Replacing a rusted rear engine subframe on my '99. At a local junk yard I found a Florida 2000 Accord that had no rust -almost like new - and paid for them to remove the part. I finally got around to removing the rusted frame and discovered that the dude at the junk yard cut nuts off the frame. I'm really frustrated as the frame was in excellent condition and my car is torn apart. I'm taking the part back tomorrow but the online inventory shows no new Accords - so they will likely offer to refund my money. Any thoughts on using some good old high grade steel nuts as a last resort?

 

replacement nuts should work fine if:

-you can find them in the right thread type. looks like those are large (M12 or M14) obviously metric and fine threaded. the best place to find those would be back at the junk yard.

-you either have access to put a wrench on them while installing the bolt or you're able to tack weld them in place. doesn't have to be a super strong weld, it just needs to keep them from turning.

 

Maybe my post was confusing but finding these nuts at junkyard will not be possible. They are stamped into the frame. I think the guy torched the heads off below the frame - the front frame mates to bottom of rear frame. To save time he must of knocked the nuts off with bolts once he cut torched the bolt heads off. I removed rusted subframe in my garage with a few hand tools and it's impossible to remove those nuts from frame with the tools I own. Structurally they are part of frame - I'd guess engineers designed it that way for good reason.

 

Nuts aren't structural. The frame will not collapse if they're removed. Look for nuts of the right size/thread pitch, in either grade 10.9 or higher (equivalent to grade 8 in SAE). As suggested, tack them into place to help hold the torque. Once the bolt/nut compresses the joing, less exterior force is needed to hold the nut.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I know the tack is not mandatory, but unfortunately I'm just a weekend mechanic and don't own a tack welder. I found the 10.9 nuts in a locally owned parts shop. The yard is willing to swap or refund. There is a bunch of 6 cyl, 6th gen on the lot but I found one '00 4 cyl, no engine, tranny or front frame but the rear frame is on the car and in ok condition. It's crazy but I hate to return that mint condition Florida frame.