so i was getting off the highway and the cops blocked off my exit for some reason. so i go to the next one....everyone else had the same idea so after about 20 minutes of stop and go i gte up to the main road on the off ramp and the suv in front of me stops short and i go under...

the hood folded upward about a foot or 2. the grill was destroyed, the headlights were destroyed (HIDs survived lol), and the radiator support bent up pretty bad. the radiator and evaporator were punctured as well.

.....and her truck was not even scratched.

drove it home 15 miles tho.

so after a day of the junkyard (where mudflaps were a consellation prize) and another day of replacing parts and LOTS of bending, its getting better. radiator replaced and now im waiting for a new evaporator and of course the summer florida heat is coming.

Now I need a new hood and new radiator support frame.

how hard is it to replace this frame? id imagine just take off the bumper and the rest of the holding bolts are underneath. at first glance i thought it was welded on but i found the part online with some research so id imagine i missed some bolts.

anything else i should check for?


no pics of the car because i decided i never want to see it like that again but i will post pics of my progress so far.

 

total wrecked oohhh!big mess big problem.need big money for the new look of ur maxima.join the maxima.org.maybe they can help u and can give u big discounts

 

wth are you talking about??

Both the radiator support and the Upper radiator support have welds and are not put together by just bolts.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...port-weld.html

pics have been removed. Might be able to contact the op for some. But they are welded on.

 

I was in a wreck and did this exact restore to my car.
You have two 17mm-ish bolts that connect the frame to the support under the car.
you also have 3 anchor bolts at the bottom of each side of the support.
and a lot of stamp welding on the sides.

I used a power chisel and it did most of the work..But it is quite a bit of work to do.
It took a lot of test and tune to get it right as well.

Good luck.

 

Heres what you need.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-R...3A1|240%3A1318

This is the same guy i bought my stuff from.
I Live in Indiana so i drove to him to save on shipping.
But still a decent price, Excellent quality as well.

Heres a pic of mine, just to give you an idea of how bad mine was.

 

also, if your lower radiator support is rusting badly, you might want to consider replacing that as well

 

I rear-ended somebody just like you...I just beat mine back into shape until everything lined back up, it wasnt too bad of a job.


I used tow chains and a tree to pull out the sides since they kind of buckled...then beat it with a hammer, but then again I'm broke.

Its looks all good now though...

 

upper radiator support***

 

Ghetto Rig FTW !..

Its all good man, Long as it came out alright.

 

i love it. prolly exactly what i'd do too. hopefully i never have to though.

 

that's pretty bad man.....

 

ok so i took blackmax's statement and just started going at it with a dent puller today at school. after about an hour or two of pulling i lined up the headlights and grill perfect!!


now i just need a new hood and an evaporator.... no a/c in florida sucks!

and the mudflaps look really good too lol

 

in the slow_yota's picture he definitely needed a new radiator support. i decided it would be too much time and money if i got a new one so i just started bending. thanks to the advice from everyone i realized that it is welded on

 

get a cf hood while your at it

 

Well thats cool, I tried that too actually.
But my car was pretty bad .
You cant tell it in the pic that much,
but my rad support was about 2 inches from the
head..Once im out of this "post thread limt" deal.
I'll start up my own thread and show off how she looks with
the new paint and rims. =]

Side question for me.

I ditched my a/c, the evaporator
[the lil guy in front of the radiator]
is used for the a/c alone..Correct ?

 

That's awesome. I used a similar method when my Hardbody ran into the back of a trailblazer. Only instead of a tree, I had my buddy come over with his full size blazer. I was also broke at the time.

Good luck to the OP at getting his car back together. I believe the first "radiator" (the one closest to the front of the vehicle) is the condenser coil for the A/C, as you stated. Should be able to remove it no problem if you are going to delete the A/C. Just don't remove the power steering cooling loop.

 

power steering loop ?...Pic ?

 

power steering cooling loop is the piping that comes from the passenger side and loops in front of the radiator and evaporator and then back. it is directly in front of the hood latch

and yes the evaporator is used for the ac. it is what holds most of the freeon

 

i was actually thinking of getting one. if i can find one for a decent price that is
we'll see

 

sorry i keep callling it the evaporator. my dad told me that was the name and it kind of stuck in my head lol.

it is called a condenser

 

me and my brother did a rad support swap...not fun at all! though mine was rusty as hell. If you want some pics I can post em or send them to you for a general idea of how much of a pita it was lol.

 

damnnit...wrecked again bro!!!.....i hope all comes thru for you.How much did those mudflaps run you.? See if you could get me some.

 

haha, I know.
I didnt want to correct you and look
like an ***.But its all good =]

 

ifound them on a 97 i got them for $12 lol