Sorry if this has already been posted before.

I have a 1999 EX. I bought this car a couple of months ago, has the whole rebuilt title thing going on. I've been looking into fixing all of the problems it has, and I've known that the whole car's suspension is out of whack. I was going to buy an entire new suspension kit for the whole car, but after taking a second look under the car tonight, I noticed that the left front lower control arm is leaning about two inches further towards the back of the car than the right. I got down to get a closer look and discovered that the frame-thing that the control arm connects to is bent back. the right side looks perfect.The car hardly pulls to either direction, for the most part it goes straight. I haven't driven it in a while, so I don't remember which direction it pulls.

My first question is, is it safe to drive this thing? I'm not so much concerned about tire life as much as my own life. obviously some other suspension components were messed up in the accident it had before i bought it, most of the left side is a little out of whack, but it drives fine.

What is the thing called that I need to replace? Google found me exactly zero results for "front subframe", and i'm at a loss to what else it could be. from what i can tell, that part bolts into the bottom of the car. It looks like a structural brace, or, a "subframe".
I've got a local junkyard if I need to go there, and I'm going to be needing this car again pretty soon, as soon as I get all the other work done to it.

And yes, I'll be swapping the whole front suspension if I can find this thing to start with.

Thanks in advance.

 

It is the front sub frame. I can't seem to find it on the OEM part sites so I don't think you can buy it new.

You can buy one at the wreckers/salvage yards though.

The last pic in post #1 of the following thread has a picture of the 92 civic front subframe dropped from the car:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/appear.../#post39584889

 

Thanks man, now I at least know what I'm looking for.
Is it okay to drive the car with a bent subframe until i get a new one?

 

case to case on driving as is. pics help.

 

Alignment out of whack, so no its not safe to drive. especially during bad weather conditions. YDMV

 

They can still be bought new if you choose to go that route. Part #50200-S04-A02 also referred to as Beam, RR by Honda.

All 96-00 Civic subframes are the same (auto, manual, p/s, non p/s). Or you can switch to a 92-95 civic/94-01 integra subframe, but that requires a different steering rack, tie rod ends, compliance bushings and a few other things, etc...

I actually just threw out an extra subframe not too long ago, they can be had for next to nothing if you can find someone parting out a car or hit up a local salvage yard. If you could post some pictures of the damage that would help give us a better idea as to what exactly is going on.

Believe it or not they are actually pretty light, so shipping isn't too terrible for them if you end up trying to buy one online new or used.

 

That's awesome. I wasn't finding it on the parts sites. I gave up after looking at about 5 different sections. Must say, sometimes finding the section a part is in can be challenging with those sites. Thanks for providing the part number!

 

fI remember finding it last year when I was doing research on a p/s to manual steering rack swap in my em1 (which there is a lot of misinformation out there for that swap). Just something I kept in mind incase anyone else ever needed to know.