i was in a small accident and the frame in front of my engine where the radiator hooks on to was pushed back maybe 1/2 an inch. i was wondering if i could leave it or would i need to pay a bodyshop to bend it back? it is jsut the middle of it. about the length of the radiator. it seems to be very minor. the sides are still in the same place. will it affect me car a great deal? cause ive drove about 15 miles on it and it seems to be fine. oh yeah, i took the hood off, which is how i saw how much it was moved.

ashtonishes me that the car i hit was not touched at all. nothing wrong, but for some reason, my frame is damaged. toyotas must make a nice car...ill try and take a picture of it when my sister gets home, but its pretty minor imo, but im dont know much about frames and the structure of the car.

here is a picture of how it looked before:



the red circle is the affected area

the yellow line was where the frame was originally.

the purple like is where it was moved to. it was moved about half an inch.

this was all that i noticed. i dont think anything else was affected other than that my bumper support was pushed down about a cm or 2.


Modified by eMpAtHy at 4:20 PM 3/10/2005


Modified by eMpAtHy at 4:20 PM 3/10/2005

 

i'll need to see a piccy yo. i've fixed minor things like this before. if the unibody is bent you are screwed.

 

what is the unibody?

i put a picture now.

 

don't look like a biggie. just the radiator support

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by im_poor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">don't look like a biggie. just the radiator support</TD></TR></TABLE>

whew, i got scared for a moment.

 

for those dont u have to cut it all out and re weld a new one in?

 

i just got my hood, but i gotta go to a homedepot or something and pick up some bolts and washers to make my hood latch further out so i can latch my hood down.

 

A friend of mine had a similar accident... the radiator support was pushed in about an inch at the top. All i did to fix his was I got a piece of wood (about a 2 foot long 2x4) and put it up againts the inside of the radiator support and banged that **** out so his hood latch would line up. You can't even tell it was damanged in the first place and the hood opens and closes fine. But all accidents are different... His was minor and there was nothing cosmetically damaged, just the radiator support.
But from your pics it doesnt look like much damage at all... looks like an easy fix

 

Autobody spots usually will do it for cheap.

Otherwise I would do the 2x4 trick.

 

there have been times when something like that happened to a car that my dad had and he would just tie a rope to a tree and put the car in reverse and put it back to where it needed to be.LOLOL kind of red neck way but it worked.

 

easily fixable. pull it back to wherever it was by whatever method seems to work best. I the rope and reverse thing will work but it's a little hard to be acurrate at all. try wedging it, pulling it. if all else fails get out the ole BFH.

 

umm, i didnt put the wood against my radiator, because it would look like i'd break my radiator before i'd move it. i put a piece of wood just against the raditor support( the metal piece that bent) and i tried to hammer it and it didnt work. hammered it for 5 minutes and it didnt go anywhere so i just gave up. i even tired to hammer hard too. maybe with a sledgehammer i'd be able to move it, but i dont want to miss and crush mine or someones hand. im just going to try the washers and a longer bolt. it will only cost me like 2 dollars

 

I saw a guy put a floorjack up against the engine sideways and jack the radiator support back out straight!!! worked really well. lol. U might try it... You'll just hafta take the radiator out. (not like it's hard.)

Ratliff

 

If you post pics of the exact damage it would be much easier to tell you how to fix the problem....

The radiator support can easily be pulled forward... but if its creased enough thats another story....

 

i plan to fix it by just using washers to extend my hood latch for now so i can atleast drive to school.

let me know what u guys think.

 

this is what i had to do to get it to fit right.i think im going to get more washers to make it a little thicker. it barely fit with 13 washers for each bolt

 

you could get a rad support at the junkyard for a few bucks

 

just winch it out. i got in a accident and i winched it out and it came out good. if what to do it right the body shops will tell you to replace the core support and the labor going to do expensive cause they need to take the spot welds out and reweld it. I know a lot collision and refinishing stuff i took classes on this.

 

get a nice drill and drill out the spot welds, go on ebay, order a keystone replacement rad support for 140 shipped, and weld it back on, good as new. i did this 2 times on my old hatchback.

notice the multicolered woundage

 

I'd say just get a used radiator core support from a junkyard as well. The 2x4 trick sounds good but its not something I could do to my car.

 

i wouldnt get a core supprt (rad supprt) from a junkyard,, you have to drill all the spot welds on it also (twice as much time ) my suggestions,, would be just buy another support ( they are hella cheap like 100 or so for a aftermarket,, or get in between 2 trees and use a come-a-long,