Chassis Damage.. Bugger

[ZRBE]

Hey guys,

So finally finally got my R32 GTS-T 93' in January this year.

Mods were as follows

-T04E high mount

-Hybrid FMIC

-Pod filter

-Atmo BOV

-Yucky spiderweb wheels (see pics below lol)

-Walboro in-tank pump

-Chinese coilovers with rose joints and quite a bit of aftermarket suspension gear but not sure of the names..

-Turbo back exhaust

-Nismo front strut and back

-Broken aftermarket boost guage

-Vertex bodykit (I believe?) but took it off..

-Nistune ECU 171kw @ the wheels

That's all I can think of at the moment, I am finding more and more bad things about this car as I take more off.

So far -

3 50c sized rust spots that look pretty bad..

A nice chuck taken out of rear left quarter panel next to wheel and a crap load of bog

There are more but the big one is a bent front left chassis rail.. Just what I needed.

Mainly my fault for pretty much buying the car after looking at it for 10mins.. I didn't know what too look for and probably payed way too much.

I'd like to hope I'd be A LOT smarter next time I buy a car.. Or house haha.

Went at night time as well..

I'm just not sure what to do?

Fix this chassis damage with $$$?

Luckily my pop is a panel beater and has restored a couple of racing escort's and cortina's. (I'll take pics when I'm up next week)

So he can give me some tips or help out if its possible to tackle this myself... It's only a slight bend but makes the passengers side of the car show some panel gaps

Still drives fine and straight. So that's a good thing?

Already spent about 4500 on a tune, (Yes, idiot, I know..)parts and stuff ready to go on

Here are a couple of shitty taken pics from myself showing nothing of importance and sorry for being all over the place with this thread but so is my head ATM

When I post my rebuild thread I'll be a lot more sorted out.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Zrobe

[Dan_J]

get some hi res pics of that LHS front rail, cant tell much from that picture

if get a full wheel alignment with print out you can usually tell how bad that bend is in how different the castor is on each side,although adjustable castor rods would fix these handling issues

[ZRBE]

get some hi res pics of that LHS front rail, cant tell much from that picture

if get a full wheel alignment with print out you can usually tell how bad that bend is in how different the castor is on each side,although adjustable castor rods would fix these handling issues

Yeah I know pics are crappy, it started pissing down after we got the guards off and everything.

So I'll be able to take better pics this weekend, it looks like the previous owner or whoever has tried to repair it themselves so maybe it was even worse.

There are a lot of aftermarket suspension bits and pieces under the car but I have no clue to what they are called, other than sway bars and coilovers.

More pics to come.

[Sinista32]

Prep for the worst, hope for the best

[ZRBE]

Prep for the worst, hope for the best

Those are the exact words my pop said. Haha. Edited August 8, 2013 by Zrobe

[Sinista32]

local here in canberra bought a 33gtst. Similar circumstances. (guy had a friendly shop provide a RWC) prior to sale.

found out a bent chasis rail whilst going to swap over rego.

short story - can never be registered. Was out of pocket lots of thousands.

sold for $2k+ as a wreck/track car. Scumbag bought it and is trying to sell as if everything is ok !

plus I'm an older fella too. Experience talking - Prep for the worst, hope for the best

[ZRBE]

local here in canberra bought a 33gtst. Similar circumstances. (guy had a friendly shop provide a RWC) prior to sale.

found out a bent chasis rail whilst going to swap over rego.

short story - can never be registered. Was out of pocket lots of thousands.

sold for $2k+ as a wreck/track car. Scumbag bought it and is trying to sell as if everything is ok !

plus I'm an older fella too. Experience talking - Prep for the worst, hope for the best

Well if worst come to worst I guess I'll part her out, or if I can get it on a chassis puller? And get it certified or whatever.

If that's possible.

But we'll see first! Hoping for the best ha

[Daleo]

local here in canberra bought a 33gtst. Similar circumstances. (guy had a friendly shop provide a RWC) prior to sale.

found out a bent chasis rail whilst going to swap over rego.

short story - can never be registered. Was out of pocket lots of thousands.

sold for $2k+ as a wreck/track car. Scumbag bought it and is trying to sell as if everything is ok !

plus I'm an older fella too. Experience talking - Prep for the worst, hope for the best

The RMS don't check your car for bent chassis rails; why would you tell them?

It's a shame the new buyer doesn't have the same conscience as you.

Seems like crushed/bent chassis rails is the most common mod on R32's; even more than atmo BOV's.

Unless I'm missing something that is in the pictures.

Alignment would definitely be the first port of call, then on from there.

[ZRBE]

Yeah, I know the pictures show nothing of importance.. I'll get some pics of the bent rail and a couple of other things this weekend.

[trustr32]

Hey man like everyone said wheel alignment is first place to start and after that get it to a panel shop with a Caroliner bench. They will be able to chuck it up on the bench and measure the car using a computerized measuring system. Easiest way to check it and if need be fix it cause it has puller attachments that go directly onto the bench.

http://www.car-o-liner.com.au/

If your talking about the section above the front wheel that's not your chassis rail either the chassis rail is on the bottom of that section where the front crossmember bolts up onto. Look down next to your engine and you'll see the rectangular section near the engine mount so if it's only that upper section then it's most likely cosmetic

Chassis rail run's back underneath the car.

If the car drives fine and it's only panel gaps that are the problem then it will be a pretty easy fix. It doesn't look crumpled so it's probably just bent in a bit and needs the front corner pulled out. Don't loose hope if it was bad enough to be an absolute nightmare to fix then you would've immediately noticed more than just poor panel gaps when you first looked at the car.

Of course I might be completely wrong and you do mean the actual chassis rail in which case it's a bit more work involved. My mate and I did a left hand chassis rail on a Silver 500rwkw R33 Gtst race car just before Christmas only with a floor rack and that turned out spot on. That plus heavy rear quarter damage and painting the whole left hand side cost him a bit over $3k including second hand Door, Guard and side skirt.

Just remember its only metal and it's all fixable.

[ZRBE]

Hey man like everyone said wheel alignment is first place to start and after that get it to a panel shop with a Caroliner bench. They will be able to chuck it up on the bench and measure the car using a computerized measuring system. Easiest way to check it and if need be fix it cause it has puller attachments that go directly onto the bench.

http://www.car-o-liner.com.au/

If your talking about the section above the front wheel that's not your chassis rail either the chassis rail is on the bottom of that section where the front crossmember bolts up onto. Look down next to your engine and you'll see the rectangular section near the engine mount so if it's only that upper section then it's most likely cosmetic

Chassis rail run's back underneath the car.

IMG_1007.JPG

If the car drives fine and it's only panel gaps that are the problem then it will be a pretty easy fix. It doesn't look crumpled so it's probably just bent in a bit and needs the front corner pulled out. Don't loose hope if it was bad enough to be an absolute nightmare to fix then you would've immediately noticed more than just poor panel gaps when you first looked at the car.

Of course I might be completely wrong and you do mean the actual chassis rail in which case it's a bit more work involved. My mate and I did a left hand chassis rail on a Silver 500rwkw R33 Gtst race car just before Christmas only with a floor rack and that turned out spot on. That plus heavy rear quarter damage and painting the whole left hand side cost him a bit over $3k including second hand Door, Guard and side skirt.

Just remember its only metal and it's all fixable.

Yes I am aware that is not the chassis rail. But has also been repaired, quite well I think.

I did get a wheel alignment before I knew about the damage and nothing was brought up about that.

What made me notice was when I took the front bumper off the reo bar was slightly pushed in on the passenger's side, so I took that off an that's when I saw the rail had been bent/pushed back.

Thanks heaps for all the info guys and the correct name for the 'chassis puller' haha

More pics/updates to come.

[ZRBE]

Hey guys got an update & pics! Good news and bad news, unfortunately.

As always, bad news first.

The whole Passenger side chassis rail has been moved back a good 30-40mm.

Found a crap load more rust and bog.

Here are some pictures of the drivers side chassis rail & I'm not sure of the right name but let's call it the under-guard? Lol.. (This side, so far appears to be fine)

Those are pretty much all I took of the good side..

Nice and neat.

aaaaand here's some rust and bog I ground off

Drivers side

Passengers side

Passengers side 2nd go....

Soo.. Yeah not really happy with what I've found so far..

Not sure how many pics I can upload in one post so I'll make another after this with the damaged pictures

Zane.

[ZRBE]

Here is the Passengers side (damaged side), sorry again for picture quality and if they are not "up the right way" oh well, you can still see its buggered.

Passengers side (under-guard?)

Under-guard #2 bit of clean up with wire brush

Under-guard #3 just above head light

Chassis rail, this has been bent and also pushed back

Chassis rail #2

Chassis rail #3

I will post another one comparing the 2 same sides when I have some time later today.

Oh, good news is I'm keeping the car!

Getting it put on a puller eventually and get ALL RUST out and welding in metal pieces. Using a dolly and hammer to shape the way my pop has for years

[ZRBE]

Here are some pics comparing the 2 sides together.

These are pretty self explanatory.

TOP VIEW

Good.

Bad. As you can see it looks like the spot welds have popped out and been welded back and heaps of panel sealant..

SIDE VIEW

Good.

Bad. Scratched are just from wire brush.. Those welds are not factory

FRONT CORNERS

Good. (Sneaky picture of my pops GT Cortina coupe that he's restoring)

And once again, Bad.

I'm in quite the predicament..

Either way I will have to repair this if I want to sell or keep for myself.

I am leaning towards keeping because already, I won't be able to make back what I've spent on it.

Any opinions or welcome, I live this forum and have already learned so much just from reading other people's problems and solutions.

So I thought I'd post my own, just be careful when buying a car.

I know I will be next time haha

Thanks guys, I will most likely be posting a build thread in the not too distant future. Pretty much a complete overhaul!

Zane.

QUICK UPDATE/EDIT

Just received a phone call from my pop, there is another small kink at about the middle of chassis rail, sump is dented.. So I'll be pushing that back out, just incase it's cutting off my oil pick up. Bleh

Edited August 12, 2013 by Zrobe

[GTR-N1]

At least you're giving it your best shot Zane

I'm sure you've learnt much along the way too, like where weak spots are for rust to manifest and what happens when they don't spray under the wheel wells after accumulating even a bit of mud.

[ZRBE]

At least you're giving it your best shot Zane

I'm sure you've learnt much along the way too, like where weak spots are for rust to manifest and what happens when they don't spray under the wheel wells after accumulating even a bit of mud.

Front guards had about 3kg of mud and crap because the plastic inner guards are rooted, haha.

Yes, learned So much already, as much as I am pissed off. I'm quite pleased that I get to strip it and see how these cars are actually built.

Still kicking myself for not going over the car properly in the first place.

But, oh well.

[GTR-N1]

Imagine - you'll be a wealth of knowledge for others here (and elsewhere) after this!

And you aren't the only person who's had to learn the hard way > But at least you're a quick learner!

[ZRBE]

Imagine - you'll be a wealth of knowledge for others here (and elsewhere) after this!

And you aren't the only person who's had to learn the hard way > But at least you're a quick learner!

Yeah, I've seen other a lot worse off than I am.

So glad I have an elder in my presence with over 50yrs experience..

He is stoked to see me finally getting into cars as well. Hehe

Cheers man.

[ZRBE]

Update, No pics. iPhone ran out of juice.

Those 3 50c piece sized rust spots have turned into holes about the size of 10c piece..

I will be welding sheet metal in its place and cleaning it up.

Found a mate that can respray my car after I fix up the rust ect.

still not sure on the colour, I wanted to keep it the gold it is now, maybe a little darker..

But don't want too much attention from the police.. I know it's a skyline and either way they're cop magnets.

So options are Gold, white then black.. Even considering the gun metal grey that it used to be

I'll post up some pics this Sunday.

[ZRBE]

Another update guys & pics.

Found a nice crack at the bottom of my strut tower smothered in sikaflex..

Whoever "repaired" the rust on this car just stuck some sikaflex on there to hide it and I'm the lucky bastard that gets to cop it

Here is a pic of the the strut tower & underneath after a couple of minutes of scraping..

Sorry for pictures I was on my second beer aha

This was all I got done as it was pops birthday and didn't want to be the "unsocial grandson" lol

Cut rust out of both rear guards and bent some back into shape, also found some nice sheet metal in the scrap bin I can use to weld in

Also the hole at the bottom of rear window..

Anyone know and easy way to remove the rear window? Looks like its been put it with the purpose of never being removed again aha