DohcVtecCrx

Allright guys, I bought this 89 civic, which I have posted here under ef project, and come to find out the frame is bent. When I was buying the car, the guy told me and my friend it had a clean title. He brought the car and delivered it. The car was in 1000 peices and after 3 weeks or longer assembling the car, I went to have it aligned and they could not align it. The passenger wheel was too far forward and he could not adjust it back within spec.

When he brought the car he called me several times, supposedly at home trying to find the title which he couldn't find. He said he couldn't find it and went to the dmv and got the paper work so I could get a title. So after the alignment episode I was checking the mail daily and finally my title showed up..and of course rebuilt title.

I had it up on the lift yesterday and I could see in the middle of the wheel well on the pass side, it looks like it got hit in the pass front corner and it pushed the front of the car, from the wheel well up to the drivers side. Looking at the suspension every mounting point, joint and everything else is fine. The problem is the front x-member. It is pushed over and the tie rods that mount to the front x-member to the suspension, cause it to pull the wheel to far forward.

What are my opitions to fix this? Please post any thoughts you may have. Tube frame, frame straightening ect ect ect. Please help.

DohcVtecCrx

cmon people need some help here

baphomet

Bump that sucks.

Maybe find a front clip and replace yours. Or replace all of the damaged pieces (cut, weld etc. I don't know if a frame machine could do it - but then I don't know much about this type of stuff. Good luck.

Did you sign anything that say "AS IS?" If not, sue, and get your money back.

baphomet

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rexwreck &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when i crashed my car I didnt have the money to have the fram straightened at a shop (although you might). I bought a chain from home depot for $50 (actually cleaned it up and returned it later) and wrapped it around the crossmember. attached the other end to my friends cavalier wagon, and had him pull on it until I saw things line up. believe it or not the car drives straight down the road. who knows what kinda results you may get though.. i suppose i was kinda lucky i didnt yank the frame out from under the car!</TD></TR></TABLE>
I have done that with a rad support after a front end collision on an ek, came damn close too. I eventually replaced the support though.

slow_rex_will

Well, for one if you get any type of frame work its going to end up costing more than what you paid for the car. I was in the same situation when i had my DA, unfortunately i crashed my car due to the frame being of in the rear, thats pretty shady that he would tell you its a clean title when its really a salvage title, if any car has frame damage it is a salvaged vehicle %99.9 of the time. Sell it back to him

blah13

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rexwreck &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when i crashed my car I didnt have the money to have the fram straightened at a shop (although you might). I bought a chain from home depot for $50 (actually cleaned it up and returned it later) and wrapped it around the crossmember. attached the other end to my friends cavalier wagon, and had him pull on it until I saw things line up. believe it or not the car drives straight down the road. who knows what kinda results you may get though.. i suppose i was kinda lucky i didnt yank the frame out from under the car!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Unless you wanna shell some money or do some fab work yourself this is the best option. Yank it yourself, get it back to where it can at least be aligned. A truck or even a heavy duty chain hoist can pull it back...if you **** it up worse its not like it was driveable before. sucks man, good luck.

DohcVtecCrx

allright can you guys elaborate a bit more on what you mean by yaniking it back to normal ect ect. You geting a run at it with the truck and poping it or what?

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1223902 this is the car. Everything has been well covered up. you can tell by the fitment the front pass fender has been replaced.

blah13

Well if you want to get uber-technical about it, in the Helms manual theres a couple pages in the "body" section that have measurement points for the frame/unibody. Basically you would find the measure points that make a rectangle. Then measure them on your car, you can then determine which way the frame is bent and by how much.

Your next step is to get some heavy duty chain and a buddy with a truck. Wrap the chain around the front crossmember (usually the easiest part to wrap it around) and run it out to the side. (take off your bumper and fender if need be)then yank on it with the truck. How hard you yank depends on how far its off. After yanking you get under the car and measure your "rectangle" again. Get it reasonably close and hopefully it will align.

However I must note that this really isnt the proper way to do this and it "may" present safety issues but people have done it. Its just a matter of whether you want to pay a grand or more, or take a day and buy a buddy lunch. If your frame is really toast I wouldnt attempt it.

Edit : By the way, when your yanking it back, dont try to be slow about it and "pull" it back, because your front end will just slide, you need a sudden jerk.

DohcVtecCrx

Well a friend knows one of the only places here that does it professionally. He got my a price quote for 60 an hour to get it back in. I think I will take it to him and have him look and see how bad it is. I will of course find the body section and do some measuring. Thanks for your info!!!

plohip2

I wouldn't use a chain. A nylon tow rope is stronger. When the chain breaks it creates deadly projectiles too. A strap won't streatch. That would be best.

I used a strap and it worked great.

DohcVtecCrx

Anyone have a link to an online helms for the hatches. I have one for the crx but not the hatch. We're gonna try to pop it back in this weekend if I can find the measurments.