1991 240SX: Radiator Support and Crossmember Damage

[AeonTorpor]

A while back I had a little skirmish with a curb. I'd rather not discuss the idiocy of losing traction on surface streets; this post is about questions for diagnosis and repair.

Anyway, you can see by my avatar pic that my tension rod bracket on the driver side was basically sheared in half by the collision. Now, this severely bent the main suspension member (cross member) and broke loose the lower radiator support from the frame rail in addition to the bracket damage. Because of this, I would like to know if such an impact would likely have bent the frame or caused torsion on the body, enough to make it irreparable.

I don’t have any pictures of the underside because I don’t really have much of a way to get the car in the air and I haven't got a camera.

After all this happened, we pulled the radiator support about 1-2 inches forward and re-welded it to the frame. The cross member was pounded back, almost to the original position. And since the bolt connecting the lower control arm to the cross member tore a large section of metal out of the cross member, we had to improvise and use a large washer, of high strength steel, and weld it to the cross member. A lot of welding and grinding was done on the cross member to get that close to its original position and shape. Even so, the rear section (where the bolt hole was torn and the washer welded) of the cross member is about ¼ of an inch back of where needs to be. There’s still too much play with the new lower control arm in the cross member.

I know I should really get a new cross member, but at the moment I neither have the time nor money. And since I know that’s replaceable, that’s not really my main concern.

So, I know I should get some pictures up, I’ll try to do that soon, but until then I’d like to know if anyone could give me some pics of the underside of their car w/ lower radiator support and tension rod brackets. As well, maybe some opinions on the reparability of the frame/cross member/radiator support.

P.S. Not sure if this should be in this forum or not, i was thinking of posting this, or a link to this, in the 240sx and Silvia forum too, it seems there's a lot more activity there.

[180fan]

look for the FSM, the crucial thing you need to do after an accident like that is make sure the frame is still ok. The reason I'm pointing out looking at the fsm, you need to start taking measurements otherwise your ride will never drive the same, it might favor going one side, things might not bolt up properly anymore, etc. Good luck, I'd send it to a body shop to get fixed.

[AeonTorpor]

Dang. Yeah, I have the FSM and I know what you're talking about, all the measuring from bolt hole A to bolt hole B and so forth. I can't really do that at the moment. I guess I'd have to do that and take it to a shop. Saving money, here I come, hopefully, I guess, I think....