slid into the curb at about 10-15 mph, went to mechanic and he told me I had frame damage and I bent the control arm and other things as well. Mechanic told me thousands to have everything repaired. Is it possible for me to go to a salvage yard get the parts for my car and drop the repair costs substantially? Also, would 1991 rs frame and underbody parts fit a 91 z28? Thanks

 

the control arm you can just swap out. the k-member, the part that goes under the engine, could be damaged, or moved. Its another bolt in part, you you could replace it, though it can be very labor intensive. If there is actually "frame" damage it could be a mess. thirdgens are unibody cars, there is no "frame". Without pics of said damage, its hard to give you much more info.

as fan as interchangability, all chassis parts from firebird and camaros 82-92 will interchange

 

the front left wheel is pushed back and to the right, I have to find out more, if repair costs are gonna be more than 2500 after parts and labor then I might consider getting rid of the car, it'd be a shame to do that though. If a salvage yard has replacement parts that's where I'm gonna go, hopefully save some cash

 

just a thought, to cut some labor costs you could go to a technical high school to have all the work done. but definitely find out more, and possibly get some pics.

 

Thanks, I'm gonna look into the tech high school, I have a BOCES 5 minutes from my house. I'll get pics this weekend of the damage and hopefully get some opinions from the members here

 

Do the doors open and close fine? Did the windshield crack? Fenders buckled? If no to all this, you should be able to fix it for under $2500 if it doesn't need paint.

 

Door alignment is good, windshield is straight, and the fenders are fine, the front left rim is bent. It was just solid contact wheel --> curb at 15 mph.

When I'm driving the car drifts pretty hard to the left, bites hard left when i really get on the brakes

Salvage yard should have all replacement parts, but if chassis is seriously out of whack then I don't know what it will cost to repair. Getting estimate after the holidays, but I'll try to get pics of damage this weekend

 

I doubt its that bad (not having seen any pictures). I'm sure it doesn't drive very well with a bent control arm.

The yards around me aren't very helpful ($) with larger projects. I got a donor car for a couple hundred bucks to fix my daughters car. FYI: $400 to just do the straightening on a very mangled front end.

 

I'm trying to get the pics up but they won't upload, not sure why.

The unibody is pretty badly cracked on the passenger side, its a little bit banged up on driver's side but its not terrible.

I have to look at my options and find out how much it will cost to fix. Neither side seems to be too far out of alignment, but some serious welding will need to be done on passenger side.

It would be a shame to get rid of the car, I've been told more than once that its the cleanest third gen on the east coast, but it all depends on repair costs.

 

See if you can work on getting us some pics.

 

He thought you had frame damage because he couldn't find a complete frame.

Thousands to have everything repaired...
he thought he would have to build you a frame.

Sorry, but I just had to.

 

and don't trust just one mechanic...they are depending on you just going to them...o yea...i'll build ya something for 2 grand...they'll say anything to make a buck hopeing you'll go with them. Not saying that they are all out to screw ya...but just the way you said the guy acted...it just sounded that way. Hit at least 5 full body shops and check out your local boces. Get pics and let us know what all the body shops say and go from there...even if you gotta go 25+ miles to the next body shop...try it...worst that it's going to be is a lil wasted gas or a lot of savings...you never know. Keep us informed!

 

Since i can't get the pics to upload here, I put them on myspace page

http://www.myspace.com/pauloliva

This is a real crude method, I have the best picture of the damage, passenger side uni, as the default pic, so no matter what you can see that. Can also send through email.

If you want to see the other two pics of the damage just ask me and i'll change the default so they can be seen as well

 

no thoughts? anxious to hear opinions

 

why dont you get a photobucket account and post them here? btw, your photos on myspace are set to private so you cant look at them

 

just buy another body and put your running gear in it.....that would be the easiest way out

 

Photobucket account (frame pics inside):

http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii260/acnsx290/

 

i dont see any cracks..

 

not a professional and i can't see the car in person obviously...but i don't see that much if any damage to the frame itself. If i were you i woudln't give up on the car...you say the control arm is bent back?? Go to a junkyard get another one and get it installed and get an allignment, see if she goes straight down the road, if the car goes straight your fine. I do'nt see any serious damage or tears. If your really worrieda bout it go to a couple other body shops...it's kind of hard to look at pics and say anything, but i don't see any phyical damage, but obviously pics can't show bends. I go back to my original statement...get a couple more estimates.
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and if you wanted to save some serious money...go to a "you pull it" yard...prob get the control arm for $20 and w/e else you need seriously cheap. Just bring a friend that knows a lil sumthing about cars and bring a bunch of tools. Should be able to get what you need.

 

You guys don't see the big crack running along the center of the passenger sub-frame? If you compare both sides of sub-frame in the pics, one has a huge crack, the other is just a little banged up. And its not just the control arm, I think the k-member is bent, which is a pain in the *** to replace, and several other parts, wheel solenoid maybe. If I don't get near the asking price for my sale, then I'm going to repair everything, but I've received a few calls already from people who seem serious.

 

I dont see cracks or any damage at all.

 

Hope we're looking at the same pictures, there should be three pics in the album now, just changed it. Added a picture of the same passenger side subframe, but what I'm looking at is circled in red. If everyone still can't see it, then i dont know how else to show it.

 

i dont see any cracks eather.
i did the same thing as you and i got high centers on the sidewalk there was a ditch on the other side. it bent up the nose of the car abit but nothing major.

but i dont see a crack.
is loojks like the sheet metal came undone from the "frame rails" i guess you can call em. it might have been like that before you hit the curb.
i saw weld it back up. and maybe add a thick piece of steel under it juse incase it is a crack or something and weld it and get some sub frame connectors and call it good.

 

If you're talking about the line in the center, that looks more like a seam than a crack, but I can't really tell for sure.

 

just got out from underneath my car...and my passenger side frame rail has a seam where your calling it a crack. There is no doubt the possibility of a seperation but if your just looking at that and calling it a crack just on appearance i can confirm it is a seam. I can take pictures if it will make you feel better...but that passenger side frame looks perfectly fine. Like mentioned i would suggest just welding it if your worried about it. Otherwise yes the k-member is a bi@tch to take out but it's still replaceable. Up to you man...if you wanna toss the car go for it...but i will let you konw there is simply a seam there...whether or not it's actually seperated i can't tell from the pics. Hope this helps.
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and this may sound completely ignorant but whats a wheel solenoid??? maybe i just never heard of it before.

 

Sorry guys, you were right, just the edge of the sheet metal. I'm new to f-bodies, and working on cars in general. The help i can get is very limited so I am trying to learn on my own. I don't know what else would be bent or broken besides the control arm and the k-member. The car runs strong as hell, shifts fine, just pulls to the left. There must be something I'm missing for my mechanic to quote "thousands to repair." I'm gonna get a few more estimates before selling the car, and hopefully I can get this mess figured out, Thanks for the help

 

You need to go to an honest to goodness Collision and frame shop! Your car isn't that bad! I've seen my buddy Pauli straighten a 92 RS that the Cowl was even buckled! (PS,front, hard hit) When he was done with it it looked great and drove fine. I would have said it was totaled, Pauli said "I've seen worse" And put it on a laser frame straightening machine and "ironed" it out. You need a better, er, Mechanic? Try a Collision shop, check thier ads, they usually brag about thier hi tech equipment, and for now, they don't make any more Z's, definitly not any more '92's. Keep the faith!

 

Pictures are hard to read. It looks fine, but in person could look a lot worse. It could also just be a bent control arm and the hit pushed the tow out or something. I mean, if it hit hard enough to bend something, the alignment alone is probably way off. Hitting a curb hard enough can cause a car to pull because the alignment got wacked out. I would try getting other estimates like the others have said first and try just replacing the control arm and aligning it and see where you are from there. Worst case, you're out like $100 and have to sell the car...probably a loss in the long run anyway if you end having to do that. But at least you tried the simple fix first.

 

Yea like i said...i'm looking at a couple "you pull its" around me...$20 for the control arm, prob less than $50 if you got a confirmed bent K-member...and thats $70...you uninstall them yourself (you said you wanted to learn these cars ) so you install them yourself (free if i remember correctly, hehe) you then go get it aligned and pose the chance that you just might have fixed it all yourself...thus one more thing to cross off your list of things youve never done before and you feel that much more satisfied. But before you do all this...go to a couple of reputable body and frame shops and get estimates as they are free and just act as if you want thier business...see what they say and go from there. As mentioned...extremely hard to judge a bend from pictures. So don't think it's a crock if 3 places point out the same spot is out of wack. lol. All in all at this point just get more estimates and see what each one says, but be there as they look over the car so that you can ask questions along the way. And remember...if they source parts for you they are already at like a 30-40% mark up so. If you can do what i said above...even if you have to get them from a junkyard that they get you the parts...get a haynes manual...learn how to install them yourself and you will save a little bit of time and money. WIthin reason come back to us with the words of a couple of places and we'll let you know what we think. So far though i would not suggest dumping the car just as of now. Good luck!

 

alright, thanks to all for the advice