So I just bought a 2002 QX4 from Carport. I won the bidding process for $750, State Farm had a $1100 reserve, I countered at $800.00 and they accepted my bid. All-in (Bid,Fees, towing, taxes) it cost me $1,459 delivered to my driveway.

I knew it had front end damage, and it was pretty challenging removing the mangled up bumper support bar, but I was not expecting so much frame damage as it has. Both of the unibody rails are very bent towards the passenger side the driver side is also bent upwards. The radiator support is pushed in and over, and the steering is stuck. The driver side fender is pushed in and the support frame is bent inwards under the hood.

Amazingly, the AC system is still pressurized and the radiator is still full. I removed the cooling fan and bypassed the transmission lines going into the radiator to make sure I didn’t send coolant into the tranny, and it started right up.

Anyone have experience about what it would take for a collision shop to “Just” work on the frame damage? The car is such awesome shape besides the crash damage? I can source the replacement bolt on parts but this damage is scary to me.

I will likely end up having it towed to a collision shop, but wanted a first opinion.

You are likely going to end up spending at least 3-5 times what the vehicle is worth if the frame can be repaired when all is said and done.

Many shops have a frame rack.. But they will know they have you over a barrel.

It will be hard to find a place willing to work with you.. but if you ask around a lot eventually one might do it just for the frame.
Many will claim they "have to" to a complete job only..

Yea this a mess I got myself into.

Started with my daughter deciding she wanted a “new” car. I had bought a 1997 pathfinder LE for her back In 2013, fixed issues and replaced parts to avoid future issues and after 7years and 80,000 more miles she bought a new Ford Escape and left the pathfinder in my driveway to be handed down to one of my other adult children still living with me. It is dripping a tablespoon or so a day worth of oil and the engine is over 250,000 miles so I thought I would just buy a less used wrecked pathy and pull the engine out and do a full refresh.

Found a 1998 pathfinder with 160,000 miles that had been crashed into smack dab in the front and rear passenger doors. Interior looked mostly good except for the drivers seat. So I entered a bid and won that car for $325. Out the door it was @$560 and besides needing to jump start it, I was able to drive it the 45miles to my house. I am very happy with the engine on the 98, it is very quiet and had no performance issues on the drive home. The crash was pretty substantial, the rear axle is slightly bent and the pan hard bar is even bent a little. Glad I was not in that as a passenger when it was hit.

So having “alerts” still set in Copart, few days later I saw the QX4. It looked like a “typical” front end collision, air bags did not deploy, 62,000 miles, paint clearly indicated it spent a lot of time in a garage as it was still shining. I saw that top radiator support bar was bent..

At this point I need to focus on getting the 98 pathfinder stripped down so I can get rid of it. My wife is okay with having one project in the garage which I just was able to clear out enough to fit a car again (been over 15 years since we could put a car in there), but now that the QX4 is also sitting in the drive way she is not happy.

Yikes! You'd probably be better off if you bought another QX4 with a blown engine and transmission and then just swap out the drive train. Frame straightening will cost you almost three times what you paid for the vehicle. This doesn't even take into account new body pieces, prep and paint.

Here's an '03 QX4 in the Sacramento, CA area for $700, which has been there for 3 months, so I'm sure you could bring price even lower. I'd use that to "marry" both trucks, as suggested by misterH.
https://offerup.co/tmQV18xHh5

Yeah, even after frame straightening it's going to need a lot of pieces. A whole lot.

If you want to try to save it and have it towed in, I'd first take everything off the nose. Make it super easy for them to just get in there and bend things. The local body shop is cheap by hourly rate, just under a hundred, so if all they have to do is tweak it a bit, it might not be that expensive. Maybe.

Most likely you'd be better off pulling the engine/tranny/transfer case and interior, junking the rest, then finding a transplant candidate or just selling the big stuff off.

So I decided to check out “transporter” costs from CA to Houston. All the $299-$499 “offers” really end up being about $1000.

The wife answered my phone while I was working on the 98 pathy and she was “confused” why I would be needing another car shipped. I don’t think I convinced her it was solely a research investigation..

Well confirmed it’s beyond reason to repair.
The firewall at the top of the fender shows crimplng.


The lower frame crumpled right between the bolts for the subframe.


Guess I just bought a parts car.

Slumpert wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 09, 2020 5:38 pm

Guess I just bought a parts car.

Trust me, you're not the first to do that. (he says with his chin on his shoulder)

So I decided to see if my VQ35DE sucked in a power vale screw. I took the intake off today and not only were all the screws there, it was crazy clean for a 62,000 mile engine.
I removed all the screws one at a time and put a drop of red locktite on them all.

There is practically zero signs of carbon in the runners, just a coating of clean engine oil. There is just a slight buildup starting on the throttle plate. I have never taken apart a engine this clean inside before.

Maybe this is what a engine looks like if you actually change the oil with the good stuff every 3k..

I have seen few posts about people saying they want to swap a VQ35DE into a VG33E pathfinder and everyone says “it should work” but has anyone actually done the full swap?
I noticed a few differences in the engine bay accessory mount points between the QX and my 97 Pathy, but indeed almost everything seems pretty similar.

I just bought a 2001 Pathfinder with a good body for $450. PO tore into the engine (224,000 miles) for whatever reason years ago and lost interest in trying to fix it and finally sold it.

Has a bit of rust crust all underneath which I am thinking it most from being parked in a field, paint looks better in the picture than up close. Clearly PO run this thing through shrubs and small trees.

New plan is to take EVERYTHING off the QX4 and put it onto the Pathy.

And oh, important safety tip if your buying a car, check to make sure all the wheels have lug nuts and they are at least mostly tight. I didn’t check this one, and about 60miles into the tow, the drivers rear wheel was wobbling, I saw it and started to pull over but before I could stop, the tire past me up on the freeway. I will take pictures of the wheel well damage tomorrow.