ElectricBlake

Hello, I have a 1998 Camaro that was in a side impact, I have discovered that the panhard bar mount is bent to the point of breaking in a place, is there a replacement available so that I may drill the spot welds out and replace it?? It did NOT bend the car, I lucked out, only the mount is ruined.

I would attempt to make it straight again and reinforce it only as a very very last resort, If there is a new mount that can be purchased, for a reasonable price(not high spec racing parts) I would greatly appreciate it, the car has 235k miles on the clock and barely even surface rust present, the engine, 5 speed transmission, suspension and drive line parts were still perfectly functional so I will be doing my best to save this car from going to the grave

Any help finding this elusive part would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone!(pictures to come tomorrow if needed)

FirstYrLS1Z

GM 10019526, google it, images to verify that's what you need.

Then

GM 10019526 Brace, genuine OEM part

OR a junkyard/salvage yard, 1993-2002 are all the same.

Injuneer

I was thinking he means the vertical sheet metal mount that is welded to the passenger side subframe. Both the upper panhard brace and the panhard bar mount (bolt) to it. But if the side hit was hard enough to bend and crack that vertical mount, something had to give in the brace, or the subframe on the driver side that it bolts to.

Or maybe he means the mount the panhard bar attaches to on the driver side of the axle housing.

FirstYrLS1Z

Yes, it's one of a few possibilities. A pic of what he's talking about would sure help.

Injuneer

He never signed back in after his first post.

ElectricBlake

Thanks for your help! I'm attaching pictures of the damage, it is the mount on passenger side subframe, I'm no expert, but it looks close enough to keep in service, I don't see anything that screams you will die if you drive this besides the mount, but I may be a little crazy haha

ElectricBlake

I would have gotten back to you sooner, but I had a case of food poisoning that put me in the ER, hopefully this thing isn't totalted, I might save the engine and transmission for an s-10 always wanted to try a 3.8 in a truck haha, but I'd rather keep this car on the road

Injuneer

Definitely need to have the entire rear of the car checked by a body shop for alignment damage to the unit body. Let them professionally remove the damaged passenger side vertical mount, and install a new one in the correct alignment required to allow the panhard bar to correctly center the chassis side-to-side over the rear axle assembly.

ElectricBlake

Darn, was hoping I could just weld a new one in, whack in an adjustable panhard bar, have it aligned, and drive it till it dies.
I think body shop is out of my budget, I'm going to call and see, but poor car might be done for.(I'm really poor)
Thanks for the information!

Injuneer

Show a body shop the pictures and ask what they think. I'm just basing an opinion on the amount of damage I see in yours vs. others, and knowing how the unit body fits together. Was the chassis mount for the lower control arm damaged? What happened on the driver side where the upper brace bolts to the subframe? Was the torque arm bent?

ElectricBlake

I now have enough information to answer those questions, after working on the car and getting the rearend disconnected from the car, the chassis mount for the lower is just fine, upper brace is straight, torque arm not bent. Driveshaft has the joint in the middle broken in a funny way tho, its like its connected, but it spins freely in the middle like the front half and rear half are "freewheeling" in the center