i want to get an jdm front clip but i don't wanna cut my car in half can i swap the parts from the front clip to my car

 

some, but not all.

Anything that is RHD specific like brake master/ clutch master, wiper motor etc. will not fit your ar because they are designed to fit opposite sides.

But I wonder what the point of getting a RHD clip and then only using the LHD compatible parts would be? You didn't just get back from watching "Toyko Drift" did you?

 

i dont think anyone in history has taken a front clip, chopped their car, and welded it on. the point of a front clip is to swap all of the parts.

 

lol nope i havent wacht the movie. ok thank i guess ill liveit like it is

 

down here people cut their cars in half and weld them together

 

That sounds like something that'd get you killed. Maybe for a lowrider, if you're going to be cruising at about 20 mph and stopping for corners.

 

like swapping a japaneese motor & driveline into an old 60's mustang... oh yeah and a hand e-brake

 

yeah..........

WTF do you think they do at the factory?

Being a collision damage repairer I can safely say that when done properly , also meaning professionally, it can be made as strong or stronger than the car was originally. Bar none. I also don't want to hear "you change the molecular compostion of the metal with the heat from the weld blah, blah, blah" because when joined at factory weld positions the car is for all intents and purposes the same.

 

Weld...front clips DO come with trannies...

 

welding cars back together is possible (though I imagine it's rarely plausible) but when it comes to a front clip, welding it would be hardest, most expensive route possible, not to mention totally pointless. plus, welding chassis's's's together isnt something you do in a garage at home.

 

Listen, I'm all in favor of welding a good piece of frame in place of one that got punched in an accident, and I'm with you one hundred percent. Welds are stronger than the metal that was there, when done by a professional. However, if a car was torn in half, I don't think it should be welded back together and sold to some poor kid who thinks he's getting a good deal. You know what factories use to weld cars together? Robots, not bubba with an oxy-acetylene torch in the back of his dooley. And I own 5 cars currently, have owned 6 more in my young life, been under every one of them and I've never seen a factory weld that runs across the whole width of the car.

You may be in collision repair, but if you're seriously advocating that someone just cut the front off one car and weld it on the front of another car, when it's not that hard to unbolt and install the front clip the way the manufacturer intended, then I'm glad I'm several hundred miles from Ontario. Hell, why unbolt the fenders? Next time I upgrade my suspension I'm just gonna cut the strut towers out of an FD and weld them into my FC!

 

You don't seem to quite understand what Im saying and are in fact taking it much too far.

Am I advocating that "bubba with an oxy-accetelyene torch" hack two cars together? No. Hence the when done properly discalimer.

Am I saying that if you brought a RHD clip dash cut clip and a LHD FC to my shop I would simply cut the FC in half and weld on the RHD clip? No. Can it be done and made as strong or stronger than factory? Yes. Is it easier than swapping the panels (and sections of firewall) that are necessary? No.



You need to relax buddy, I only made this comment because someone remarked that joining a car in such a manor would be "something that wold get you killed" when that is a large and entirely incorrect mis-conception.



And lastly, the comment "I've never seen a weld that runs across width of the entire car" kinda makes me chuckle...Yeah, you haven't seen one in the middle of the floor, but there are spot welds that make join the floor pans to the braces...they run the entire length of the braces.....there are welds inside the "frame rails" under the hood for their entire length......the list goes on and on.

My only point is that cars are manufactured with many many seperate pieces that are joined together with *gasp* welds......many many welds. And sure, robots do the spot welding - but do you think my spot welder can do the same? Yes it can. And therefore the ultimate conclusion is the same = the car can be cut down to that extreme of a level and be re-assembled to the same strength or stronger than it was originally......just be sure to re-read my disclaimer.

 

Yes, the floor pans are welded to the braces, but the braces run lengthwise, and are intact the whole length of the passenger cabin, are they not? Those braces are load bearing, and the floor pans are welded to those in shear, not a butt weld, right?

I'm perfectly relaxed, you're the one that's blown this out of proportion by getting offended and making this about how no weld is ever strong and blah-blah-blah. I know that welds are stronger than the metal that they're welding. But I've also seen things welded by several different people. And in every case, it didn't last as long after it was welded as it did before it broke and needed to be welded. Is it the weld's fault? Nope. Did it still break? Yup.

My comment is based off some kid in the ATL who just figures he'll cut the car in two and weld it back together because he's not sure he can take the engine and components out correctly. Does this sound like a guy that's going to go spend a couple of grand to hire a professional to weld it for him? Because to me, this sounds more like the episode of pimp my ride where Xzibit picked up a car that was the front half of a black escort and the back half of a white escort and it was cut in half and welded behind the driver's seat, and the professional auto shop decided it was so screwed up they'd buy him a Scion rather than try to fix it.

So go ahead and weld in a new framerail if the car needs it, but I'm not going to ride in any car where the load bearing frame rails that run from the front of the car to the back of the car has been cut and put back together. Are welds stronger than the original metal when done properly? Yes. But I've seen a whole lot more bad welds than good, so unless you've got a computer doing it and a manufacturer backing it with a several million dollar liability bond, don't cut my car in half, put it back together and tell me it's just as strong as it used to be.

 

Or let me put it to you this way. When you weld something, don't you hit it with a pick to make sure the weld took? That's a level of uncertainty I'm not comfortable with. But then, I check my oil drain plug and retorque all my lugnuts after the professionals at National Tire and Battery change the oil and balance the tires, too.

 

oh god, its like im back in honda-tech.com all over again

 

If this is an 'entirely incorrect mis-conception' then let me ask you this. Granted, a professional can make the welds and the car will be fine. Is everyone who has a MIG, TIG, Arc, or Oxy-Acetylene rig a professional? How about half of the people with a welder, are 50% of welder owners professional welders? What about 25%? What you're telling me, if this is an entirely incorrect misconception, that anyone with a welder will be capable of doing this. Otherwise, if less than 50% of the people with a welder are professionals, then I'm going to say then that's at least a 50/50 chance that you're going to get killed riding in a car that's been welded by a random person. If 25% of people with welders are professionals, then, everything else aside, that's a 3 out of 4 chance that the welds are going to fail. Get me? I'm not saying all welders are bad, but you're saying that they're all good.

One of my cars is a '92 Mercury Capri convertible - and yeah, I've seen those spot welds on the frame rails under the hood - almost every one of them has broken, too, probably from the vibration because the car was never hit, but the frame under the hood is almost entirely a seperate piece from the hood skin. And Ford did that one themselves. . . with robots.

This is no hard feelings, I'm not out to smack you down or anything. I still think getting your car intentionally cut in half to move your steering rack around sounds like a good way to get yourself killed. I think the odds of getting a welder good enough to do that kind of work for any kind of price to make it feasible are very slim. That's not a slam against welders, and you're entitled to your opinion. But when I'm in a 90 degree left at 50+ mph, I want to know I'm driving a car that was designed and put together by Mazda to make a 90 degree left at 50+ mph, not a car designed and put together by Cletus Wannamaker who says it "oughta be fine". If that makes me crazy, then check me into the happy hospital, because I'm nuts.

 

No, I said this - Now, I don't see where the confusion starts - but how do you extract "anyone with a welder will be capable of doing this" from "when done properly, also meaning professionally,"

Next...

Is a factory weld position a seam across the floor? No, we both know this. Did I ever say "you can make a seam on the floor as strong as a solid floor" No. I didn't ever say nor imply this because its, as you say, wrong.

I did however say "when joined at factory welds positions" meaning just that. If I buy a cowl or dash cut front end to repair a heavily damaged brand new car, do you think thats what goes on? Just cutting one in half and welding the other on? No, its not. You disassemble both the donor and recipient so that they can be joined at the factory weld positions. That is the process taken by a professional, which I again refer you to my original disclaimer of "when done properly, meaning professionally."


Sure, some kid in ATL can fubar his honda - Im not advocating that at all, Im simply saying that its entirely feasible (not to mention certifiable by way of a licsence) to do this to a car. "This" being the correct nd professional method of repair, not bubba with a torch.

Sorry for the confusion - I guess I need to make it that clear every time.

 

Cool, underneath all that rhetoric, there was agreement. Yeah, if you disassemble a car, break apart the factory welds and use proper panels at factory welds, in shear and are careful and conscientious, there's no reason that wouldn't be fine. Like you said, that's just what they did.

I just don't equate that with "cutting a car in half and welding it back together" like the guy first said. That was the only point I was trying to make. I'm in 100% agreement with you now, if I see someone buy a cowl or front end, disassemble the car at the factory welds, clean it all up and weld it back the same way, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But if you did all that I wouldn't say you just "Cut the front end off that car and welded it on this one"

Cool, I'm with you now.