Should I swap over to a new shell?

[GL Chrillz]

I am wondering if it's even worth fixing my car or buying a clean shell for 400-500 bucks and swapping my suspension and engine over to it. right now I have a 1990 coupe, sr20, coils, ruca, toe arms, etc etc. Both my driver and passenger side front frame rails are busted all the way thru, part of the middle of the frame rails (more towards the rear of the car) is crunched in from being lifted at some point. Huge holes where the sun roof drain rusted it out bad, and my core support on the bottom is rusted thru. as well as misc little tiny rust spots/holes in the bay or whatever.

Too much work to repair all this rust? worth the man hours to swap it over to another shell?

[Nicelyphe]

I have no advice on you for swapping over..Depends if that's what your feeling too do. Some people enjoy to keep and fix their chassis issues, some dont. But I can recommend you too these.

Online Store - Xcessive Manufacturing (http://www.xcessivemanufacturing.com/ONLINESTORE.html?cid=41&step=4&pid=172)

[GL Chrillz]

Yeah I knew about those. I don't really mind repairing mine, I'm just wondering if there's just simply too much rust to even bother repairing. I don't want to have 1500$ in materials to repair the rust you know? lol. I have all the tools in school so that's not an issue if I were to go repairing it.

[jefferz]

how much money is your time worth. Your going to spend alot of time swapping everything over and your going to spend less time rewelding in new frame rails.


If your a busy guy like me, you would do the frame rails. Just because its not worth the time and effort it would take to swap everything over. If im not running my business I'm loosing money, the more time i spend working on my car the less money in my pocket.

[GL Chrillz]

true. how easy is it to repair the (idk what to call it) quarter panel maybe? like right under the door, where the back of your skirt is on the car in your sig. all of that is rusted out on both sides due to the sun roof drain. is that easily fixable and covered up with a skirt?

[project-c2]

Same thing happened to me. Front strut tower smashed and touching the intake manifold. I just bought a shell for 240$. Swapped everything over. Rear was easy, disconnect brake lines, parking brake cables and drop the whole thing. front was just the upper strut mounts and subframe with rack. Swapped.
Wiring and whatever was on the new shell, so I am still in the process of putting the engine in.

[GL Chrillz]

yeah the best I can get a shell here for is like 500 bucks that i've found so far. and they still have a tiny bit of rust. I might just repair my frame rails with those xcessive ones. I think that's the only thing that ruins my structural integrity at all, the other stuff is just cosmetic. I'm thinking if i fix my rust, i might do some sort of tubular core support or something. I have about 450$ i was saving for new wheels that i could use to start buying metal and what not, and just get wheels when i start working after this school semester.

[rcdad123]

i was in your position 3 years ago. i decided to buy a shell but ending up buying more. i did not have to swap the engine or the suspension (the car i replaced mine with had lower mileage). i did have to swap the interior and all of the emissions. to me it was worth my time because i really think fixing the one i had would take too much money.

[GL Chrillz]

I suppose I could really go thru and price it all out. Just not sure if I'd be able to tackle swapping out my whole suspension and engine. Especially since its my dd. unless everything goes perfect (but when does it with an s chassis?) Then I might be safer fixing my rust because I can do most of it without removing anything on my car.

[GL Chrillz]

If I cut out some or all of my core support and weld in tubes and a bash bar is it going to have the same or greater structural integrity?

[rcdad123]

new tubes are gonna be better than the rusted parts that you are replacing them with. try to brace everything before you cut any structure supports so that you can minimize or eliminate the chances of tweaking the chassis. it would suck if after all the hard work is done and find out your door or hood won`t fit perfect anymore.

[GL Chrillz]

Good call. Could I just tack in some scrap tubing or something and remove it once ive got the final pieces in?

[rcdad123]

yes. a simple tack than can be grounded off later should be good enough.

[GL Chrillz]

cool thanks. this is going to be hard to not go all out on and just keep it simple. I'm not sure how far is too far for a DD lol.

[Darren]

When making this decision, you should also take into consideration your skill level. If you just want to use it as a learning experience, then great! go for it, but if you really want it to be as close to perfect as it can be, it might be quicker and easier buying another shell.

if the new car is a runner, then it gets even easier, you can use it in it's stock form for a while and plan out the upgrades from the donor car...

I've done a lot of bodywork on my cars in the past and it takes a good bit of experience, and patience to get everything looking as good as it did before the repair was necessary...

If you do decide to repair your current car (which is what I'd do), i recommend being liberal with an anti rust paint / chemical, like POR15, or equivalent after you've done the repairs,.... most of the rust is where you don't see it....

Good luck! 1/2 the fun of owning these cars is working on them :)

[GL Chrillz]

Well most of it I could really care less. I'd cover up the rust with a skirt. But I just found a running s13 with 160k for 800, only bad is one strut tower rusted so bad it pulled halfway off. I have access to a welder, lift, etc. Sound like a decent deal?

[rcdad123]

well it is decent if it`s running and in better shape than yours. man, strut pulled all the way out due to rust. i`m glad i live in cali.

[GL Chrillz]

Well if I can pick that one up and fix it relatively easy, it'd make a good dd so I could properly work on my current without worrying what I'll be driving. It SHOULD be as simple as just cleaning the rust and welding it back on maybe with some extra bracing, right? And yeah, michigan is a bitch to cars

[GL Chrillz]

here's the car in question

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/roadboy240sx/noodles/DSCF2209.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/roadboy240sx/noodles/DSCF2203-1.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/roadboy240sx/156750.jpg

and here's the strut tower. he's going to get more pics late tomorrow (friday)
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/roadboy240sx/DSCF2496.jpg