Well as some of you will remember I got in to a little fender bender last summer and kinked the right front side of my baby pretty good.
Now since the nicer weather will be here soon I am going to attempt to fix it all up as best I can. I have’nt done anything like this before so I will tell you what I am planning to do and if anyone has other advise or tips, they will be greatly appreciated.
I have a new hood, new passenger fender and bumper that I will finish off sanding, priming and painting. I plan on taking some measurments off of a friends 240 so I will know what all the gaps between the hood and fenders should be as well as between the passenger door and passenger fender. I also will do the same in the engine bay with the rad support too.
So using a small sledge, regular hammer and some wood I hope to be able to get it all back looking great again. I am not expecting everything to be perfect but as close as I can get will be nice.
Do any of you guys have any other tips, ideas or advise for me?
I used an engine hoist to pull my frame… jack the fucker up as high as u can with a chain tied around the headlight hole, then drop it and close the valve real quick… It jerked it back in place.
I donno how your damage is, but if its infront of the strut tower it doesnt
really matter, just straighten stuff out enough so the panels line up
There is many ways you could go about it but the cheapest way to do it is a case of beer, some burgers on the barby and good friends from SON that know what they are doing As long as Im not working the day you want to fix it and the weather is nice, you can count me in Bruce.
Any help I can get will be appreciated thats for sure. I plan on doing over a weekend. Who knows it may be able to be done in one day if the job is started early enough.
I will have the hood and fender ready to go. The bumper I will have to pull off on the day, do some quick sanding and re-painting. Between coats I would go back to the front end.
Not knowing the damage it is hard to tell what your dealing with however measure the distance between the screws on the front fenders at the top and compare numbers with a non damaged car. the screws are the ones holding the fenders on i think there is four on each side measure from fender to fender going across the engine bay.
Hope that helps sort of hard to explain but those measurements will give you adequate info
I did a little bit of damage to my left front last year, what you just explained (the hammering), is the exact same thing I did to it.
First, I took the bumper cover (the painted plastic cover) off, when I did this, I found the actual bumper (the steel beam) was pushed up a little. There is a little bit of adjustment on this (two large, maybe 19mm, bolts per side), but when I adjusted mine I needed more so I let the body shop doing the painting bend it the rest of the way.
Next, I began straightening all of the little brackets in the front. I took the bent ones out, straightened them to be as close to the right side ones as possible. Some where bent on both sides, for these I just bent it back to what looked straight (most of them are like a big [ shape so you can get a pretty good idea of where it used to be).
I then started bolting everything back on for a test fit. After everything was good and all the last minute adjustments were made I toof everything off and sent it to the body shop where they took out the hood dent and painted it all.
Lastly, I picked it all up and assembled it installing all the new lights and shtuff.
My dad has some body dollies and stuff I can bring over if I am not working when you do it.
Wow thanks Jon and Cal I’d appreciate your help too!
Theo, I don’t need body dolies but your help would be great too!
Hmmm, at this rate I should plan a meet, then not be able to attend and have everyone show up at my place. :lol:
I for sure will provide coffee during the morning, cold REGULAR drinks during the day and the beer, we’ll save that for when the jobs done. Some how the idea of a bunch of drunk or tipsy guys around my car with tools makes me feel uneasy :lol: . I think pizza would be cool too so I’ll order that for us as well.
Im thinking that if the weather is good over March break, and the weather is sunny and above 10-15 degrees, we should be good to do it. Now I may not have the fender and hood finished by then because it’s the first nice weekend but, with all of you guys helping out it really would’nt matter. We would still get everything done that day.
Again I can’t say much more then THANK YOU SO MUCH for this guys. I think we’ll have some fun that day.
Well FINALLY the nicer weather is hear and I can get going on this.
I finished priming my new fender today and just need to wet sand once more and it’ll be ready for paint/clear. Then I’ll tackle the hood and even though my bumper is on the car, I’ll just sand it to and do some touch ups when it comes off.
Now I have Cal (Got_Boost) for painting the bumper, Jon (NeveR), John (Toronto_240sx) and Theo for straightening out things with me. Bring the girls if you want to as they can keep Tanya company.
I just wanted to know if you guys were still down for helping out and if anyone else wanted to come by on the day too?
I’ll be ordering pizza and most likely have some beers too! Those are for AFTER the jobs done! :lol:
Anyway, just let me know. Im hoping to do this in the next couple of weeks on a Saturday morning.
did you write down the measurements for the front and side frames>? My front end is somewhat bent and I will be doing the same thing but I dont know anyone who drives a 240. Let me know if you have the measurements, CHEERS!!!
As long as Im not working the day you want to fix it and the weather is nice, you can count me in Bruce.
