[yais]

I recently wrecked my car (i hit a pole -.-)

yea so. anyways i have no idea exactly what to get... all i know is that i need a new bumper bar, radiator attachment, radiator, .... well basically a whole front end.

this civic's been good to me so far. it's a 92' LX with 160k miles on it. All stock.
I really wanna fix it and i know its going to cost me cool grand to get all the parts for it.. and i also want to do it myself, as i'm only 17 and can't afford to pay some mechanic to fix it for me. I took some classes so i can weld and all that good stuff, i just need to know some good places to look for a front end.

thanks!

 

[Serj22]

Odds are, you messed up more than the front end. The entire frame might have rippled, and your doors probably don't close correctly anymore. Your radiator lines need to be replaced or re-bent , and a couple of other things there look destroyed, it looks more than cosmetic. It looks like a junkyard fixer. You can always get a new front end from a junker civic if that's all that's messed up and do fender/bumper job, and then see if your axles are also broken or in the process of breaking, and front end collisions have a knack for destroying engine mounts from the sudden slowing of the engine's inertia.

Buying a "new" '92 LX will probably be cheaper than fixing it.

 

[yais]

the car seems to be fine... it still drove after i hit the pole- it just leaked radiator fluid till i decided to stop at a gas station.
it handled a clockwork turn and a few more on the way... it didn't even feel like it was wrecked other than that i knew i totally screwed myself over.
the doors still open and close fine as well.
i think all it needs is a front end conversion or something along those lines... but i don't really know how to go about that.
i don't wanna take off too much and end up screwing up my car -.-

 

[Darkness]

looks like a bent frame is a possibility

 

[yais]

sorry to sound like a complete idiot, but i am.
where is the frame located? (edit: nevermind)

on this picture, i would say only the blue and green parts were affected.

also, i checked under my car. the axles are fine, i didn't hit the pole hard enough to get past the lights in relation to the car.
there were only minor scratches due to hitting a curb


if anybody needs any more pictures to help me out just let me know!

 

[Serj22]

That's good if the doors open and close fine, if you noticed a change, that definitly means that the frame is bent. It could still possibly be bent. You can buy yourself two fenders and a hood, and bumper, and pull that framework forward or replace it in front. You'll ahve to do a lot of re-alligning and you should get a new radiator as well as hoses for it and new tubes for it. If you try to re-bend them back the other way, they will most likely break, unless you're lucky.

 

[yais]

cool, well thanks!
i'm going to check out a junkyard to find a front end to cut off and use.
i'm worried about pulling the framework- i do want to try it, as it could prove a cheaper way of fixing it; but what tools would i use to do that?

also, what do you mean by two fenders?
like my left one and the front one? (the left one was damaged previously)

thanks for the list of things i need to get!

 

[Serj22]

I thought the left and right fenders were bent, but if not, you're in luck. Actually, the best tool to have would be a plasma cutter and just hack the right side framwork and front side off a 92 at a junkyard, then align it where your car's broken framework is, plasma cut off that same section on your car, and then weld it onto where the piece you cut off goes.

That would be the easiest but make sure you have an arsenal of levels and a couple plum bobs to check the straightness of your re-fit.

Or you could go all the way back to the doors and see if that section of frame can be unbolted, but it looks like the same piece also frames the door and goes along the side of the car, then again, the pic you show is of a way newer civic. You'll have to pull the fenders off and look at what you got.

 

[yais]

yeah, looking at my car. i've taken off my left fender (dented from a hit and run) and i can tell that the frame extends all the way to the door (and possibly farther) so i'll probably not be able to unbolt it (it's also welded to other parts of the frame)


thanks for the advice serj22!

also, i realize that by welding a new front end of a civic will significantly weaken the overall structure of the car. So is there any way to compesate for a considerably weaker front end in the off chance of a second collision?

 

[Serj22]

Well, there's steel reinforcement, and depending on the welder you can get a pretty good reinforcement on it already. It may also be good to find a junker civic, pull your engine and everything you like of your car and put it on the other car's body.

You could also cut the frame off the car from the front, and build a roll-cage style frame with triangle ingresses to deliver any frontal collision to the rest of the fram and spread it out evenly. It will be about half as heavy as the stock part of the fram right now, so it will reduce weight, but it's quite a task to make a frame that way and then you have to re-arrange how all the engine components you have mount up, so you'd also need sheet metal skills and strength in steel and aluminum skills.

You could build something that will allow you to put your fenders and hood back on in a stock fashion, but that's a big project to partake in.
http://www.bajabronco.com/Pictures/frameOly.jpg

 

[99_EK_COUPE]

probably a core support and radiator and a/c stuff would be good enough...

 

[.TheCriMson[K20]]

probably a core support and radiator and a/c stuff would be good enough...

yeah that looks like all that is damaged. replacing that isnt hard. i replaced my rad support before. its just cutting and welding.

 

[hondacarcar]

I think fixing is a huge task and also costy.

 

[yais]

it's not going to cost me more than around 1 grand to get the parts to fix it.
considering labor if i'm lazy it would probably be around $600 (i live in Houston, Texas)

I haven't found any decent civic's that go for anywhere under 2.5k so it's worth the effort fixing the car.

All i really need is any help with finding parts for it.
I need decent parts for affordable prices. I'm not trying to deck out my car as phattly as possible; it's not worth it.

.TheCriMson[K20]- i wish i could get a plasma cutter and chop it all to peices, but i don't trust myself with fire lol. plus, i wouldn't know where to start- Thanks for the help with the parts needed though! I think i can bend back the a/c tubes without breaking them, so hopefully a/c isn't going to be a problem.

 

[spooledbseries]

dont use a torch. use a drill and drill out all of the rivets that are holding the core support on.

 

[yais]

spooledbseries- yeah! that would totally work man, thanks!
then should i use self tapping screws to hold it together?

cool sig man, cept those look like professionally made tabs lol; never seen em with cut marks

 

[spooledbseries]

can you weld? if so you a couple of bolts to hold the core support in place then weld it together. if not i would just use bolts and bolt it on

 

[Serj22]

IF you can get a hold of rivets and some form of ballast as well as welding, that wuld probably be the easiest shot. You'd pretty much use the rivets to hold it in place while you weld, and as some sort of structural support. If you can't weld, don't try to. Bring it to someone who can. It takes a little more skill than it looks, and you can burn the shit out of yourself while you're at it.

 

[.TheCriMson[K20]]

i cut mine off with a grinder.. it was a bitch but it worked. when you bolt the front bumper back on, it will hold the rad support in place, and then you can weld everything on.

 

[yais]

I've never welded before, but my brother has experience in it- he's doing manufacturing tech for school.

Also, those frigging welds are so hard to break!!!
I've been using a rubber hammer and screwdriver to try to break them off- I've gotten off about 6. but theres like 30 of those annoying cunts

i can't get a hold of a plasma torch either... they're like 4 grand and i don't really wanna hire a tow truck to take it to a mechanic so they can do it.

i guess it's just gonna take A LOT of time to get the welds off... especially for the welds under the car. (I'm probably just going to use a couple jacks and hope that i don't hammer the car off them)

Thanks for the help guys! I really appreciate the support i'm getting from this forum:clappy