Anyone have a tutorial on how to do this?



my civic needs a new front end....think it might be too far gone.

chad

 

In for part out. Sucks man, details on what happened?

 

If you can't see what needs to be done by looking at other cars then it might be beyond your scope. Get started and I'm sure we could give you some tips along the way though.

 

That sucks to see.
I would start off with dismantle of the front end sheet metal. Get a good visual of some of the frame damage. Look for wrinkle paint is helpfully to see what might have shifted. If you have a level garage floor take point measurement. They can be found in the factory service Manuel. From there u can make abetted assessment if this is in ur league to try to fix or have a body shop t pull the frame. Sheet metal work itself can be done by yourself.

 

Calculating the loads that are going into each joint is a bit tricky unless your engineering is up to par. So before you attempt this I have a few questions?

1) How much weight can you spare to add?
2) What kind of corner will the car see (speed, g,etc)?
3) suspension points getting redesigned?
4) What kind of fab skill do you have 1-10?


So with that said..........
-Drag front ends arent the same as auotx due to load scenarios so dont copy those.
-tube frame upfront needs good bracing with the rest of the body
-suspension geometry could be difficult to get right

 

its very easy just hit the wall, lol

its not to far gone exp if u want to go tubular. if seen worse come back from the dead. u need to take all the panels off first & see what u got.

 

I wish I had pictures. Back in 1995, we tube framed the front end of an 86 Civic hatch and bolted in a 1994 GSR engine. The tube frame stopped at the back of the engine, and the engine/transmission hung from the tubing. We then hung the bodywork and radiator off the front of the engine. It was a little easier than what you're planning, since the 86 had Mac strut front suspension. I basically cut the unibody off at the outside of the firewall, and ran the tubing into the cage. I also ran some square tubing in the floor of the car, all the way back to the front of the gastank. This formed the basis for the front lower control arms. They were fabed as well.

Car was a road race/autox setup.