I dont need no stinkin' body shop!

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:14 pm

Well as some of you may recall my Neon had a quite a lot of front end damage from the winter. I understeered into some landscaping rocks at an intersection and busted my radiator and pushed the core support back about 5 inches. During the cold months I just rocked a 1st gen radiator without a fan. But now its getting warmer and shes starting to overheat when just sitting in the drive through.

So instead of taking her to the bodyshop I used to work at and spending time on the frame rack I decided to rebuild the lower core support to my specs. So enough jabbering, Here are some pics, Im only half way done. Expect more tomorrow.

Before (notice all the bent metal that should be flat)

See how the bottom core support isnt directly under the upper core support/latch area?

Bent and cracked ECU

Some deconstruction pics

Mocking up the radiator, fan, and condenser placement.

Mocking up the new plate steel. Notice I said plate and not sheet metal.

Its beefy!

Welded, Not the best welds ever but this is coming from a guy that has never had a class or training. All I have is a book to tell me how its done.

Come back tomorrow for more now ya hear!

JeffM · Post by **JeffM** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:45 pm

It's like watching facial reconstructive surgery

I will deffinately be back for more

jetas · Post by **jetas** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:54 am

JeffM wrote:It's like watching a monkey do facial reconstructive surgery

Fixxed!!

Me wants to see more

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:46 am

Nice work !!

"If it breaks, make it bigger".

True !!

- Nick

Tam · Post by **Tam** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:17 am

Woah, nice repair. Are you gonna be getting a new PCM? or does that one work fine?

I'll be back to see more.

seisephiroth · Post by **seisephiroth** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:30 pm

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:32 pm

Well Its almost done. Im just letting the rubberized undercoating stuff dry and then I have to fill up on coolant an a test drive. Im still using the bent ECU. Im surprised it still works. Maybe I can use that as an excuse to get an AFX/R unit

More pics to come soon!

sullivan · Post by **sullivan** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:40 pm

my ecu is bent and split the wxact same way yours is.... previous owner must have had a similar incadent. i finally got mine straightened last time i had the motor out.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:35 pm

Alrighty, I just got back from the test drive and everything works great. Here are some more pics.

To show you what Im working with this is the thickness of the plate steel.
2.95mm

OEM sheet metal thickness.
1.25mm

The passenger side bracket welded on

Rubber grommet and the hold drilled for it in the bottom support.
($10 to the first person to tell me were else on the 2gn chassis I got the grommets from. Well actually Im broke but Ill call you a huge neon freak if you can guess correctly)

New radiator test fitted in the new support.

Welded in place. They are not the cleanest welds. The welder was acting funny.

Coated it in that rubber undercoating stuff.

After the test drive. All done

There are a few things that still need to be done. I have to fit the washer fluid bottle, horn, passenger side HID ballast, and bumper cover. Overall the project went as I planned and Im very happy with the outcome.

Feedback is welcome!

JeffM · Post by **JeffM** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:01 am

Very nice. And is the grommet also used as a bumpstop under the hood? maybe?

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:34 am

JeffM wrote:Very nice. And is the grommet also used as a bumpstop under the hood? maybe?

Nope, close but guess again

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:36 am

...And now you'll be entering the car in a demo derby?

Looks good and beefy, me likey!

v95 · Post by **v95** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:50 am

sweet stuff there

marakka · Post by **marakka** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 4:12 pm

Wow..... just wow.

glasswars · Post by **glasswars** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 4:44 pm

damn, i'm very impressed

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:40 pm

Thanks guys!

Nutmeg · Post by **Nutmeg** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:13 pm

Grommet looks familiar. I saw too many random parts during the swap.

Tam · Post by **Tam** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:50 pm

It looks like you won't to worry about bottoming out anymore because that beefy shell is gonna stop it lol.

supermike · Post by **supermike** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:49 pm

You got the rubber grommets from the top of the radiator

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:39 am

supermike wrote:You got the rubber grommets from the top of the radiator

DING DING DING! We have a winner

marakka · Post by **marakka** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:55 am

No one thinks it looks ghetto? Welds with zero penetration. Strengthening crumple zones?

I could see if you were having problems bottoming out on the same speed bump and needed to beef up your lower core support. But this is just being cheap in a ghetto fab way.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:50 am

marakka wrote:No one thinks it looks ghetto? Welds with zero penetration. Strengthening crumple zones?

I could see if you were having problems bottoming out on the same speed bump and needed to beef up your lower core support. But this is just being cheap in a ghetto fab way.

Umm...dude, we drive Neons. If your worried about safety and crumple zones, buy a Volvo. Have you ever seen the crash footage of the 2gn? Its not safe at all!

Besides if I ever get involved in an accident were the crumple zones are affected I guess all that new sheet metal I put on wont make a difference and break right off if the welds are as shitty as you say they are. I said from the start Im no expert at welding.

If you are so concerned about my safety or my repair job please feel free to send check or money order. Then I can afford to "fix" it properly. Or your more then welcome to fly over, drill out all the spot welds for the old support, purchase the new core support from Mopar, weld in the new support, and fly back home.

This repair was in no way a "ghetto" fab, 10 min redneck job. I have thought about this repair for months and how everything would go and how I would go about executing this repair. Granted I dont have many fancy tools or top notch skills but I feel that I did a good job and the car is perfectly safe the way it is. I guess at the end of the day that is all that matters correct?

I mean you no hard feelings and I respect you and your opinions. I dont want to be know as the jackass of 2gn.org. I just simply defending my actions and hope you can pick up what Im putting down.

srtgtr34 · Post by **srtgtr34** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:18 am

Looks like you used a stick welder.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:38 am

Ehh, welds look like poo, but if it works, good job. At the end of the day that's all that matters, the car driving from point A to point B. Shit, if some of you guys saw my wiring I've done you'd probably shit yourselves.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:47 am

It was a small Miller MIG wlder. The max thickness it can weld is a 1/4". I was having issues with it all day. It wouldnt keep a good arc and kept fluttering. So I ended up with a bunch of popcorn. I tried various wire speeds and heat ranges but it kept doing it. Ill have to look into it a bit more and see why it was doing that. When I did my friends exhaust system a month ago it worked perfectly fine. Before I painted the new metal you could see the penetration on the side plates were the lower core support ties into them. So I know there was decent penetration.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:49 am

Haha, if I did a weld...well...lets just say I don't weld.

marakka · Post by **marakka** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:25 pm

Mopar_Korean wrote:
marakka wrote:No one thinks it looks ghetto? Welds with zero penetration. Strengthening crumple zones?

I could see if you were having problems bottoming out on the same speed bump and needed to beef up your lower core support. But this is just being cheap in a ghetto fab way.
Umm...dude, we drive Neons. If your worried about safety and crumple zones, buy a Volvo. Have you ever seen the crash footage of the 2gn? Its not safe at all!

Besides if I ever get involved in an accident were the crumple zones are affected I guess all that new sheet metal I put on wont make a difference and break right off if the welds are as shitty as you say they are. I said from the start Im no expert at welding.

If you are so concerned about my safety or my repair job please feel free to send check or money order. Then I can afford to "fix" it properly. Or your more then welcome to fly over, drill out all the spot welds for the old support, purchase the new core support from Mopar, weld in the new support, and fly back home.

This repair was in no way a "ghetto" fab, 10 min redneck job. I have thought about this repair for months and how everything would go and how I would go about executing this repair. Granted I dont have many fancy tools or top notch skills but I feel that I did a good job and the car is perfectly safe the way it is. I guess at the end of the day that is all that matters correct?

I mean you no hard feelings and I respect you and your opinions. I dont want to be know as the jackass of 2gn.org. I just simply defending my actions and hope you can pick up what Im putting down.

Yes, we drive Neons. But there's no reason to risk the safety of yourself or others. Crumple zones are designed to deflect energy. Not to save you money on body work.

I'll stay in Iraq and do my part. You can stay back there and contemplate that as my check or money order sent.

No matter how much thought you put into this. Its ghetto. You don't have the tools necessary to fix it right. You don't have the knowledge necessary to fix it right. You don't have the money necessary to fix it right. The way I see it you spent more time than it was worth to get it up into a rigged state. You could have just pulled out the damaged areas and reinforced them.

From the looks of it you didn't prep the welded areas.... thus the discoloration. You can tell there's little penetration from the lack of low spots in the welds. The welds form a bead in the valley of the 2 pieces with no low spots in them. Hard to explain in words, but the way I see it, whatever wire you used with that welder isn't going to hit its tensile strength before the weld breaks.

No hard feelings at all. But I see it much different than you do. Its one thing to fix a car in your garage because of need and do it as cheap and ghetto as possible. Its another thing to post up how proud you are of said ghetto fix.

The kicker to all of this is that everyone thinks it looks good. I bet you all think $60 Kenwood speakers sound great too?

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:38 pm

Haha, Personally I think Kenwood blows. I like my Alpine gear just fine

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:28 pm

I'm rocking whatever speakers are given to me or stock ones, since I don't do audio. Infact, my 98 is rocking blown front door speakers and a set of going out sony xplode rear speakers he had in his van a few years ago.

He did this because he had to, and is basically showing everyone that it is possible to do it youself with a little know-how. These are neons, not a high-end car. So what if it changed the crumple zones, with the car being wrecked, it wouldn't ever be repaired correctly anyway. This would have cost $2k or more in a body/frame shop, he probably did this for a couple hundred bucks, and if it gets wrecked again I'm sure it'll be fine.

And what does you being in Iraq have anything to do with this thread anyway? Congrats, I'm glad you're over there, and I hope you don't get hurt. I'll stay here and make sure when you pick up the STU-III phone or NSTS phone it'll be able to ring over here.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:35 pm

invujerry wrote:
He did this because he had to, and is basically showing everyone that it is possible to do it youself with a little know-how. These are neons, not a high-end car. So what if it changed the crumple zones, with the car being wrecked, it wouldn't ever be repaired correctly anyway. This would have cost $2k or more in a body/frame shop, he probably did this for a couple hundred bucks, and if it gets wrecked again I'm sure it'll be fine.

Thank you! Practice makes perfect right? Anyways if I were to get into an accident were the crumple zones take into effect, the car will be totaled out anyways. And why spend 2k on repairs when the car is only worth 3k?