Alright, so last winter I got into an accident and didn't have insurance... Yea... I know... Believe me, I know.



Anyway, the wreck wasn't all that bad, I was going about 5 mph on a very icy road and slid through a stop-sign and the other car was going about 20 mph. Their right front corner hit my left headlight and basically took the whole front of my car off. This resulted in about $6000 in damage (from the shop) to my car and about $7000 to the other car. Now that I've paid her insurance company back, it's time to get my car fixed. I figured that if I wasn't responsible enough to not let my insurance check bounce, then I shouldn't be driving. Couldn't afford it anyway, so I've been walking and bussing it for over a year now. Here is what needs to be replaced on my car:

-fenders
-headlights
-hood
-bumper cover and support
-radiator support
-inner fenders and headlight buckets
-frame is out of alignment
-radiator
-a/c condensor

I can post pics if needed, but I'm very positive that the only real way of repairing this is by welding on a new front clip. I've searched around and found a few threads of people cutting the front off of a donor car at the firewall, removing their mangled mess and welding it up to their firewall.

I've found a donor shell for about a grand that is pretty good shape. Is this a safe / good solution?

I've taken some pics from 4gen5thtime's thread for reference:

Donor car after the cut showing cut points


And the end result


I'll be doing all the work myself and it's pretty much my only option right now, so telling me that I should just get rid of it, or that it's too much work won't really help. I guess I'm looking for advice or experiences anyone has had in attempting such a project.

Thanks =]

 

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

something like this would need a measuring system like car o liner or genesis. strut towers allways need to be in the correct spot. factory specs allow 3 mm of tolerance but in that area you would want it as perfect as possible .

if not done right the car won't align and won't be safe to drive. this is why some re-build car are a bad idea to fix and terrible to buy.

 

Thanks, I was going to do my very best to keep the measurements as close as possible. I wasn't aware that the tolerences were that tight. Of course I won't have access to anything like those, but I would imagine all would be well if measurements were taken and it was within those tolerences before welding.

 

Post pics first. Maybe you don't actually need to go through all that. Normally if you have to do all that the car is totalled and not worth it. Cheaper and less headache to buy a shell.
Show some pics and maybe we can tell you how to fix it without having to clip the front and instead just replacing certain parts.

 

time for jdm right hand conversion!

 

I wasn't able to find the pics I thought I had on my camera and then we got a **** ton of snow. Once the weather clears, I'll take some and let you guys see what I did.

 

Considering the unibody rails are multiple layers thick.. I hope that **** is safe.