Anybody ever straighten their frame themselves?
 

I brought some pics of my front end to a local body shop and the guy there said don't waste your money, just do it yourself.
The front frame is skewed about 3 inches toward the passenger side, all in front of the strut towers.
He explained how to chain it to trees so it wouldn't move and use a come along chained to the old bumper support to bring it back inline, measuring across diagonally to know when it's straight.
Other body shop wants $700 plus I'd have to have it flatbedded there and back, $100 each way.
Opinions? Experiences?

I have an 89 supra that was original paint and gorgeous until it met up with a 2002 saab in Jan of 04. After driving my 1st Gen for a few months my heart kept breaking every time I saw the Supra and I finally located Matching Hood, Fender, Bumper. I Did the come along thing and it worked, sort of. The lines Don't line up perfectly but it made me feel better. The damage was also infront of the towers and if I had spent the extra 250 for the frame infront of the towers and then paid a competent body shop between 5-700 to weld, it would have been done right.

The thing is our third Gens are delicate machines built to be light weight. Any tiny bit of damage to the body will misalign more than just the parts you see. If your aim is to make the car look alittle better for cheap then do it, it's your car. Keep in mind when you decide to sell it you won't be able to get book on it. But if you love your car passionately, do not ever take it to that body guy that told you not to waste your money, he obviously would never take the time to do it right.

Go find another FD, nice and straight. You'll be happier, plus you can part out your old one for the rest of us. LOL:bigthumb:

If you want your car to handle the same take it to a shop with a laser alignment rack and frame puller. The tree method is for beaters that you just want to fix and sell for a few bucks.

3 inches is quite a bit..... Personally I'd want it done professionally.

I have heard of that being done a few times, so it is not uncommon. Just make sure to take good measurements and the clamp is TIGHT on a peice that will not bend or break (not the fiberglass bumper support it will break). Give it a shot. It can only save you some money, and you cant damage it any worse than it is now. Trust me bodywork is not a art or rocket sciene. Mike

The insurance company considered it totalled and I bought it back, selling it and buying a different one isn't really an option.
I have already removed the bumper skin, support, headlight cages, fenders, hood, intercooler, and CAI.
The damage is not bad enough that welding a new front on would be a good choice.
I'll measure tonight so I know exactly how far out of whack it is.
-Jedon

gnx7: Why would this have anything to do with handling? The shop that inspected it said it was only tweaked in front of the struts therefore it's purely cosmetic.

Doing it with a tree is such a hack job. The front fit of a FD is EXTREMELY tight. The hood, fenders, headlights and bumper cover all come together in one place. Any misalignment is very noticeable. If it is just 1/4" off it'll be very noticeable.

It needs to be done on a frame rack with laser alignment. Is $700 really that much $$ to you? If so then you might consider selling the car.

the other day I looked at the most perfect Acura NSX but it felt a little funny, set it up on a laser alignment machine, WOW , left front wheel 1" back as well , as 2" to the right, tire rubbed bad on left turns, but the car looked beautifull, and its all aluminum . RON

I took some measurements.

http://nopro.com/~jedon/fd3s_frame_measure.jpg