Honda civic front end damage

[Jimmy]

My son used the civic for sign removal. From the photo, my main concern is the bent cross member. Is this major? I know the part has to be cut out and a replacement welded in. I know that the frame would also need to be checked. Is it worth the hassle or should I just start parting out the car?

The vehicle is a 1997 honda civic MT with 186k miles. It runs great and I just replaced the clutch in January, argh!

Attachments:

• image.jpg

Topic

[college man]

Its hard without seeing the car in person. From what I can see
its not bad. you may be ale to pull the front piece back out.

[Jimmy]

Thanks for the response. I’m pretty confident I could pull it out but isn’t it a primary structural part? It would very very much weakened.

[college man]

[quote=”jteal” post=103370]Thanks for the response. I’m pretty confident I could pull it out but isn’t it a primary structural part? It would very very much weakened.[/quote]

If nothing cracked and you do pull it back out to its shape. The integrity
should be there. A body shop pull panels all the time. Here is what I suggest.
Pull the support back out. see what it looks and feels like. If you don’t feel
confident about the repair. Cut one out of a salvage yard and have it welded in.
If the car drives take it to a local body shop for a free estimate. see what they
would recommend for the repair. 🙂

[Ingvar]

For starters, that’s not a crossmember, that one is hidden deep under the engine and is major suspension piece.
Drive somewhere secluded, or maybe you can do it at your property. Find a solid tree. Park few feet in front of it. Lock parking brake as much as you can, have someone sit inside and press on brake pedal. Wrap winch cable around the tree and the other end around the damaged panel. Definitely place a 2×2 between cable and metal. And winch it into shape. We used to pull minor bends like this even by tying cable to the tree and pulling back away from it in reverse. The rest can be hammered. No one is going to see it.
Another approach is to place a solid board behind and in front of the panel, creating a “brace”, then getting 3-4 large C-clamps on and clamping boards together.

[Author]

Replies