Xophertony

here is how i bent the frame :hit curb in snow, steering messed up, help

So, after installing MOOG tierods, center link, and idler arm I had the bird aligned at the local les schwab (good standing NW tire center) and the guy said my sub frame is bent. I find this hard to believe when I hit a curb at 15MPH or less. Anyway. He said it is outside of align able limits. He recommends a frame shop.

Well, a frame shop is going to charge me 150 dollars just to inspect it. The cause for an inspection charge is the fact that a frame inspection takes 3hrs of labor. I have come to realize this is a necessary expenditure. And will be done regardless of my decided course of action.

So here are my options

OPTION ONE:
Have the car straightened on the frame rack. I hade the frame guys make a rough ballpark guess, they said a car needs to spend anywhere between 8 and 24 hrs on the rack, at 50 dollars an hour. That’s 400-1,200 dollars. That is WAY too much.

OPTION TWO:
Buy a new Fbody with a straight frame and a blown engine/no engine. And do an engine swap. Take all of my cool stuff like all new suspension components, 4th gen console, most of the interior, stereo, ect and swap it over to the most likely gutted rolling chassis.
NOTE: P.I.T.A

OPTION THREE:
Get just the sub frame from a junkyard, pull my car into the garage, remove the hood, put the engine hoist on it, drop the suspension, control arms, spindles ECT… remove sub frame, replace with new (from junkyard) sub frame, install new engine mounts (why not?) and new control arms (while I’m in there, ohhh, with bearings instead of bushings too) and reinstall suspension. Have aligned, done.




Ok, so the poll is witch option would you choose, if option one how much is too much to spend on the frame. Any other insight would be nice too. Thankyou all for reading my long post and helping me with my car ending delema.


attached is the copy of my alinement report

Aviator857

The Subframe is welded to, part of the the car, The k-member is bolted on the car which is it that they say is bent. I would beleive the k-member but not the subframe. I would take it to another alignment shop for a second opinion b4 spending that much money.

The K-Member is what the a-Frames are bolted to and the engine is mounted to it. This is then bolted to the car in I beleive 4 places, it may be 6. It is pretty easy to replace and if its bent you can get one from the junkyard or buy an aftermarket tublar one.

I have discovered alot of alighnment shops have trouble with these cars for some reason, and alot of them don't have the specs of the cars older than 93 in the machine so they have to manually input the specs, and for some reason this seems to through off the machine sometimes.

EDIT: Just realized that the cross camber went close to specs before and worse out after so...... That would make me ask questions

think4aminute

I grew up in Idaho, and let me tell you, Les Schwab is not a good standing tire shop. Their techs are paid by commission, and if it is going to take too much time for them to diagnos a problem, they will kick it out of the shop and go on to the next flat repair. I would suggest getting a second opinion from someone who is willing to take their time and show you what is bent and what needs to be repaired.

Xophertony

no it was not. the cross camber before was 0.4* and after was 0.3*. although it still makes me ask questions becoase they said they DID NOT ALIGN IT!!!

i dont know witch one

due to these new insights i think i am taking it to scotys auto body. they were way better then les schwab before anyway.
thankls guys

PS whoever checked the "buy a honda" option on the poll is an ***.

Scottlb9

Seriously, take it to another shop.

What to vote, I’m not sure. I was under the impression the once the frame was bent, no amount of straightening would ever make it as strong as it was before and that you would end up with more problems in the long run. I could be misinformed though.

Good luck.

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

If the 2nd shop agrees that the subframe is bent: Sell it. Apparently it's not bent too bad if you couldn't tell. The next buyer probably won't be able to tell either. Sell it "as is and shown."

Swapping your V6 into another car seems like a lot of work to still end up with a V6 car. I'd sell it and buy a V8 and never look back.

Aviator857

Hey one thing just struck me, how does the car act when you drive it, does it seem to be draging the tire real bad when you turn the wheel. Just wondering because the draglink(center link) will go on upside down as well as right side up.

And to me the numbers just don't look that bad out for being right after replacing the front components.

jpk91rs

You can have the car straightened, but you have to decide what amount of money it is worth to you. I spent $1000 to have my sub-frame straightened and $150 for a parts car for the new k-member abd steering box. TO me it was worth it to get the car I wanted.

Xophertony

i would never sell a car with a bent frame without telling the buyer. this is illegal, imoral, and downright wrong. anyone who knowingly withholds THAT kind of info from a buyer is SCUM. degenerate SCUM. i will probably **** off a lot of people who are degenerate scum, but i draw a hard line on this issue. if it was like tweaked 1/8th of a degree still alowing for an alignment to fix it i could maybee understand. in fact, no, if it was that ok, just tell them, i mean it's ok right? show them the alinement papersa and the frame shps papers and be done with it, and still be able to sleep at night. sorry i am such a hothead about this... i'll get off my soapbox now.



Aviator857__ yeah, it kinda does, but i think what has hapened is my engine cradle has bet, i've been discussing that in the sister thread to this one in the v6 forum (usually i recieve no help in other forums, but you guys rule) it has the same name, check it out if you want. yeah, hopefully i will just hafto replace that and all will be well.

Scottlb9__ i am taking it to scotty's auto body in hillsboro, they come highly recomended. they have said that if they dial in the alighnment numbers they can tell aproxamatley what is bent. sounds good to me.

jpk91rs__a frame shop is my last resort, i am not going to have them streighten it, i have decided. i am just going to have them check it to see whats bent and go from there, if they confirm what the scooty's says that it is just the cradle i will kiss the sky, replace the cradle and be done. if they say the fram is bent, well in the words of Easy-E "f___ it i'll throw it in the gutter and go buy another" anyway, yeah.

thanks again for al the help keep these great ideas flowing in, as long as they don't involve selling a car with a bent frame to some unsuspecting jerk
:nono: :werd:

tom3

Sure as heck no expert, but I see the camber way off. This is a function of the upper strut mounting? Get the unibody pulled into line and put a tower brace on it. Is it for sure too far out to adjust? Toe in is not a problem that I see in this. Am I missing something? Very possible.

Xophertony

Well, got the car back from Scotties auto body. They confirmed one of my suspicions; my springs are the wrong size. Oh, and my control arm is bent.

So the spring issue, when I got my car it had lowering springs on it, way to low. So I replaced them with what I was told were the right part# for the v6 springs (14029399) that I got from a local dealership. Well turns out that part number is the WS6 v8 spring. So that is what is on my car now, a WS6 v8 spring.
Scotties gave me this part number as a v6 spring: (14034238). Witch is no longer available from GM. Another local GM dealership gave me this number today (14029390) but they are so cheap I can only figure they must be iron duke springs for the L4 engine. they are cheaper then the rear springs I purchased.
Anyway, long story short, does anyone know the part number for the v6 springs?
And what is the best brand of aftermarket control arms I can get? Input would be appreciated

Aviator857

good to here it is all replacable parts.