So I just realised I made a really dumb mistake and caused myself more work...

Well I bought a trolley jack after considering ramps and decided this was a better idea as i could do tires etc.. yep.

After putting the jack as far under the car as it can go, what i thought was the crossmember, happened to be the radiator support and now it is dented and my bonnet won't close. Damn the crossmember is far back in these cars.

Gonna return the jack and buy ramps to stop me doing this ever again, because I am an idiot.

Does anyone know a good way to fix this without costing me the earth? 2x4 + Hammer? I did see another thread with a bottle jack and chains, but i dont have a bottle jack, or chains.

As if I didn't have enough to fix already... FFS.

 

Twin Terror and I were just talking about this a few weeks ago.

its not the worst thing in the world to fix. and there is a cheap way to do it which i'm sure someone will explain soon.

but keep the jack, just push it in further so its under the actual cross member. you'll need it to jack the car up and then put the ramps underneath it. most Z's won't go straight up onto ramps or you will hit the front spoiler. so you either need to use blanks of wood or a jack that can fit and then lower it back down onto ramps.

you'll fix it ok.

 

I drive the Z onto two piece low profile race ramps and then use a jack and stands if I need more height or to remove a wheel.

The cheaper option would be to buy something like this. eBay Link

 

Thanks for the support guys and not making me feel any stupider or worse than I already do.

Here is my progress so far, can't do any more as it is 1:45am lol




At least it gives me the chance to clean some stuff.

 

Another thing.. I won't get defected if the bar gets checked will I or if I did get sent to regency for any reason would they try take my car off the road for it due to it being part of the chassis?

I can get it level again, but how could I get the dent out the bottom? I guess i'd have to take it to a panel beaters and see what they could do. Great.. money I didn't need to spend.

Man... it was perfectly straight and I just stupidly assumed it was where I should jack it up. I guess a stupid mechanic could have done it in the future though

 

You wont get done, its not really structural. If it was it wouldnt of bent.

the thing to check for is if youve pulled the fenders in towards each other, but it doesnt look that bad.

 

Cool good to know, thanks Syntax.

It's not terrible, i pulled the jack out as soon as i heard it creak and it slightly dropped.

So is banging it out generally an ok way to do it? Is there any better way than the jack + chains approach?

 

Besides unstitching and welding in a new one. No.

dont hammer it. Use dead weight over a large surface area.

 

If the doorway frame of your garage is very solid you can move the car until the bent frame/panel is directly under the door frame.
Then sit your Trolley Jack on top of the bent area, get a length of 3"x2" timber that will fit between the Jack and the top of the Garage door frame, jam it in firmly and gently start to jack it up.
If the door frame is solid enough(and you don't lift the Garage off the ground)then the Radiator Support Panel will push back into position, job done!
Just do it carefully and slowly, just like that old Chinese advice "Slowly, slowly, catchee Monkey".:zlove:

 

This^
In addition, if you block the car with timbers undeneath the extreme ends of the x-member, the car wont compress on its springs as you jack and the job is a whole lot more predictable and consistent.
But yeah, as Chili says, go steady as you can and just "adjust" it down. Bit by bit. Release it and have a good look, press again.

I dont think there are too many Zees without the evidence of incorrect jacking under the radiator crossmember around. Dont bash away with a big knockometer.

When I take my zed for tyres or anything mechanical, I ensure that the counter guys writes down on the job card and understands why not to jack under the radiator crossmember.

E

 

While you are at it you may as well ditch the electric fan on the intake.

 

WTF!!!! Hahaha I missed that one!

Ditch the fan fer sure.

10 bux says the tb's have them spinning whizzer things in them..

 

That thing on the intake seems to be hooked up to my methanol injection system, so at the moment I am not touching it as it seems to be an integral part and it seems to be hooked up to the control sensor and water pump. I don't think it's one of those bs "electric superchargers"

Haha no spinning wizzers lol. Just methanol injection. Heres a better look. The black unit is hooked up opposite the air filter with no intake so if it was a fan wouldn't it be sitting opposite to the intake parallel to the maf doing nothing? I dunno i have never really seen them.




For now as this carport has the structural integrity of well... It doesn't and the bar was barely bent, i used a large piece of soft timber over the whole bar and gently hammered it down in the middle, then adjusted my bonnet clip down. It sits almost perfectly flush now, a little tweaking of the bonnet catch and she'll be good.


Edit:

Ah ok I thought they all looked like this:



Now I see some look like this:



So it looks like it might be one. Unless it is actually a part of the methanol system the previous owner installed. I have no idea, but why would someone put one on an already turbocharged vehicle?

 

LOL
Thats an electric blower fan allright!!!!! Plenty of those things sold. "Electric Supercharger" Find them on Ebay along with some pretty wild claims.

Probably set to spin up when ur water injection kicks in Id guess.
The theory of fans is sound but they are pretty useless in practise. been debunked a long time ago. Ive even seen petrol leaf blowers in that place!!!!!
Draws quite some power from the alternator just to start with, makes almost no pressure when running and the CFM produced renders them a curiosity above slow run/light throttle. Makes a nice "rag in the inlet" when its not actually blowing tho if thats how its configured.

It wont hurt to loose it m8. Just try. if it makes no difference then out it goes.

E

 

Alright I'll try taking it off when I put the car back together and see what happens. 1 problem I have though is i'll need to get a pod filter adaptor from somewhere.

I guess this would be the one? I read in another thread the 94-98 WRX one fits.http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/on...ter-Adaptor-CALPA5-SFA5.aspx?pid=155261#Cross

I can't believe someone would put one on any car let alone a car that is already twin turbo unless it is actually integral to the methanol injection.

Can't hurt to take it off and see what happens I guess, but i'll have no real way to know unless i turn the boost all the way up and see if I get any engine knock at all. A dyno would be nice, but i don;t know anyone with a dyno or have the cash for 2 or more dyno power runs.

 

mate can you borrow some porta -power very good for this kind of stuff the power of hydraulics very controllable

 

Is there anything connected to it other than the wiring? If not then it's nothing to do with your ethanol. Just some noob who got sold on a scam lol.

TBH I thought he was talking about the condenser fan. It doesn't look like you have an AC condenser installed in front of the radiator?

 

Had a good look, definitely a "electric supercharger" no switch for it, set to turn on when the car hits boost and turns on the methanol injection.

Bought an adapter, this pod filter will not fit facing forwards so I have left the piece of crap on for now. Wow I never thought I would see one of these things on any of my cars, a mate was looking at them a while back (the inline ones) and I had the biggest laugh at his expense.... now i inadvertently own one... lol.

My condenser fan was removed for this photo, for some reason I put it back in before i remembered I don't have any aircon compressor so I need to pull the whole lot out anyway to safe some weight and get some airflow.

Will get rid of both when I get my JWT popcharger and hard pipes.

Here are some pics of the stupid thing for a laugh.




The damage left to my radiator support


How my bonnet sits now. Almost flush, good enough for now. Lots more work that comes before this, will get it professionally fixed later.

 

You guys are so girly.

Get a long block of wood and sit it on top of the support panel. Apply mash hammer to wood. 5-6 bashes will have the support panel in the correct spot. Don't unbolt the vertical strip. It will pull down as the support panel drops...

100mm x 100mm post works good for this

I have fixed heaps of them...

 

Exactly what I did