Alright I've always wanted to start a build thread but never have had the funds or a need to do so. So here is the rundown of the story behind my build. My car was at home for the winter while I was away at school. It was parked on the street in front of my house. (I live on a corner.) Long story short, the first snow fall comes in hard and a little old lady came in a little to hot around the corner and smashed my 98 front end. She gave us her information and I got a handsome insurance check. $$$ So instead of taking it to a shop I decided to say f**k it and go all out with the JDM front. I know it may be played out on here but in Southern Indiana you don't see many, in fact I will be one of two in my city which I'm quite excited about. Anyway I should be starting on it within the next couple of days, hopefully. Okay, on with the pictures.

How she was when I first got her:








The Damage (Shield Your Eyes Its Nasty)



Upon further inspection it appears she has been hit once before and there is 234,987 pounds of bondo under the front drivers side fender and headlight...Awesome!


More Bondo (we chiseled a bunch of it out already)


What's left of the bumper...


Piece of the bumper (one of many)


Jacked up bumper support



Now the fun part, JDM Front from TorontoJDM


They sent me cheap "euro" side markers... not cool


Close up of the hood damage, also not cool but fixable


Bumper is in good shape though!!



Thats all for now I think but I will keep updating as frequently as I can for those of you who care...


Also does anyone know of a good/affordable painter in the Southern Indiana/ Northern Kentucky area. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

ENJOY!

 

Well, I know who NOT to buy stuff from.

 

Sucks your baby got mangled bro. But, you came out on top with the new front end.

 

ahh **** happens think about it , the guys shipping it from japan dont care what is in side those containers and they prolly stuff them full.. it bound to happen i say aleast the bumper is ok because ive seen some people selling some junk swaps compared to this

good start

 

i loled @ toronto jdm

 

This could be a good thread. I'll keep an eye on this.

 

the build looks good so far. The jdm front end will look good on it. you should do a RHD conversion while your at it.

 

Good lord.. I would have cut the whole front clips and get another one..

 

Yeah I wouldn't have ever thought to use them had it not been for my buddy getting an immaculate front end from them... and you cannot beat 975 shipped plus they are giving me $100 rebate for the hood damage which i think is pretty awesome

Thanks for all the support guys I'll try to keep you guys posted as soon as anything changes.


Thinking about possibly taking the headlights apart and blacking them out rather than spend $1800 on a real black housing set. Thoughts??

 

does anyone know a good painter in the southern indiana/ northern kentucky area i really need a deal and asap

 

In for results.

 

Never mind found a buddy to put it on and paint it for cheap. He does great work!! I am scheduled to get into the shop on Monday at 9am so I will be posting updates frequently throughout that process as I will be there every step of the way making sure things get done correctly.

 

UPDATES!! Got it into the shop finally today. Made really good progress today, got the old radiator support off and the new one prepped to be welded on.I won't bore you with a lot of talk so here are the pictures!

The car in the shop:


Metal shavings from drilling the non-wrecked side:


And.... Bondo chunks from the mangled side (found a piece that was nearly an inch thick):


We were going to go to the junkyard and cut a replacement piece out for this but instead are going to shape some new sheet metal in its place:


Taking apart the new radiator support:


Pete drilling out the spot welds:


One side free:


Pete drilling the other side:


How she sits at the end of day 1:

 

 

Are those the new JDM wheels you got or the teggie? LOL

 

subscribedlook good so far keep it up

 

looks good man! Seems like there are not many of us Indiana folk on here. Im up by Richmond. But anyway hope it comes out the way you want.

 

Haha yeah, Power Wheels "DM" FTW!!
Thanks for the support

Hell yeah man Indiana is where its at, except for the damn humidity haha but thanks for the support.




Update:
I just ordered some Skunk2 Sport Struts from RoBear Racing. I've heard both good and bad things about them but I couldn't pass up $290 shipped for all 4. I will be posting my review of them once they are installed, hopefully this weekend.

 

any updates i wanna see this thing come together

 

I'm suscribing to this one.

 

nice stufff... front end is a lil beat up but seems like you got some help there already....
you dont see these front ends too much in my city either.. so i get where you coming from... gl on the build...

 

looking good so far.. keep us updated..

 

Lookin like good progress so far!

 

the no front end look is sick ...but jdm front will be cool too lol

 

Updates, finally finished and looking good, the color is slightly light but should darken up after a few weeks, by IA. Ill just let the pics talk.




Hood came out nice, no more dent!


Just assembled still in the shop...












Pics arent the best but Im getting a good camera tomorrow so soon a photo shoot is in order.