cyteone

I am looking at getting a 95 trans am convertible. The car was in a front end collision and needs a fender, bumper, hood and headlight brackets.
I figured that wasn't a huge deal so I went to check it out.

I found that the radiator cradle is bent to hell, and it pushed the radiator up a few inches so the hood won't close. It looks like the beam on the driver side is bent a little as well (frame rail?)

So is it a huge deal to repair the damage? Is the cradle welded into place or does it bolt on? Is it possible to get a new cradle?

I swapped the front on my 94 a to LS1 front end, so I'm not to worried about installing the bodywork. I drove the car around the block and it drove nice and smooth , no pulling or shaking...

Here is a crappy pic of the damage:

Procharged94Lt1

IIRC- the only 'frame' piece that bolts in up there is the front bumper core support- everything else is welded in place.

Looks like a fair amount of work, but if you can get it cheap enough, get replacement parts cheap enough and can do the work yourself you might have a decent investment. But you will need to find someone who is willing to cut out the parts you need.

What about the upper radiator support? Frame rails inside by the motor, inner fenders, door clearances etc...all those still look good?

97silverslpss

Replacement parts are going to be expensive. If the inner fender on the driver%u2019s side that the fender bolts to is damaged beyond BFH repair, it%u2019s not very fun to cut out the 100 or so spot welds and weld in a new piece.

The car I purchased had roughly the same damage to it. I found a donor car locally for $500 and cut all of the pieces I needed off of it. The driver%u2019s fender rail on my car had to be removed and the two pieces that make up that support were over $500 from the dealer which is the only place I could find them. You might get lucky and find a salvage yard that would cut off the front clip but none in my area would do it for me.

The radiator support is a PITA. There are spot welds on it that are difficult to get to. I ended up buying a new support and cutting it in half and only replacing the upper portion of mine.

The end of the main frame rail that you have circled in red is pretty mangled. That would probably scare me off. That will require a trip to a body shop and a frame machine. If you plan to take it, as is, to a body shop to be repaired you are probably looking upwards of $4,000.

I had roughly $1,000 in parts in my car and a friend who is an experienced body man helped me with the work.

TD95Z

The core support is a weld-in piece on these cars, so expect to drill out a butt-load of spot welds to replace it. That frame horn is definitely bent, but the question is how far back the damage goes. Anything is fixable, but you have to decide if you're willing to spend the money. It will definitely need to spend some time on a frame rack to straighten out that rail. Unless it has very low mileage and is in perfect shape otherwise, don't pay more than 2k for it, with 1k being preferable. Just my $0.02.

cyteone

I ended up picking up the car for $1100 and with a tow to my house came out to $1250. It is a 95 trans am convertible lt1/4l60e with 86k. The top is in need of replacing and it has a dent on the driver quarter panel but other than that it's nice.

I figure if it costs too much to fix the damage I will just take out the drivetrain and put it in my brother's 91 trans am convertible and then sell the extra parts.

As for the damage the two front rails are definitely bent; the driver side bend goes back about 3-4 inches, passanger side looks a little bit off. The fender mounts are fine, and the upper panel where the headlights and radiator shroud sit does not look bent. The door gaps look fine, as do the frame rails by the motor.

So it looks like I need to fix the rails in the front and then the lower radiator mount because it pushed the radiator up a few inches. I have a buddy who owns a body shop and was gonna try to work something out with him but he is out of town. Could someone give me a ballpark range to fix those two things?

Here are some better pictures:



Damage pics: