Lower tie bar and headlight panel replace

As some may already know I have made a horrible discovery. Due to my lack of investigation when I purchased my zed I didn?t discover till after purchasing that the car had been in an accident. I am now realized that the repair was of poor quality and only partially repaired. Now I am left with what you can see in the photos. The quote to replace the damaged members is about $4000, the front right wheels arch needs to be replaced too, nothing lines up. Am I stupid to proceed with this repair? I need some reassurance as I have put so much time and money in over the last 4 years. Or am I better off starting over with a new car and parting out this one?

And the worst part, I?m to scared to drive it in case the tie bar gives way, so I?m effectively zedless.

 

I think you would be better off trying to find a bodyshell and transfer the running gear to that than spend $4k on repairing that one

 

You ned a second opinion. You would be amazed what a good panel beater can do with a rack in terms of straightening.

Otherwize it will be pulled apart this much to replace that panel.



You could pull a lot of this off yourself if you want to save money. And find a used panel set for the panel beater to weld back on.

IMO easier to fix it that try to find a donor car and do a swap.

 

Thanks

I have had 3 quotes. One place said they weld the cracks but the ones in the pic are not the only ones.

 

And your slicktop looked so mint

 

That is very repairable. If it wasnt a slicktop, for $4000 to repair I would say part it out. Slicktops demand abit more cash, so fx it, but as Tekky said, you could do it alot cheaper than those quotes. Often on ebay there are front sections going. Maybe buy one of those and shop around for a panel shop to do the job.

 

Yeah, bare halfcuts go for stuff all. There was a guy at Noosa selling a complete NA halfcut if you are after a spare engine too

 

Heres mine all back together with new front panel etc.



make sure if you get a Nose cut that they havent cut it too short as you need the flags that go up the top rails to be intact

 

If you love the car and plan to hang on to it then fix it. My slick top had dodgy repairs in J land and the stress cracks that followed were big enough to put my finger through. Go for the bare half cut and the more sourceing you can do for thr repairer the cheaper it will be. Remember they charge for the parts finding too. If you were in Sydney i would recomend my repairer as they were more than excellant!

 

Thanks for making me feel better guys. I think I will fix it. When I spoke to the repairers they said they wouldn't use a cut as they don't know what condition its in, they'd use new parts. I'm all for new so think I'll save up and pay the extra. Sad no zed for me now....

 

Just find a cut that is straight I'm pretty sure that all the measurements are in the service manual to check whether or no it's straight (like 20 different points to measure).

You still want to do the suspension sometime soon?

 

Got a link? There is a front cut in the for sale section. Checked with insurance today they won't cover it.

Yeah kind of lost motivation to do the suspension now seen as though I can't drive the damn thing. Opened a savings account today, start saving for the repairs.

 

i had a similar problem

http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278821&highlight=loud'n'proud+thread

first page there tells you about it. the bottom cross member is easy enough to replace, the top cross member looks like its cracked along the weld line, well, its not welded it just sealed and looks like a weld. shouldnt have to replace the whole front end

 

Agreed not hard

I had same thing with mine. Its not structural, just the radiator support panel. They are quite weak. I did mine by cutting out the panel from a half cut that Josh ( L'n'P ) had and welded in easily, Nissan actually make the job easy by providing holes for line up, use a tek screw in the hole and bolt up front tension rods and then weld the panel in place it should line up, mine did.
The top panel should push down quite eaily, again not really a strong panel.
hope this helps you make your mind up, Andy

 

I found the thing in the FSM. Section BF, 42 to 44.

 

What are you jibbering about???

 

Lol!

The thing in the manual with all the measurements to see if a halfcut is straight or not

 

Alright...

Thanks

 

lol, take it easy, Crispy .. afterall, Max is the Engineer who built the Tugun Bypass ..!!!

.. and for all these reasons, I LORRY, YES I LORRY >>>!!!