1990 z32 nose panel problem??

[Oniryuk]

im Looking to buying a new nose panel but I have no idea if it will fit due to the hood latch being in the way with the previous owner welding a metal peice to hook it onto, and a little frame damage for the nose support. So i’m Wondering is it possible to still fit a nose panel on here or what can I do to make it fit there ? Any suggestions?

[DCaff300ZX]

im Looking to buying a new nose panel but I have no idea if it will fit due to the hood latch being in the way with the previous owner welding a metal peice to hook it onto, and a little frame damage for the nose support. So i’m Wondering is it possible to still fit a nose panel on here or what can I do to make it fit there ? Any suggestions?

Welcome!
Tough situation there as the nose panel mounts to several of the holes in the two "nose support" pieces that unfortunately in your case are far out of alignment from where they should be, and one with a piece of metal covering the top holes. Honestly, that work there won't last long and there certainly may be other issues hidden away such as alignment and bent/twisted frame depending upon the angle of impact.
Your best bet is to as best possible re-square and align all of the front apron and support areas (or have that done by a professional) and then begin to massage as needed to make panels and fenders and such fit correctly, in order for the front end to not look all messed up when finished with structural supports all out of position and causing gaps and sags, etc. I did this myself years ago and it's a hassle but can be done to a decent level if you have some skills, and patience.

[Oniryuk]

Yea , seems like a lot of work but will try too. I don’t think I will have problem putting a front bumper on the car, just gotta try and re-align it with a hammer I think?

[Ace2cool]

There are actually specific measurements in the body section of the FSM on how far there should be between each piece and reference point in order to help line everything back up. That's some jank "repair" work there though.

Don't just hit it though. Apply heat as well.

[DCaff300ZX]

Yea , seems like a lot of work but will try too. I don’t think I will have problem putting a front bumper on the car, just gotta try and re-align it with a hammer I think?

LOTS of work to make a bumper fit actually, FAR more than the nose panel.
After a much lesser accident than yours seems to have had, doing it myself mine took the better of a month to completely get ready for paint. I used a combination of a lot of things to get everything back to close to spec, perfection really isn't possible without a body shop and tools and experience but you can get close enough and then massage things to fit as best possible. Your eye will actually work better than using just OEM specs, as often specs must be massaged to make your eyes happy- point is don't be put off by the idea that you don't have a lot of ways to check and set measurements. Take your time and don't try to do everything with one shot/blow or at one time, go at it slowly: dry-fitting parts and stepping back for a look, again and again if necessary, try to massage it rather than beat it into place if possible, then use your critical eye and levels/measurements together and make it LOOK right. Consider EVERYTHING, things like the fan space to the rad and other such things that really DO make a difference both in final work happiness AND success (it works perfectly and lasts).
Oh, and resist the urge to just weld crap on here and there as the PO did, no gains at all and really just makes everything worse. If you need to bolt a pulling hook or whatever as I did at times, carefully find a good place well-connected to the frame to work with/against, or look to remove a part to use it's mount holes or look to drill and mount a hook where it can't later be seen, anything rather than just cobbling something into place to fill space or provide a mounting point. Think it through, replace if possible (new/old) if you can't fix it, and look/ask for advise if you can't decide what to do or how to approach something.
Tools I used:
- A standard come-along attached to an immovable object (for me, a steel D-ring attached to my cement porch) with a chain or suitable cable to reach your immovable object, and a custom jig I made with allthread, various nuts/washers, and construction A/C mounting bar (1/8" steel, 2" by 2" U-shape bar) about 6" long cut/ground to "grab" the top rail and elsewhere to pull things outward (and not bend) when needed, or have another "tool" bolted to it. I generally also would put a nut/bolt/washers through one of the car top support holes and thru one of the bar's holes to keep it from slipping or pulling crookedly, and use a similar technique if possible whenever pulling. BE CAREFUL! A slip-off or bad connection can come apart at high speed and with bad injuries possible under pulling force so be sure to step back and think through everything before EVERY pull or dangerous job. Not only that, but NOT spreading a load can make for a different and worse problem if not intending to do so, so again be sure to consider your intended work carefully before, during, and after.
- A pair of sheetmetal visegrips (has large flat jaws that can straighten crumpled metal, or bend flanges back) is perfect for a lot of needs.
- Quickgrip clamps for casual clamp holding, screw-down carpenter/woodworker's clamps for safe pull holds, various nuts/bolts/washers/1/2" diameter allthread for various needs.
- Various rubber mallets and hammers and the like tools for beating/massaging, as mentioned using heat (small propane/butane torch) and/or jigs or other blocking to help your various needs.
- A very cheap pulling kit with various gripping/pulling tools from Harbor Freight.
- Bottle and standard car jacks, jackstands, and wheel blocks/blocking to get the car in various poses to best allow the needed massaging and pulling/pushing. Bottle jack is best for internal pushing, but be sure to consider the entire push job consequences and use wood blocks whenever possible to spread the load, or space gaps between objects not wanted to get bent or overly stressed.
- A number of carpenter's levels: 1", 2' and 4' (can set on both fenders/spans car) carpenter levels, 6" "torpedo" style (has magnet), carpenter's speed square to quick-check 90 and 45 degree angles.
- Various jigs and jaws and such I made to do various jobs, using just standard stuff (nuts/bolts/washers/all-thread. etc.) I bought at Lowe's or Home Depot.
- Youtube body repair how-to videos (LOTS of them, find one that has a similar type of issue to yours that they are tackling)

This is how I went about things, your job may differ due to what happened and having to remove/replace the cobbled crap.
Overview:
First you will need to determine as best you can how the accident happened- the angle and car action at impact- as you need to work in reverse of what occurred. For instance mine was a straight-on, slightly off-center-right hit which meant the body was pushed in and down, and slightly more to the right/passenger side. Inspection and checking angles agreed that I needed to lift the center support to spec and also at that same time pull the core support to the left/driver's side at the same time having the frame and crash bar assembly intact at lifting/squaring of the support, and everything level/square when done.
Once this was achieved, the car needed to be level and square as best possible and on stands to do my final fitting and assembly work of the rest of the components. Trying to do the remaining work with the car on the ground will soon tire you out constantly re-lifting and level/squaring the car and also makes for inconsistencies possible, so leaving it up after your first work is the best option and nets a more consistent result.
The Job- Pre-work:
Before any work, you need to strip everything as best possible from the damaged front end- I did leave some A/C stuff except for what I was replacing.
Then a lot of pulling /pushing/massaging on various supports and flanges and rough-fitting of the various new/old front end parts had to happen, so using the above tools and insights (Youtube) I got the repair parts I needed and then went about pulling/bending/massaging everything close to where it seemed it should be with the new part in place- final setting would be later but now the basic work area was set and any problems more clear: time for dry fitting of various pieces. I used the come-along to carefully pull things out while massaging them with whatever worked to keep things level/square/straight, verifying with measurements or dry fit of parts and visual inspection. I left everything loosely in place, not final set.
Then it was time to lift the car and get the supports back as close to spec as possible, netting a square and level front end core. I lifted the car and leveled it using areas not affected by the collision for level setting. I left the car suspended that way before moving on to cosmetic repairs- the sheetmetal visegrips came in very handy with reshaping the headlight cans and those two mangled center supports for the nose panel.
Job- Fitting parts/details:
Once that support and internal work was all done I final-fitted all the new parts (all internal parts from before, now plus external panels/bumper/headlights/I/C's/brackets) and it was time to make it all look right. Using care and patience and visual cues as well as the levels and measurements and removed parts, I was able to get the car extremely close to a good fit for nearly all internal and external body parts. This unfortunately also means a lot of disassembly and reassembly, but not doing so will not allow you to get gaps and such to look right so don't waste your hard work beforehand by moving too quickly with final fit. BE SURE TO USE ALL OEM BRACKETS, don't leave any out as the damn front end is already fragile enough as it is.

Later when I took it for paint and blending in my new jspec bumper the high end paint guy I used actually was fairly impressed with my DIY effort, and told me he really didn't change anything beyond what he needed to do for his work as he did my paint...so it can be done!

Good luck, and feel free to post up any further questions and such on this and I will try and help as best possible.

[Oniryuk]

Oh damn, well i’m In no rush as this will end up being a side car to fix but still daily after I pick up a 350z later this year. But I think I’ll probably have to bring to a body shop for estimates as idk how the car was damaged from previous owner but thanks for the tips and advice. Will see how to tackle this front end problem lol

Lol finding a front bumper though is a problem as not many z32’s over here in Georgia

[amc49]

The PO there must have worked in the Safeway meat dept., what a butcher job there...........I would be starting over for sure with everything I see painted red there. Nothing wrong with cutting up OEM parts to mod for clearance but wrinkled tinfoil like that has no business on a car.

[NolimitZ32]

As has already been stated, there is a lot of work here if you want it to be done right. If I was you I would source a new or used (junk yard) good core support in its entirety and swap it out as a whole. If you've never done work like this yourself you will definitely benefit from having the help of an experienced body guy or gal. As Ace mentioned you can also use the FSM for your assistance.

[DCaff300ZX]

Oh damn, well i’m In no rush as this will end up being a side car to fix but still daily after I pick up a 350z later this year. But I think I’ll probably have to bring to a body shop for estimates as idk how the car was damaged from previous owner but thanks for the tips and advice. Will see how to tackle this front end problem lol

Lol finding a front bumper though is a problem as not many z32’s over here in Georgia

NoLimit makes a good suggestion I missed, the half cuts would definitely save time and hassle should you prefer that route, and have the funds for that vs. parts accumulation.

FYI, the jspec front bumper is a pretty good deal as it's usually about 1/2 the price of the stock USDM bumper (if you can find them) and fits perfectly as the jspec is OEM. All Z32 sources carry them, Z1 and CZP possibly the easiest buys as they have been at it for a long time...about $500 total with the necessary bits vs. about $800-$900 for USDM replacements.

[Oniryuk]

What about a front clip , would that benefit to fixing all that up?

[itsa300zx]

Oh damn, well i’m In no rush as this will end up being a side car to fix but still daily after I pick up a 350z later this year. But I think I’ll probably have to bring to a body shop for estimates as idk how the car was damaged from previous owner but thanks for the tips and advice. Will see how to tackle this front end problem lol

Lol finding a front bumper though is a problem as not many z32’s over here in Georgia

You are joking about no Z32 in Georgia right?
Z1 probably has the most Z32 used parts in North America and located in that state.

[DCaff300ZX]

What about a front clip , would that benefit to fixing all that up?

Half cut, front clip....basically the same thing so yes, that would definitely be a goldmine for you to fix her up.