I just wanted to make sure I'm well prepared before I drive an hour plus to the salvage yard.

A few weeks ago I got hit from behind in traffic, thus causing me to plow into the car in front of me. The lady that hit me claims that "someone" hit her and drove off classifying the whole incident as a hit-and-run; so, no insurance money for me.

Now, considering I'm not receiving a dime for my case I'm left to repairing my civic myself and I, like most, am not made of money, so I prefer to take the less expensive route. In my case I plan to just run out to the salvage yard and drill out a core support from a similar civic coupe. I have assesed the damage to the front of my car I believe I will only need a core support and hood, in which both can be found at a salvage yard for a fraction of a new one.

Onto my tool list;
-sockets, screw drivers and pliers are obvious
-cordless drill with extra battery
-De Walt carbide pilot point bits, I hear work well
-Maybe a pry bar or two
-possibly a hammer

I've never replaced a core support before but, I have done quite a bit of body work in the past, so I am familiar with welding, grinding, body repair, etc. Any tips or tricks to removing a core support or is it pretty much a straight forward process?

 

cordless sawzaw.done. take it home and cut out spot welds in the shade or in your garage.no need to be doing that **** in the middle of a wrecking yard.

 

A reciprocating saw sounds good to me..cut the fronts of the frame off like the importers do it.
But if u dont wanna get that saw..add some sort of cutter/scraper to ur list to separate the welds after drilling. Something u can hit with a hammer(need the metal all the way through the handle) to slice through the area u just drilled, it doesn't release completely just cuz it's drilled. I had one of those painters' tools that worked pretty well, but was up to the hilt couple times...a little longer woulda been nice.(that's what she said)
They make a tool for it if u wanna source it.

 

I got a new core/rad support from Certifit for 45$ fits fine!! I wouldnt waste my time with the scrapyard...

 

parts channel is pretty good fitment to thats whats on my EF

blair spot weld bits work good as well

 

drilling out spot welds can get old real quick, aftermarket gets my vote. But if you have the free time go for the junkyard.

 

You need to talk with a lawyer.....if you were hit from behind, the person that hit you is a fault, period. Their insurance should pick the bill.

 

!!! ding ding ding!!!

 

Thanks for all the good advice guys! Though, I went ahead and drilled out all of the spot welds, and to be honest, it wasn't half as bad as I was expecting. I took a nice 18v Rigid cordless drill and a set of DeWalt's pilot-point drill bits. The whole process to approximately 30-45 minutes including unbolting all necessary components that hindered the process.

I actually only spent $40 at the scrap yard. I got a core support(with hood latch), 2 wheel-well splash guards, the actual steel bumper piece that bolts to the core support/ frame rails with the rubber corner inserts, a whole set of power steering lines(my ps lines were all rusted and corroded), power steering reservoir bracket, and a whole $hit ton of bolts.

Yes! I totally agree but the insurance company said there was nothing they could do My dad has been working in insurance almost his whole life and he said the same thing.

Plus, by the time I pay a lawyer to back my case I would have probably spent even more money. I would have been happy with a $1000 dollar check though.. Don't get me wrong.