so ive come across a rust free same color parts car locally in which the seller is willing to remove the front end of the car...from firewall forward frame wise which includes radiator support etc...for 200.

id love to repair these rusted strut towers as well as radiator support. with a good welder, plenty of time, and patience, is it a feasible task to hack my car in the general same area and completely replace with rust free front frame? pros and cons?

or am i better of just doing patchwork with this and replacing whats needed?

thanks.

95 GS Boosted

It is possible.

But its not something you should do in your backyard with your friend from HS who can weld...

Patching depends on the size of the affected areas.

If its too great, easier to replace.

In all my time here I've never heard of anyone doing a front end replacement. That's a huge project, and definitely requires skill to make sure you end up with a car that is both safe and drives normally.

This is a suggestion (b/c I have done it), but could you just transfer all mechanicals to the better frame? I've basically done that with my RS, the engine/trans/interior/miscellaneous exterior parts have all come from other cars. The RS had the best chassis of any eclipse I've bought, so it became the recipient of parts instead of the donor.

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Well I'm getting closer to replacing these strut towers. Here's what I've got so far. Same color so paint will not be necessary, but it may still happen being as the bay will be stripped of everything. I will most likely be cutting the strut towers off at frame rails and then cutting mine in the same place and having them welded right there. Through my research on this, I'm finding most people have done it that way. I've got to get my motor out now and see how bad it really is. I'm also wondering of a good way to prevent this from happening again. Any ideas? I was thinking have the wheel wells sprayed with that heavy duty rhino liner made for truck beds.

95 GS Boosted

Better hope your neighbors are not nosey and call the cops lol...They will see that and be like WTF. cops will come and you will end up having to have your car inspected by a local DMV...But other than that GOOD LUCK i hope it goes well but you will just about sacrificed your frame support. Just my .02 but im not bashing...just good luck.

‹noboost› Four gee's and 63 years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continent, a new dsm, concieved in Normal Illiniois...

That will definitely take away some strength, unless you weld extra plates over both parts being welded together. That can actually make the seam stronger, as long as the person welding it knows what they're doing. Don't rely only on a butt weld.

That being said, I replaced everything in front of the strut tower after having a head-on collision with a telephone pole (black ice). It's not too bad as long as you plan out everything in advance. I just went to town with a sawzall and and then had a hard time getting the new and old pieces to line up correctly. Don't eyeball it. Take many measurements BEFORE cutting the good car. Use a compass or inclinometer (assuming you're doing this on a level surface). Make a drawing with exact measurements.

Let me know how it goes if you do this. If it goes well, I might look into doing it to mine.

No worries.

There's a good thread on dsmtuners, guy from canada replaced his rusted out radiator support. jnztuning has the lower tie(radiator support) for around 200ish aint bad price. I have to replace mine sometime thats where I'm getting mine from.

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