i got into a crash a few days ago and i cant believe it happend..

my insurance payment was not made and now im really screwed


my question is would i be able to fix the radiator frame damage myself without having to goto a body shop?

i can buy all the bumper, fender, lights, and turn signals from a junk yard but i dont want to have to pay a shop to fix it.

i stripped the frontend off today in about an hour and heres the pics of the damage...

 

I say pound on it with a BFH and see what happens. But, I don't know too much about body work. he-he

 

sorry bro, I think that'll need to be pulled out or replaced.

 

i figured it was totalled but i wanted to give it one more chance since i've put soo much time, money, effort into the damn car... its just hard for me to realize its done for....

the car was just salvaged from an accident i had acouple months ago when i snapped an axle when my rear hit the curb... any suggestions...

 

you may try to heat it with a torch and bang it with a hammer or something. maybe someone else will have another idea.

 

Tie a rope to it with a 2x4 to spred the load and tie the other end to a solid object. Back up just a little bit to pull it out. Hammer the buckled parts back to normal. Might have to over pull it a little because of spring back but don't over do it.

 

I have 3 friend that work/own body shops and I have seen them do things like that. It can be pulled. I would put a chain around it in the right spot and use a chain fall to a tree. If needed you could 2 chains to the fram on the rear so it don't move.

This is if you or friends have one. It is a real slow controled pull same as the frame rack at my friends shop.

 

that top bar can be bent back straight no problem, ive seen worse (mine), if u cant starighten it urself check how much a shop will charge if u really want to save ur car, mite no t be tht much

 

you can also drill out the spot welds and weld in a brand new radiator frame

 

how hard is it to drill out the spot welds?.. i would have to get the piece from a junk yard so i can only use battery operated tools..



im thinking about getting a long chain and wrapping it around my friends tree trunk and backing up to straighten out the major damage and go at it with a hammer for the rest of the stuff but i think i may cause more damage.. what do you guys think?

 

I'd say you should get a few estimates from body shops or technical high schools, then just have it pulled on the frame machine. maybe the chain and tree idea works better then I think it does though.

 

well i skipped the chain and tree and just went at it with a decent sized hammer.... i got the big kinks out of the metal on the passenger side and middle of the upper radiator frame.


im using the driver side to kinda get the idea of where it needs to be banged out but the driverside isnt completely perfect..

going to a shop is a good idea but until i run into some money i

 

i had a similar situation a while ago with my car. i used random car jacks and wood blocks to push everthing back in to place. took a bit of work but i didnt have to drill out any tacks!! if you do decide to replace the radiator support, just buy a new one. i think they only run like 50 bucks or so.

 

yea its definately less violent to just drill the spot welds they are on the very end where the frame meets the top front corners of the fenders. i would talk to a body shop guy on the details of whats involved but have a few friends over for sum beers and drill the spot welds yank the old radiator frame out and put the new one u can buy somewhere for 50-150 depending where you go. dont go to a junk yard. tehy gotta cut it out then too, i would geta fresh rust free frame from autozone or something. but up to you, and see if a friend has a spot welder or see if you can rent one.

goodluck

 

progress of my hammer......

 

more.. what do you guys think?... im just planning on making it as staight as i can then try and bolt the body parts on as i get them..

 

thats alot better then I would of thought you'd get it.

 

ok nevermind as u were haha

 

looks really good, its amazing wut u can do with a BFH lol

 

bottem of the rad. support.. was kind of hard to get it somewhat straight but compared to the picture of the first post its pretty good

 

Some body parts wont line up if more than just the radiator support was messed up. Also when metal stretches and then it only gets beat back in the structural integrity is jeaprodized. But it shouldnt be a huge deal because the rad support doesnt have to do much anyways.