im a newb

i recently bought a 1986 300zx for 500, which had been in a huge front end accident. after 3 months and lots of stripping of parts hammering, pounding, cutting and welding. i had a sweet sweet car. which still runs excellently up to this day.

now im moving onto a 1990 300zx which i bought for 800 bucks. it too has been in a front end fender bender, if all goes well i hope to have it on the road soon. but having no experience with lateral frame damage which at first glance seems to be confined to the engine compartment.

the front end is shifted 5 inches to the right, and the drivers side fender/frame has been pushed 4 inches downward. the engine is running flawlessy and it still is drivable in a way.

how much in general will just getting the frame stretched out and repairerd cost. after that point i can fix pretty much anything else on the car, such as the fenders, front clip, engine components, and whatnot.

also how do you tell if you have a jdm engine? a friend of mine thinks my engine is a jdm.

also please be aware that aside of restoring a 67 mustang, and 1986 300zx. auto work is relatively new to me.

well if its a jdm engine look at the side the dipstick is on i think if its a jdm it will be on the passenger side.. seems like some work front end damages to frames usually arent good and if fixed it weakens the frame dramatically

generally i've heard that repairing frames is a no-no when it comes to keeping structural integrity... i've also heard that doing so is very expensive... if you still want to attempt it, good luck and take lots of pictures!

the cheapest way possible would be to donate the car to a High School for their Auto Body Classes. it will obviously cost next to nothing since you are giving them the car to work on and they do need cars to work on.

i dont really know how much a frame would cost to get pulled but i couldnt see it costing anymore than the car would be worth if it were in good condition. just get in the yellow pages and shop-a-round. they will give you an estimate after they take a look at it. if thats all you want done, most body shops have full machines that do all the work so it shouldnt be that long of a labor job though it is probably tough to get it in exact specifications. the only thing you can do is shop around...body shops pull and stratch frames all the time.

for assurance reasons since you know how to weld and cut metal and you ahve the machinery to do it. it would hurt nothing by re-enforcing the frame with some square tubing or something of the sort.

all in all, it could work out to be a very good and cheap project. much mroe affordable than buying a Z32 in good condition but that is what you will have when it is done...

one question...is it a Twin Turbo or Non???

BTW: i have seen people cut cars in half and weld on a new front end without any problems, but they did do alot of re-enforcing of all of the main support structures. basically, by the time they get done...they have the stock frame welded together and secure and another frame that runs parallel. twice the support, i see no problem except that it adds a little weight.

as for it being a JDM motor...the dipsticks are on teh same side. the only thing you can really look for are some wires that have ben spliced or hosing that looks homemade. anything that would confirm that it could have been a new motor. take a peak at the motor mounts, see if they are brand new...usually these break in half on engine pulls unless it is really low miles.

this is zlova again. dang man, my friggin car looks like a trashed version of your car kinda crazy silver and everything.
the damage is freakish in the fact that it doesnt look tremendously crushed the way most wrecks look, rather like it was slowly bent with minimal panel deformation. so when the frame is straightened it will take minimal work to get the light housings and front engine bay back into shape.

ill probably go for finding the parts seperatly as the lower aluminum bumper reinforcements and the crush braces are trashed. the only mechanical issues are the power steering lines which were severed. and obviously steering alignment but that should be rectified to a minimum with the frame being reset. but other than that this project will be easier but much more expensive than rebuilding my 1986 300zx.

anyways yeah framework around my city is dirt cheap about 48 bucks an hour, my frame is gonna take about 8-10 hours of work so 500 to 700 bucks.

i spoke to one frame guy at a major company and said the worst frame he ever worked on had to have 14 pulls each at an hour and a half a peice.

hate to be that cars owner

and after that it is a cakewalk as far as repair and rebuild.

also found out the battery was leaking when i pressure washed the engine compartment. awesome as the acid ate a basketball size hole in the concrete. hehe corroded the area underneath the battery stand. so i had to clean it up sand out the insta rust/corrosion and then apply a rust treatment sand and primer tha thing. fun crap when you end up going backward instead of forwards.

oh yeah its a non-turbo, but who cares this is the car i have been wanting since i was 18

sounds like you have a plan...i love to hear people restoring Z's. they are getting scarce so teh more that are restored the more we will have 10 years from now. good luck with the project...keep us posted and soem pictures would come in handy.