1990 240sx... Part Out or Repair???

[chrisberb]

I recently bought a 1990 240sx hatchback. 145k miles. Didnt pay much but expected to rebuild motor and have a decent little car. The owner (my ex neibor) said that it last ran about 2 years ago but smoked and consumed some oil. Recently would only run with starting fluid. So now im thinking fuel pump or just bad gas (and boy was it bad, ew) in addition to the motor rebuild. Im okay with that.

So i get the car towed to my house and get it up in the air to check it out. I found that the frame just behind the front driver side wheel well is rotted out pretty bad. I will try to get some pics up tomorrow. I proceeded to tap away with the ball peen hammer and poke around with screw driver and it is bad from where it turns upward and welds to the front section, and back about 12 inches from the horizontal section.

The passenger side seems okay to me. That is, i gave it the hammer test and just got some rust chips coming out of the bottom drain holes. Other than that is seemed pretty solid.

The Question Is: Do you think this car is salvagable with some frame repair (ive never done it before but do have some welding experience repairing rental equipment) or is it not worth messing with? I am not very far into my pocket on this car and the body/interior/glass is all in good shape. Original neglected paint is all fading of course, but no rusted panels.

I have about $1000 in the car and if i could get that plus some compensation for my time and trouble out of parting it out or selling it to someone who can use the good stuff, i would. Let me know if you are interested or have suggestions, Thanks

[chrisberb]

i now have pictures of the frame but its not letting me add them to this post. anyone know how? i am computer dumb.

[CMG]

i now have pictures of the frame but its not letting me add them to this post. anyone know how? i am computer dumb.

You gotta have some web site to host the pics, like photobucket.

[Alfador]

Most people who will tell you to fix it have never actually had a car with frame damage from an accident. Getting in an accident is like dropping a cake on the floor. Sure you can make it presentable again but there will always be rug hairs and dirt stuck in it. Much as with a car you can make it look great but you will always be haunted with **** that's never quite right again. That being said you'd have to post some images on photobucket.com or imageshack.com and use the [img] tags url to post them here before anyone could really tell you for sure. If you do part it out I may be interested in some things from it so let me know.

[chrisberb]

thanks, here is a picture of the worst part of the frame (i hope it loads). maybe i wasnt clear though... the frame isnt damaged from an accident, just some rust through. so the rest of the car is straight.

[IMG][/IMG]

[CMG]

thanks, here is a picture of the worst part of the frame (i hope it loads). maybe i wasnt clear though... the frame isnt damaged from an accident, just some rust through. so the rest of the car is straight.

[IMG][/IMG]

That's not rust, that's cancer straight up. That's a pretty important part of the framework, dunno.

[180fan]

I'd ditch the car. A repair like that is gonna be a money pit with the constant nagging in the back of your mind that things just aren't right.

[chrisberb]

you dont think that cutting out the bad part on the side and welding a new piece of steel on that side, going well into the good part of the frame, will be a good enough fix to drive for the summer and sell or trade in this winter. Of course i would spray rust stop primer all over the place and do it all myself. i dont plan on paying for any work. i just want a beater that runs.

Or do you think that i can part it out and make back $500 bucks on ebay or selling it on nico? the body (except the hatch of course) is in really good shape.

[180fan]

yeah it'll probably take a little work to get back your 500, but it'll be better than driving a car that'd give second thoughts... that's just my take on it though.