Got a 1995 mercury tracer
1.9 liter sefi engine.
rear ended a truck last week and the hood buckled up, crunched up the front part of the fenders, busted out all the lights, grille and mangeled the radiator core support.
how hard will it be to fix?
i am on limited funds and only
have liability insurance so i am trying
to keep the cost down as much as possible.
one more question,
how good is pull-a-part to get parts?
Thanks
That damage does not sound too severe or too difficult to do. It sounds like a “bolt on” repair other than the radiator support. That support can often be partially cut out and spliced with no problem.
I can’t speak for the pull-a-part in your area but I’ve frequented the one near me quite a few times. They’re generally very reasonable on their prices but this one is creeping up a bit sometimes to the point of asking yourself if pulling the parts yourself is really worth it.
Buy a cylinder head (350 Chevy for instance) and they charge 1 dollar EXTRA for each rocker arm? Please.
DIY is a very good option on this repair, especially if can find a parts donor vehicle in the same color.
You might also check eBay in the “Parts and Salvage Car” category for something in your area.
The damage is not too bad.
Me and my dad have already taken out all the lights and grille
and today we took the radiator out of it.
Is the condensor just used for the A/C?
The pull-a-part in my area has a front end assembly for $154.53. Would that be the best option?
And yes the core support is held on with 2 bolts on top and from what i can see it has 2 pinch welds in it.
Would parts off of a 95 Ford Escort work? Because they are virtually the same car.
The condensor is for the A/C only.
If you can get the complete front end for 155 bucks that sounds like a pretty decent deal to me. The last front clip I bought from a salvage yard (not a pull-a-part) set me back about 450 dollars.
Escort parts should interchange but I won’t stake my life on it. If you live near a large metro area you might check the reference section of the local library for a Hollander Interchange Manual. This is what the salvage yards use as a reference.
Sometimes they’ve been known to make a few tweaks here and there where a part, especially an external one, is slightly diffferent. While it may actually fit the appearance could vary a bit. A good example is early Taurus and Sable front fenders. The Sable was smooth whereas the Taurus had a very slight rib running the length of the fender.
The core support is not that critical so any spot welds can be simply drilled out and reinstalled with nuts and bolts if necessary.
Yes the grille and front bumper on a 95 escort are a little different than my tracer. But whatever i can get to work i will take. I’m having my cousin help me on this, he went to WyoTech for auto body.
So far the plan looks like to try and find a decent front end from pull-a-part.
I’ll be back if i have any more questions.
Thanks for your help, it’s greatly appreciated. I love that little car, haha.
Yes, there are sometimes very subtle differences in the sheet metal on these sister vehicles. They might look the same on the respective two vehicles, but they might not fit together or leave gaps when you try to make a frankenvehicle. You might want to try an Escort/Tracer board for more info.
Sounds like you’ve got a good plan. No problem with the U Pull types except its more work. Most of this stuff is just bolt on and aligning the parts. The biggest thing will be the radiator support. If you replace it, you’ll have to weld it and if you straighten it, you have to get it just right so that the hood latches properly.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_7288_7288
I’ve done this. And I know you’ll need to at least rent something like this.
When the radiator core support was bent, it pulled the bulkheads on each side of the core support inwards. So now, they have to be spread apart to allow the new core support to be installed.
Once you get past that part of it, the rest is a breeze. Especially when the replacement parts are the same paint color.
Tester