Okay so when I bought the car the previous owner told me it had been backed into in a parking lot and barely touched my 91 Civic Si. Well about three months later I'm living 20 hours away from that guy so getting anything from him is out of the question.

Well I have had my car aligned three times in the last month because I have the lifetime algnment deal, the last time in I finally had enough, they had been telling me something was just coming loose. So this time he told me something on the car is bent, and the camber kit is maxed out and it still needs another 2º to be right. So it pulls hard to the right, and shakes a ton (the tires are balanced, tie rods brand new, lower ball joints brand new, axles brand new), I've tried everything I can think of.

So I'm so fed up with this car (because I also lost the title somewhere in the move!!) that I am thinking about tearing it apart, and selling everything. First I would like to know if anyone can give me a way of measuring the frame, and finding out if somewhere on it is bent, it was hit on the front drivers side.

Second, worst case, for a pretty amateur Honda hobbyist with one engine swap under my belt, how intense would it be to buy another Civic hatch, or CRX shell and put my B18 in it. Will most of the stuff be reusable?

I know it's a ton of questions, but I really apreciate it, I don't want to get out of the game, but can't afford to start over right now!! Thanks a ton.

If it's helpful at all, I can put pics up.

 

Take it to a body shop and have the frame measured. Probably cost about $100 or so. They would be able to tell you if it is bent and if it is fixable.

 

Okay, I'll look into that.

 

Rope + tree= straight again.

 

you can do it easily...if you have a measuring tape and some dowles....you go by angles and check for the same measurments. like the rear fender bolt on the pass side to the bolt on the driver side head light get that measurment then do the same thing but on the other side....isnt 100% accurate since you dnt have the true measurments. but it can tell you a lil but of what is going on with the frame.

but a body shop can put it on a rack and check it for you

 

Awesome, I should have thought of that. I don't really get the rope tree equation though.

 

That's just the ghetto fabulous way to do things here for a lot of people I've noticed.

 

LOL^ so ghetto.... but for the shaking part maybe check your wheel bearing, mine was crack and thats the reason its giving me a lot of shaking.
this might help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdRpn...eature=channel
make sure your wheel bearing is ok before this happen to you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67RFy...eature=related
hope it helps

 

Well I'm 90% sure it's not the wheel bearing, there is no noise from it. Thanks for the input though. I'm almost positive I'm scrapping the car at this point, I've spent 4 months trying to eliminate everything I could think of it being now to find out the thing is crooked anyways. I wouldn't know but if the frame can be bent back, I'm going to assume that's pretty expensive too, so I might as well put the parts on some other body and turn it in for scrap.

Besides, I really want a CRX or if they weren't so pricey a Del Sol Si, I did a swap for a guy on one and it really grew on me ha ha!!

Thanks again for the input.

 

There's a frame chart in the helm manual for the crx. It gives all the actual frame measurements. I was trying to use it to figure out how much to pull out my radiator support for my car. I don't have a helm manual for the civic though so I'm not sure if there's on in there.

 

Oh, I have that right here with me. I should have looked there, I quit trusting it after some misleading jobs ha ha! I'll check it out.