New car time!!!

[Varn]

Reading this makes me glad that I own a 30 year old car. Get it welded and reinforced. Go from there. A welding shop can mig your frame solid for a 100 bux or less.

Originally Posted by YolandaTheHonda

Hello, just yesterday I took Yolanda the Honda ('02 accord coupe) to a local shop to take care of a hub bearing that had gone bad in the front right wheel. Once they got it on the lift, the reason the bearing was going so quickly became apparent. The sub frame in the front right corner was cracked in at least 2 places and broken clean through in at least one. The cost to repair everything (right hub bearing, right ball joint, evap issue, and cracked frame) is going to run nearly $3,000 essentially what we paid for the car. I'm only 18 and don't have that kind of money to put into the car if I could spend that or a bit more to get something with a smaller engine and a blessed manual transmission. Right now I have my eye on an 1997 Honda civic dx hatchback that I believe would be a very good starting point for an cost effective ecomodded car. In roughly 2 months I am leaving home for a cross country backpacking/survival camping trip that will last at least a year. I will be using the car to drive from wilderness area to wilderness area/trails that I would like to go to. my needs from the car are getting from point a to point b in geographic conditions ranging from Alaska to the high desert. tentatively I have my eyes on a 1997 Honda Civic dx hatchback. I am all ears, any input you can give would be much appreciated.

[Varn]

So what did you with Yolanda? Trade it in? What about the cracked frame and such?

Originally Posted by YolandaTheHonda

Well, I am now the proud owner of a new (to me) 1998 Honda civic dx hatchback 5 speed manual car Driving stick will take a little getting used to, I've now driven stick for 7 hours, 5 hours of which was on the way home today, so I'm certain it will become natural soon enough. On the listing on craigslist the color was listed as dark amethyst, and honestly I think that Amethyst is a good name for her I'll post pictures when I get home from work

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Varn

Get it welded and reinforced. Go from there. A welding shop can mig your frame solid for a 100 bux or less.

Gotta have to agree with that. Not sure how much would the frame damage decrease in the car's residual value, but sure it would be more than the cost of a redneck-engineered repair...

[YolandaTheHonda]

BaltoTheWolf, I'll most likely wait for a while to swap out the transmission as I am a (mostly) broke 18 year old looking for the most cost effective solutions that will give the best return on investments.

Varn, I would love to have used a more simple solution like that, but the sub frame of the car was far too rusted, it was just rotting away from the wet, very salty winters of upstate NY. Elapsed time this whole situation from finding out the sub frame is rusted through to getting the new car has taken less than a week. So Yolanda is currently sitting in my driveway as I still need to pull out my aftermarket speakers and head unit.

Cripple Rooster, if I could do a redneck engineered repair that I had confidence in to take the car across the country to the middle of nowhere where I know no one and would have very little extra funds to accommodate fixing the car should something go badly again, I would. But the new car is already more fuel efficient, is a more solid car that I have confidence in, and will be a better base for cost effective ecomodds

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

So I guess you may consider some underbody coating for your new ride to improve its protection against rust. And that would be a good excuse to get an underbody pan to improve its aerodynamics

[backpacker3]

I definitely recommend an underbody coating. My car has one from the factory or one of the previous owners, you can see it when you look underneath it's like a thick paint, and I'm certain that's why it has so little rust underneath. I'm considering redoing it ideally before this winter but more likely this upcoming spring just to fix a few spots that have chipped off over the years.

[YolandaTheHonda]

I was happy to find when buying it that the previous owner had undercoated the vehicle. And he sprayed motor oil under the body of the car before winter, I guess it was an old practice that was used to prevent rust. Accept for two small spots on the rear quarter panels above the wheels theres no rust on it, which is astounding for a 98 that wintered in upstate ny. The previous owner also replaced virtually all of the hardware in the engine bay with stainless steel nuts and bolts. He put a new suspension in it about 3 years ago, you can still see some of the barcodes on the lower control arms.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by YolandaTheHonda

Accept for two small spots on the rear quarter panels above the wheels theres no rust on it, which is astounding for a 98 that wintered in upstate ny.

If you'd fix it by yourself, I'd gonna suggest you to patch it with fiberglass instead of messing with sheetmetal that would still be prone to rust again...