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Strut tower pushed in what’s the best way to do this?

Kaleo Ake

Kaleo Ake

New member
Joined
Dec 2, 2024
Project toasty 240. My strut tower is pushed in a good 1/2 in or more, touching the master cylinder on the drivers side. What’s the best way to pull it back to spec the do it yourself way. Never done body work like this before. What tools might I need? My new fender isn’t lining up well because of this I’m pretty sure. Was hoping to get away with it pushed in because the alignments fine for some reason. I did my best to straighten some of the inner fender, but that strut tower needs to be pulled back to get it to fit right. Even then a lot got shifted and I’m gonna have to accept that it won’t be perfect. Thanks! Hood overlap is disgustingIMG_5955.jpegIMG_5954.jpeg
 
DET17 said:
And I'm sure rack time is at least $150 and hour, probably much more. I'd say that wagon is $$ underwater and ready to be parted......
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threewagons said:
I'm an auto body tech, this needs to be set up and measured on a frame rack and pulled to correct dimensions.
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I’m guessing if I bring it to a frame rack for someone to do they’ll probably have to total the car out right?
 
The strut tower comes and almost touches some of my mid model 240 masters..
I think some of the larger boosters push out the master

I once panicked after seeing the same on my 85 but then checked my 81 83 and 84 models… exact same thing
 
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Jack said:
The strut tower comes and almost touches some of my mid model 240 masters..
I think some of the larger boosters push out the master out

I once panicked after seeing the same on my 85 but then checked my 81 83 and 84 models… exact same thing
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Although if I recall correctly OP's car took a hit. If that is the case getting it checked out is probably a good idea.
 
Kaleo Ake said:
I’m guessing if I bring it to a frame rack for someone to do they’ll probably have to total the car out right?
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They'll do what you pay them to do.

At the very least you're looking at 1.5 hours to setup and measure, maybe 3-4 hours of pull time if it's only the strut tower that's moved, and the necessary R&I labor (they'll have to take the LF suspension out to pull and measure it, and r&I the fender too). Our frame rate is over $100/hour, you'd be lucky to get it done under $1000
 
Measure both sides to see if it's straight. Measure from that bump between the two slots, or maybe the back bolt hole, to where the firewall mounted strut braces would bolt on the firewall. Do it carefully and precisely, and see how far it's actually bent.

If it's not bent much, and it aligns (camber reading is the pertinent one hear) then stop worrying about it. Maybe take the fender off and massage that inner fender mounting surface out a little to get the fender/hood gap looking a little better.
 
threewagons said:
They'll do what you pay them to do.

At the very least you're looking at 1.5 hours to setup and measure, maybe 3-4 hours of pull time if it's only the strut tower that's moved, and the necessary R&I labor (they'll have to take the LF suspension out to pull and measure it, and r&I the fender too). Our frame rate is over $100/hour, you'd be lucky to get it done under $1000
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Jeeze yeah definitely going to be more than 1k because more than just the strut tower got moved. Strut tower was the main thing, but I can see where paint is cracking towards the front of the car from the force of the crash. Almost the whole front end on that drivers side got touched. Probably from the strut tower to the front.
 
Kaleo Ake said:
Jeeze yeah definitely going to be more than 1k because more than just the strut tower got moved. Strut tower was the main thing, but I can see where paint is cracking towards the front of the car from the force of the crash. Almost the whole front end on that drivers side got touched. Probably from the strut tower to the front.
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Exactly where is the paint cracking?
 
That is a simple fix for a competent frame shop. You are looking at ~ 2 hours of set up and measure time and and 1-2 hours of pull time. I've had damage much worse than that repaired by old time frame masters in less than 4 hours. The problem these days is finding someone that actually knows what they are doing. A fellow Autocrosser ran off course 2 years ago and hit a boulder with their LS1 powered 240SX and has been trying to get it fixed for over a year. It has been to 3 shops already. The first shop was run by some young dumbasses that didn't even know what a datum sheet was, yet, they claimed they were a frame shop. The car has been at a different shop for at least 6 months with zero progress. I saw a Facebook post from the owner saying they were yet again picking the car up because nothing was happening with it. If I still had access to the frame rack I used to have the car would have been done in a long day of set up, making several pulls in different directions while measuring constantly to keep from going to far. Other than the way the car sits, it is hard to tell it is even damaged.

As far as the tower on your 240 is concerned: I pulled one worse than that using a black walnut tree to lock the car down and my 23 hp diesel tractor as the other anchor point since I don't have two trees close enough together. I'm not going to tell you how to do this because without previous experience you will either seriously hurt yourself or mess the car up worse than it is.
 
2manyturbos said:
That is a simple fix for a competent frame shop. You are looking at ~ 2 hours of set up and measure time and and 1-2 hours of pull time. I've had damage much worse than that repaired by old time frame masters in less than 4 hours. The problem these days is finding someone that actually knows what they are doing. A fellow Autocrosser ran off course 2 years ago and hit a boulder with their LS1 powered 240SX and has been trying to get it fixed for over a year. It has been to 3 shops already. The first shop was run by some young dumbasses that didn't even know what a datum sheet was, yet, they claimed they were a frame shop. The car has been at a different shop for at least 6 months with zero progress. I saw a Facebook post from the owner saying they were yet again picking the car up because nothing was happening with it. If I still had access to the frame rack I used to have the car would have been done in a long day of set up, making several pulls in different directions while measuring constantly to keep from going to far. Other than the way the car sits, it is hard to tell it is even damaged.

As far as the tower on your 240 is concerned: I pulled one worse than that using a black walnut tree to lock the car down and my 23 hp diesel tractor as the other anchor point since I don't have two trees close enough together. I'm not going to tell you how to do this because without previous experience you will either seriously hurt yourself or mess the car up worse than it is.
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Ah can’t be that bad what did you pull the tower with and where?
 
Kaleo Ake said:
Ah can’t be that bad what did you pull the tower with and where?
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I already said, I'm not going to help you mess your car up. You have zero experience in the field. Locking the chassis down without damaging it is the key to doing frame or unibody repairs. A little physics, equal reaction. You're pulling on the tower and what you have the car hooked to isn't adequate, the end result is you just did damage to another area on the chassis. You don't have the tools or the skills to do this job. Take it to a frame shop and get a quote.
 
2manyturbos said:
I already said, I'm not going to help you mess your car up. You have zero experience in the field. Locking the chassis down without damaging it is the key to doing frame or unibody repairs. A little physics, equal reaction. You're pulling on the tower and what you have the car hooked to isn't adequate, the end result is you just did damage to another area on the chassis. You don't have the tools or the skills to do this job. Take it to a frame shop and get a quote.
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Booo
 
Kaleo Ake said:
Booo
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If it was something like a quarter panel or apron that needed to be pulled back in shape I would help you. You could drag your 240 sideways using the top of the strut tower and it won't return to where it needs to be. So, what are you going to use to lock the car in place, the antenna? ;)
 
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