accident and the drivers side bumper beam was ripped clear off the frame rail. The frame was fine.

If anything just bang the front of those frame rails back into place the best you can and have someone weld on a new front bumper beam.

The rust would be more of a problem for me than the bent bumper beam supports.

[luckie2hav3her]

use a sasaw cut a radiator support from the aprons and reweld it, itll work.... i just did it to my car =P front end converted