3pt1lumina Posted December 27, 2005 Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 Well my friend rear-ended a Dakota a couple of months back. He really needs this car back so we want to try and fix it. So, can this be replaced? Inbetween where I drew the arrows this is bent in his car. The car still runs/drives fine. It needs a headlight, hood, fender, bumper, cooling fans and a radiator. We can get a donor car extremely cheap and canabilize it, however if this can't be fixed then I have no idea what he's going to do for a vehicle. He's 20 and has an almost 2 year old daughter so it's not that easy for him to just go pick something else up. I'll take pictures of his car tomorrow and post. EDIT: 93 Regal 4DR. 3.1, forgot about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 27, 2005 Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 yes, it can be replaced. is it practical on a car this old. no. what you are refering to is the radiator support, i replaced the lower half of this on my car last year, the part that holds the bottom of the radiator. you need to remove EVERYTHING that attatches to the radiator support remove the condensor/rad/fans/etc. then you must remove the header panne, lights, bumper, bumper cover, you see where i'm going with this... anyhow, get some good sharp drillbits, and start drilling out spot welds, theres a ton of them, so your gona be awhile doing it, it took me around 8-10 hours or so removing just the bottom half from my parts car then repeat everything with the parts car, and get someone who can weld good, and weld it back in useing the holes from the old spot welds and fill them in, i believe its refered to as stitch welding. i know it would be tempting to just run some beads and call it a day, but the spot welds are there to breakaway in a colision. also i might add i did all this work with my car bolted to a frame machine, which made sure that the chassis could not shift while the work was being performed, i'm sure it could be done off of a frame machine, but i'm just throwing that out there, heres some pictures to give you an idea of what all is involved thats my car with the old lower support removed, and everything distatched. a ton of hours and alot of swearing later. its done. so after all this, i ask, how much work would it take to make that parts car you talk about into a good driver? possably using his car for parts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted December 27, 2005 Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 I saw one that had been replaced using WOOD SCREWS. It can be done but it's a PITA. get some pics... is it only the upper part that is damaged? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted December 27, 2005 Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 I'd try and bend it back as much as you can. The middle will be tough, I know my old '91 GP had a bent support but it still functioned ok once I used some washers to space out the hood latch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3pt1lumina Posted December 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 It's bent pretty bad. I honestly think it's not worth it but I'll show you pics when I go over there later. The parts car has no title...so we can't register it. We already thought of that. Damn you NY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 *cough* *cough* vin tag swap *cough* macco paintjob *cough* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stekman Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Rope around the support and a big ass tree. Put the car in reverse and have at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3pt1lumina Posted December 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 *cough* *cough* vin tag swap *cough* macco paintjob *cough* thought of it my friend won't do it Rope around the support and a big ass tree. Put the car in reverse and have at it. Thought of it too, will it actually work?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitcor Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 good luck, if that part of the unibody is bent thats an almost immideate total loss. if you got hookups some where with a frame bender then they may be able to strigten it some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 i'd honestly persue the work that it would take to get a title on said parts car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 Rope around the support and a big ass tree. Put the car in reverse and have at it. Thought of it too, will it actually work?? it can, but be gentle. You don't want to agrevate the damage. PICS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1234 Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 i may have some picture of that aswell but i have to do some looking. I replaced mine too. pretty much remove everything, cut it out carefully and weld in the unbent one from a different car. again i will look for some pictures but they might be gone. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BandaorICE Posted December 31, 2005 Report Share Posted December 31, 2005 I'm doing the same thing to my Z34. The radiator support was damaged beyond repair, so i pulled it and in the process of replacing it. I don't have the time to do it so its taking awhile. Its a MAJOR PITA! No lie. As long as you have someone who knows what is going on, it will turn out right. Since I'm the only one touching my car, its taking forever but getting done right. Also, I've tried the tree+come-along, it pulled it some..but not enough. Good way to learn how to use tools if you don't know how to yet. Some pics (I think if they work) This is how I bought it, $500 http://bandaorice.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album03&id=100_5976 This is the Z after trying to use a tree. http://bandaorice.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album03&id=100_6010 This is after I said to hell with it, get the die grinder. http://bandaorice.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album04&id=100_6026_jpg I have newer ones with it prept for welding. Just not uploaded yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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