Han

Afraid I might have a bent frame. Just want to hear your thoughts before paying a shop to look at it

When I first got the car last year I immediately put it on jack stands to swap the engine. There was a half inch gap on one corner. Before that I owned a civic and it sat even on all 4 stands in the same place of the same garage. I've moved them around, jacked them on the other side of the garage. I'm putting the stands on the frame rails. And the stands are actually cement blocks with wood built in, used for decks and floors. It's the front passenger/rear driver side that rocks back and forth everytime. Can't remember which corner is gapped but I want to say the rear. Last time I checked it was a quarter inch. I know the floor isn't perfectly level but I would imagine the unibody has enough flex to compensate. And it's always the same no matter where

When the car is sitting on jack stands I have trouble opening and closing the passenger door. The window gets caught in the molding. The door sits too high/body sags too much for the window to fit back in the molding. I have to push the window in while closing the door.

I also found out I had a bent tension rod on the drivers side and bent lower control arm on the passenger side. It was the bushing sleeves that were bent on both, so they were shaped as ovals which gave the bushings a little wiggle room. Both fixed. The car was supposedly never drifted but it wasn't all stock. It had an e brake button and momo steering wheel but it came with a stock steering wheel also. The hub was frozen on the steering rack. Had to use a crank pulley remover to pop it off. Plus it has a s14 tranny, it's an '89 tho. So I'm assuming it has at least taken a beating or two before

As far as I remember it drove straight before getting new suspension and bushings, now it goes to the right very slightly. Still plan on doing more work before getting it settled and aligned. But this problem is really starting to get to me before I go any further and spend more. I don't know if it's something I should really worry about or ignore

Rayne

Seems like the frame is bent if the door doesn't line up properly. and the car isn't level at all four corners as you say.

The body shop will be able to tell you with certainty.

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Han

The door lines up just fine when its on the ground tho. The fender hood and bumpers are all lined up correctly as well. I guess that's my only option though

WristWork

I would never jack the car up by the frame rails or place jack stands beneath them,
s13/s14 frame rails bend really easy.

If your frame rail is crushed a little I wouldn't worry about it.

OnTheChip

Could be the floor is uneven.

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LS_Eater

Well there is more waiting in the front so it is possible the weight on 3 of the jacks is holding it up just fine depending on where you have them placed

Han

I really just want to know if anyone else has had this problem and if the alignment was still good.

I'm only worried about the unibody and alignment itself.

The frame rails are holding up good on the blocks as the weight is well distributed. I tried jacking it up from the rail once and quickly learned. It already has a few bends here and there but nothing bad. I am not worried about those at all

I looked at it more yesterday, the front bumper is off skew. It's about half an inch higher on the passenger side than the drivers. The caster also seems to be off as well. It was hard to measure accurately but I'd say the passenger side wheel is about 1/4" in. The drivers side tire is centered evenly in the fender but the passenger side is not.

I put the pinch rails on the blocks instead of the frame this time. The rear passenger side had about an 1/8" gap from the block. Due to the flex from the rear left hanging in the air, it made it difficult to open and close the passenger side door. The latch has trouble fitting together and I have to push it down to make it fit.

Also the bumper does not evenly line up with the hood. It goes from about 1/8" gap on the passenger side to at least a 1/4" gap on the drivers.

I want to make the assumption that the front passenger side hit something at one point. It would explain the caster being off. Plus if the front pass. side is lower than the front drivers side, both will still sit on blocks since the front is heavier than the rear. All 4 corners have to be even to balance the weight, but since one corner is off, that only leaves three corners to distributed the weight. Makes sense to me, hopefully you can understand too

Does anyone think this is really a problem, or is it just me sounding paranoid and imagining a problem? I know this things have been tossed around and beaten plenty so I would imagine there are some much worse still on the road

Han

Okay guys well I fixed my issue! I sold the car.

Now onto search for another!