My car is at the body shop right now. I would like to put the jdm front end on my car. Insurance is handling with the body shop directly. So i cannot obtain the check. My problem is that the body shop has never done the jdm front end before. What they are telling me is that the labor on it would be a lot. This is bad because it would go over my budget. They said that if i provided them with information about the conversion, perhaps it would save me some money with labor.

I was hoping that for those of you who have done the conversion, if there is anything you can post that would help the body shop make this conversion is painless as possible. Post ANYTHING that would help the body shop out. If i am not able to provide them with enough info, i am not going to be able to do this. Thanks for all your posts.

 

of course they are going to say its alot.
you feel like being taken?

 

the question you really gotta ask yourself is that do you have the front end parts already? and is it complete? Bodywerks in chicago asks 3k for labor for the conversion...you can probably have the shop put the conversion on and get it painted somewhere else.. i dunno.. good luck.

 

I'm not concerned about getting the parts. I'm just worried that these guys overcharge me for labor because they do not know what they're doing. So is there anythign that they should need to know to make this process simpler?

 

There was a guy on here who did it himself and did a step by step how-to on it but I cant find the link or remember his name. I had it in my favorites but I took it off when I decided not to do the jdm front. I'll keep looking to see if I can find it.

 

i followed MASES write up on wirespeedlab website http://tech.wiredspeed.com/jdm_front.asp

the shopw shouldnt have any problems... its al bolt on as long as they remove the USDM core suport and weld on teh new JDM core support.. once the jdm core support is welded on then everything else bolts right up.. fenders, bumper, hood, headlights and bumper support with rebar.... not hard at all...

the site i just posted above is for people who dont have the capability to remove the entire core support and just want to do the upper half.. the onyl reason this works is because the USDM and JDM core sup0ports bottom halves are exactly the same its only the upper half the T portion that is different...

i just finished my conversion in my garage with hand tools, a aircompressor with a cutting wheel and a mig welder took only a weekend to complete for me

 

thanks nextelbuddy for that link... if someone has the link for the full writeup on how to put on the jdm front end id appreciate it... i searched through all 3 pages but did not find it. Nextelbuddy, is the way to do it in the link recommended?

 

I want more information from you like:
How many front end pieces are being replaced?
How much was the check amount cut for?
What body shop is your car at?

Aloha,
Brandon

 

both ways are fine.... but most body shops have the capabilities of drilling out of ALL the spot welds for the stock core support.. .. if i was a body shop then i would have no problem with just removing old core support and welding on new one...

the conversion is not hard a tall.. all u need to tell your body shop is that they are going to be removing a OEM core support and welding on a new OEM coresupport thats all.. there will be no problems with that and no worries of having to MAKE it work because it DOES fit and work with no issues... and that once the new core sup0port is on the car its all just bolting fenders on with headlights and front bumper support and hood and just lining things up.... these are al things a compitent body shop does on a regular basis.. hell they wil have less work with this then on a normal wrecked car that they would have to pull the fram out and line everything back up lol....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JoNNiE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I'm just worried that these guys overcharge me for labor because they do not know what they're doing </TD></TR></TABLE>

This worries me...I know it would worry you too.

I found this in my bookmarks so I hope it will help you and the shop out

http://tech.wiredspeed.com/jdm_front.asp

If not....you can try finding somewhere else that knows what they're doing. But...I'm sure with these instructions, the body shop the car is at shouldn't find it "too difficult"

 

mine cost a wopping 450 bucks!!! i bought the paint and took it to the body shop to paint it took them 4 days to do the whole thing. Next day i pulled my car apart fenders, hood,bumper, and finally radiator support. You have to drill the spotweilds out of the radiator support, then use a chisel to seperate the rest of the weilds from the frame.

After that its all bolt on, U put the radiator support on by the 4 bolts that connect the front bumper support to the frame, i didnt get it weilded on and its never been nicer

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typer2k1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">mine cost a wopping 450 bucks!!! i bought the paint and took it to the body shop to paint it took them 4 days to do the whole thing. Next day i pulled my car apart fenders, hood,bumper, and finally radiator support. You have to drill the spotweilds out of the radiator support, then use a chisel to seperate the rest of the weilds from the frame.

After that its all bolt on, U put the radiator support on by the 4 bolts that connect the front bumper support to the frame, i didnt get it weilded on and its never been nicer</TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn... that's disturbing to hear, you didnt weld on your radiator support?

I when I did mine, I drilled out all the spot welds and removed the old rad support, and bought a brand new radiator support, re-drilled on the new radiator support where the old holes on the old one was. aligned the rad support to the chassis and tighten it to the chassis by the rebar bolts. Then my body shop used a spot welder to "Fill" up all the holes on the rad support welding it to the chassis. I got a dremel and grinded down the welds to make it look nice.

If I were you i would be worried that my rad support would fall off... buy hey, if it works for you

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdm_cars &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn... that's disturbing to hear, you didnt weld on your radiator support?

I when I did mine, I drilled out all the spot welds and removed the old rad support, and bought a brand new radiator support, re-drilled on the new radiator support where the old holes on the old one was. aligned the rad support to the chassis and tighten it to the chassis by the rebar bolts. Then my body shop used a spot welder to "Fill" up all the holes on the rad support welding it to the chassis. I got a dremel and grinded down the welds to make it look nice.

If I were you i would be worried that my rad support would fall off... buy hey, if it works for you </TD></TR></TABLE>

agreed... so d00d's fenders and bumper 'n chit are holding your rad support on?! that's messed.

it's not so hard to do. i did mine with my bf in a couple days. if you have to replace your rad support anyways though 'cause of your crash... go jdm now if you want to, or don't bother later on... taking the rad support off after it's been rewelded on is a ******* BITCH

 

all u tell the shop is that they have to replace the radiator support and everything else is just like replacing oem parts, if u can weld then u can do it urself i paid 3 grand to have mine put on, pull all the dents out of the car get rid of side molding, badges, antenna, antenna hole, the rear glass squirter, and repaint the whole car, i also did mine through insurance like a week after i got it.

 

to avoid all trouble, have them weld on the radiator support and you put everything else on yourself, or you can weld it on yourself and then put the other pieces on. the hardest thing is the rad support, everything else is bolt on and line up.

 

don't forget paint....especially if you have a cw type r. I keep reading that the jdm cw is different from the usdm cw ( possible the shade of color??? ). Not sure on the py though.....