Ninetails

ok so i had a really bad night... blind spot. t-boned another car, and now my front end is umm, wellllll..... GONE
i have my parts car out back, i would like to know if any of you might know, does the front end come (unbolt) comepleatly apart, like down to the subframe aganst the radiator, or am i SOL....
if anyone has any input, or a handy dandy link i would much appreciate it.. im on a friends putor right now so i dont really have time to do any searches, but i will do some tomarrow when i get back home with the car........

Dale

iTrader: (12)

alot of it unbolts, but I'm guessing you may have to hammer some stuff out, this is uni-body.

You will get more help in the apperence or body forum.

kretos

try the body and interior board, they can help you out more

vsixtoy

Are you driving without car insurance?

Ninetails

drove the car home today, bout 15mi. ran and road like normal, aside from the hood being slightly in the way...

who in there right mind takes a car out on the road with out insurance????? (yeah ive got insurance)

have some pics

Ninetails

PIC 1

Ninetails

MORE PICS

Ninetails

getting the hang of this attachment thing

PneumaticTire

Oh no.............

TechSmurf

.... ow. That's right on the line between requiring time on a frame stretcher and not in my judgement...

90firebird

ouch... is your alignment thrown? do you have trouble opening your doors?

Ninetails

my alignment seems to be ok, it was never really dead on anyway. but after futher diging i thing she may be scrap, the radiator support is bent pretty good and thats a welded and pressed on peace, oh and after all the praise i was giveing to her this one last time to day i ran the engine.. the water pump gave out, leaking coolent all over my driveway... any way.. pics of the support..

Ninetails

and the side, oh and btw, i can open the doors just fine, but closeing the driverside door is kinda an issue

CamaroManBlack

yeah that's gonna have to go to a frame specialist. Might want to start getting some quotes. No way are you going to be able to pound that back out yourself well enough to use it. Good luck

AM91Camaro_RS

that doesn't look too good. i think i'd let that one go and get another one. if an insurance adjuster comes to look at that, i think he'll total it. i've done body work and all for about 5 years, so, that's my input. i assume you and the other driver came out of it okay?

Gumby

These cars do have a serious blind spot. You can hide 50ft semi's behind them A pillars.

Can't tell ya how many times I almost did the same thing. I keep getting lucky but try to over look at each intersection. Not that many days ago I would of killed a guy on a Harley if I hadn't not taken off as I saw the car on the other side flinch.

I almost went and I would of sent him sailing to his death.[No helmet].

How to fix the blind spot is beyond me. Its a serious flaw in the 3rd gen.

Sucks about your car though. Maybe you can sue GM.

Id it drives straight and doesn't dog walk any. Id just fix it. Though I would not be doing many 100mph runs.

Gumby

I know it doesn't look good but if the car still drive as straight as it use to. The wheels are still in good alignment. As long as he checks for broken weld n what not. it should be a fine daily driver. If only driving like a regular car.


If you want to treat it like a sports car I would suggest SFC and maybe even a 4-5 point roll bar to connect the front n rear frame section well. That basically makes The body to frame supports moot. They wont really be uses as it bolted frame to frame with thick steel.


Course even then it depends on if you can bolt the new front end parts on and have it look decent. Even new parts may look very racked. But still its a drive able car worth something if you got nothing else to drive.

Ninetails

my wife and i came out of it fine, as well as the driver and passenger of the other car, aside ofcourse from the normal bumps and bruses, i do plan on doing something with it, im just not sure what, if the frame is tweaked i really dont want to risk it, and the whole thing about haveing these cars is to have a "sports car" not just a daily driver, so i guess mabie my 89 will be resurected with a 5speed... depends on how bad the the ins. co. wants to stick it to me for the damage to the other car.. dunno

TomP

Wow, almost looks like my accident. I totalled my Firebird in 1996 by going underneath an illegally parked pickup truck that was on the side of the road. Your best bet is to pick up a beater Firebird with a blown engine, but a good body. Strip both to just an engine, and ask a body shop to cut off your front subframe, and weld the front frame on from the other car.

I completely wiped out the passenger side of my front, but the driver's side rails were okay- so the shop only took the front and right side of the frame from the parts car. For that, and a windshield swap, they charged me $1100.

The key is to get EVERYTHING out of the way for them. That includes the heater box on the firewall and the heater box inside the passenger compartment, belts, hoses, brackets, charcoal canister, headlight wiring- EVERYTHING. All you want them to do is cut and weld.

But definately have a shop check it out first. Might be that the frame is okay except for the front radiator support. Maybe you just need to have a new one welded on! Any 82-92 f-body will work as a parts car... of course you need the fender, hood, bumper, headlights, headlight wiring harness, etc- so your best bet is to find a parts Firebird.

And the other option is to find that parts car with a blown engine, and swap your engine/trans/interior/etc over to the parts car.

85berlinetta2.8

buy a car just like yours with a blown engine/drivetrain and swap the engine/drivetrain

kretos

either cut and redo the front end or get another one and swap everything in

RedTtop5spd

iTrader: (1)

How about buying another firebird with a running or not running engine and drive that while rebuilding the other engine with 8.5 compression ratio and one of doward's turbos?

Ninetails

well ive begon to look at it this way, at 10mph there should be no way that any of the major frame parts are damaged, that support frame is only pushed in by about 5* and and the top of it twised away from the car by about 10* or so, im thinking that a bit of heat, a block of wood and a big ol hammer should be able to take care of that in very little time, im still going to have it check at a body shop and mabie get an estiment on how much it would cost to have them just cut and weld anything i might need, ive also come across an offer to buy another 86' firebird that is starting to sound more and more like a TRANS-AM the more i find out about it :rockon:.
so i may have quite a few things going at one time here pretty soon....

if any body knows anything bad or good about the whole idea of heating that bracket with a blow torch please let me know...

Gumby

Yep I think your cool.

Long as the body parts go back on nice. And it drive as straight as it did before. Nothing important got bent much.

Though still id do all the other mods to a no accident 3rd gen or one in one.

strut tower brace, power steering frame brace, sub frame connectors, [4 point cage is a maybe] box your LCA, and pan hard bar. Most are to easy as long as you have the access to a welder.

AM91Camaro_RS

a lot can happen with a 10mph impact!! just be careful and take lots of good measurements at the appropriate reference points. i would discourage using the torch unless you absolutely have to. i think that straight pressure would be better if can can avoid the heat.

whatever method you take...good luck!

TomP

I agree with AM91, don't use any heat. And you're absolutely correct about having a body shop look at it. When they do their estimate, they'll let you know if its gotta go on the frame rack. First find out what they charge for an estimate; tell 'em something about how you might want to fix it, but you're not sure about cost. ** Let them know if they do the work, you'll remove anything that's in their way. (Otherwise they might not want to be bothered.) If their estimate comes back without frame work listed, thank them politely for their estimate, if they don't charge for their estimate, slip the guy a $20 for his time, and go home and do it yourself!

Tip... you could always get a welder, and weld on a new radiator support. Eastwood has a low-end MIG welder, and you can lease a gas bottle from a local welding supply company. They also have an Arc welder, which usually doesn't do thin metal, but they have a "package" with the attachments to let an Arc welder work on thin stuff. You don't need gas bottles for Arc. Note: You can not do "flux-core MIG welding", that will burn thru the metal (just like normal arc welding will.) Here's the two links:

Arc welder: http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/shopp...ProductID=1294

Low-cost MIG (don't use it on the flux core setting!): Oh, er, nevermind. Eastwood apparently stopped carrying it. It was called the "Handy Mig" ... and I can't even find it on Lincoln Electric's website anymore. I guess it wasn't too popular.

But all else aside, take measurements, and have at it with a hammer. You might even want to look at this bad boy: http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p...ProductID=1694

Gumby

I disagree about the flux core. I have done lots of thin metal welding. You need a good 4 setting welder though.
And need to move quick but I shaved my antenna by welding over the hole.

I welded up a rust a.. motorcycle gas tank last year. It was paper thin but you just have to move quick and work around the holes then fill in the center.

I have yet to hook up my tank of mig gas. Still sitting in the corner.