How do I replace the full-width front unibody panel?

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

My front-damaged 93L 5-speed is a perfect car (cars don't rust here in WA) except that it apparently has been smacked hard squarely on the front bumper. This caused the front unibody plate (to which bumper, headlights, and extreme front of fenders attach) to get pushed in. The fenders and hood are in perfect shape -- not even scratched. The car drives perfectly straight.

I took it to a body shop today asking about having the front panel pulled back to straight. They suggested replacing the part instead. It seems to be spot-welded on to the rest of the unibody in at most a few dozen places, maybe as few as 20.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

1. Center-punch and drill out all the spot-weld locations, all the way through the front plate and that to which it attaches with, say, a 1/4" drill.
2. Repair any other damage now visible (the fore-aft "box beam" on one side is partially caved in on the inboard side).
3. Remove the same part from a donor body (I have two of these with no front damage), being careful to drill the 1/4" holes in the front plate in exactly the same places as on the recipient.
4. Fasten the donor front panel to the recepient with short 1/4" bolts+nuts. In tight spaces, I'd use aircraft "missle" nuts which are very small. I don't know anything about riveting.

Am I crazy to be considering this kind of repair? Has anybody done this before?

[jeffdjeffd]

I think you've got it, except that I would definitely weld the replacement back in. Even if you need to take it to a welder, once you've done all the drilling and aligning, it would be fairly quick (ie inexpensive) to get it welded up. Bolts just arent as strong as good welds.

[Kraig]

I've changed quarter panels, taillight panels and a roof this way. It'll be easier to weld if you don't drill through the second layer of metal (it gives you something to weld to). If you look closely when you're drilling you'll see when you're through the first layer. I then use a sharpened flat blade screwdriver as a thin chisel to break the remainder of the spot weld loose (you never get it all when you're drilling). I tried one of those fancy spot weld drilling tools and it wasn't worth a crap. I drill the welds with a 3/8" split tip drill bit. Good luck at least your finished product will be out of sight

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

What's a "split tip" dirll bit?

OK, that sounds encouraging. I'm going to try doing some drilling out now with regular drill bits after firm centerpunching. What's a "split tip" bit? I've been working on cars since when everybody drove Fiats, but never heard that term.

[Kraig]

The drillbit has hardly any "web" in the middle. Seems to work better on sheet metal.

[Kraig]

They also have a much shallower angle so you can drill through the first layer without drilling all the way through the second layer of sheet metal. A regular drill bit would drill through both layers of sheetmetal before you got close to drilling out to the diameter of the spotweld.

[David88]

Re: How do I replace the full-width front unibody panel?

Am I crazy to be considering this kind of repair? Has anybody done this before?

Maybe, but go ahead and do it anyway. :wink: I did something similar with my yellow '90. I went ahead and cut straight down through both front sub frame box rails. There is an inner structure in there I found out. It probably made of HSLA steel too. That's the High Strength Low Alloy stuff my auto body instructor said never to weld on. Oh well I fixed the car for my self to use. I don't plan on ever selling it, and I can watch this area for cracks and such at oil changes and maintenance times. I doubt this will be an issue in such a light weight and low torque application. If I ever did sell I would fully disclose what was done, but by then it will have proven itself a durable repair.

Sounds like you may be fixing yours for you own use too. I had seen these front header panels on ebay for a fair price before I got my yellow car. Then of course there were none listed when I needed one. I was in contact to get a donor one from jeffd, but found one local. Now of course they are on ebay again... or were as of two weeks ago. $1 + $64 shipping. I'm cheap and even I would pay that to avoid all the drilling and skinned knuckles on a donor. I still have the link try ebay item 330026650988 orhttp://tinyurl.com/y7a9lw
Good luck and I agree weld it if at all possible. It will be a better repair.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Not worth it ...

Well, I started drilling out spot welds and kept finding more and more of them. The transverse beam at the bottom is welded to the "frame" rails, but I'd have to take the beam portion that sticks out off just to get to the welds that hold it to the rails. I'm guessing there's probably 100+ spot welds that would have to be drilled out.

Even after this (I was practicing on a parts car), I'd have to get the front plate off the damaged car (which is in otherwise perfect shape), fix the rail damage, then weld on the donor part (the one on eBay seems to have sold for $1). BTW, where does somebody come up with a "new" part like this? Did KIA sell off its remaining parts when it stopped making these cars or what? Did Ford at one time sell parts like this? Surely, it never would have made economic sense for somebody to pay dealer rates to replace this part, would it?

Yes, I would be keeping the car for myself, so I'm not worried about liability issues.

It just doesn't seem worth all this effort. I'm thinking I'm going to have to kill this beautiful car and use its internal organs to maintain the rest of my fleet. I took it by a body shop for a quote (asking just "pull the front out more or less straight so I can hang the bumper and headlights) -- they refused to even quote "for liability reasons."

[Lonzo607]

HEY

I'm an autobody repair professional. Pull the old support as far as you can to the original position this eliminates spring tension in the affected areas. Use a spot weld cutter bit available at most bodyshop supply stores to cut out the spot welds. They cost about 18.00 and are worth every penny. Only use bolts to secure it while welding. If you don't weld it you will be losing vital strength for your front assembly. This repair isn't very hard. If I can help further just e-mail me.

[David88]

I had searched the web when doing my yellow car and found the core support panel still available in Great Britain for like 38GBP. I got a quote to freight one to the US and with the exchange rate it was something like $180 total.