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Hey Guys,


So my pathy has been through two accidents. I am trying to repair her right and get her rolling good, I got two fenders, bumper, grill etc, but they don't connect easily to the radiator supporter (i think that is what it is) is it easily replaceable with a new one,since my driver side one is crushed?

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It is tack welded on so you would need to cut it off and weld a new one on. Not hard per se, but you need the welding knowhow and have to line it up straight...

 

B

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You should be able to find a radiator support on eBay for cheap. If not, I'm pretty sure I saw one on RockAuto the other day.

Now, that's just the front part (whats showing in B's sig photo there). If you're talking about what the fenders mount to, thats something else entirely (nissan calls it the Hood Ledge?).
Nissan might sell those parts to you, but it'd be expensive and difficult to rebuild piece-by-piece. From what I've read, most major rebuilds involve cutting the trashy fender supports off and welding in the whole dog-house from a donor vehicle.

Another option is to hook you truck to a tree and pull the squished parts out yourself. Just don't rip your front-end off on my account... :P

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Bummer. Mine is pretty rough on the driver-side too. It took a lot of beating and banging to get the HB headlight bucket to go in.

I'd say your best bet is going to be to find a good donor. I've seen a few good write-ups by 240SX owners who were forced to go this route. Check Google.

Be sure to check your frame too. If it's hounded, you might be better off finding another truck to swap your old parts onto.
After years of wondering about it, I recently confirmed that my chassis was bent when the previous owner wrecked it. Now all I can do is thrash on what I've got until I find a deal on another in better shape.

The give-away on mine is the space (or lack thereof) between the chassis and the torsion rods. I have a good 2" clearance on the p-side and it rubs on the driver.

Edited by crazyhayseed
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If its just the core support, drill out spot welds (there's a bunch!) and line up the new one. You can drill holes in the new support to match up with where you drilled out the spot welds and rivet it, but it'd be much better to just zap a bunch of little welds to hold it again.

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IMG_20130426_183241_zps408e7bfd.jpg

IMG_20130426_183234_zps5f9f9ed0.jpg

IMG_20130426_183259_zps0ec93180.jpg

Honestly, it doesn't look that bad. Be creative and patient to get things to line up/level out, that would improve things 80%. Hell, I drove the one in my signature for years without a grill and a few bent items.

One trick that can help is to force something into alignment, drill an appropriate sized hole and secure it in place with a heavy machine screw. It'll take up any slack and hold things in place well. You may need more than 1 screw though... ;)

 

B

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I did the rad support on my 300zx (z32) which is way harder to do. I had about 80 spot wells to drill and re-weld back together. The pathfinder is a LOT easier. It's not a unibody so its not an integral part of the frame/suspension and there's only around 20-25 spot wells holding the pathfinder rad support on. It's also square so its very easy to line everything up again after.

 

Just go to the junkyard, spend a few hours pulling one from a donor truck. Bring your drill and some good metal drill bits. There is a proper sheet metal spot weld drill bit u can use to only drill half way through the spot weld which makes welding the new one on a breeze but i just drilled them out and fill-welded the holes shut and ground them smooth again.

 

I'll try and find the thread I made for my z32 it should at least give u an idea.

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Looks like a bumper tweak, a lenses or 2, and a bug shield would end enough of the imperfections for anyone to notice without staring for a while or pointing it out to them :shrug:

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Ya partsgeek has it for cheap too... I might just replace the rad support.... Not easy but will be good. I am about to take her to get some paint tomorrow so I want to see how she looks after that. I am gonna black her out i think............

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Honestly, it doesn't look that bad.

 

Look closer...

 

IMG_20130426_183259_zps62c564f8.jpg

 

I've got to complement you on getting it as far as you have. I'll try to remember where I found those 240sx articles.

 

I'm digging the smoked tails too.

Edited by crazyhayseed
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