Frame damage?

[Spectre420]

So I bought this 240sx with no wheels for 700$.
I put my spare wheels on it and drove her home.
It needed another 150$ of love but so far for 850$ I am very happy with the car.
Problem is the dude I think ditched it.
Like literally ran into a ditch.
I have replaced the crossmember as the front right control arm mount was bent. (18$), the brakes on the front and rear with 5lug 300zx brakes because the stock ones are shot and i planned to do it anyway(100$) and a few other little things.
It needs new radius rod brackets as they are bent and i plan on getting the nismo power brace and upgrading the whole suspension system anyway.
The front core support is slightly bent but nothing heating and tapping couldn't resolve and needs a small 3.5 inch crack welded up.
If you dont include the stuff I had planned on doing to the car anyway, I got this car for 750$ with an automatic trans and a running 192k engine and would be a steal if this car is okay to use.


The car drives fine now but it has this small ding in the frame rail on one side underneath.

Thats why I am here.
It looks minor to me but I know nothing about frame damage.
I am not sure if they are from bottoming out on something real hard or that running into the ditch. Also I am not sure if they are bad enough to worry about or will impact the performance of the car. If so are they fixable?
PLZ HALP!!!
I WANT TO FIX IT!


I have huge plans (and money ) for this car. I want to upgrade every single part of the suspension and driveline, put it on coils, drop knuckles and ball joints, slam it, 5 speed swap it, fully brace it and put a cage in it, put nice 17's and sticky tires, a helical diff, and re-build it for 225hp (crank) 11.1:1 N/A on 93 octane fully gutted weighing in at 2248lbs-ish.

I really hope this isn't a deal breaker and I gotta go find a shell because this 91 s13 is beautiful and black with one small dent and working flip ups on both sides and would be an amazing street/once or twice a month track car.

Thanks in advance for checking this thread out and any info provided.
The community here is pretty awesome.

[yzrider450f]

That section of the "frame" is not reinforced and is pretty weak.

It will taco like that just from jacking it up there. Other than possible raising the floor in the back seats there is no real issue that I see.

In fact, good luck finding an s13 with perfect ones.

[XMcEvilson]

you aren't going to make 225hp with the n/a KA idea

[dbeiler]

My track s14 has frame rails that look all bent and smashed like pieces of licorice. It has absolutely no effect on the rest of the chassis. The doors open and close just fine; the floorboards are perfectly straight. Apparently, the sole purpose of the frame rails is to protect the under-body brake lines and provide a marsh-mellow like jacking point.

[delado]

Lol at marshmallow like jacking points. Op, you're fine. That's nothing to worry about. Go on with your plans. Good luck with your build too.

[TheRealSy90]

240's don't have frame rails, they are a Unibody chassis. They are simply to protect the brake and gas lines and they are always messed up from people jacking the car with them. Japanese chassis don't even have them beyond the front-most portion.

[Spectre420]

You guys are great. This makes me feel alot better about my plans.
As far as the 225hp crank. I know its a bit much to expect but I have the plans that I believe will get me 205-230chp.

[KAT-PWR]

Originally Posted by Spectre420

You guys are great. This makes me feel alot better about my plans.
As far as the 225hp crank. I know its a bit much to expect but I have the plans that I believe will get me 205-230chp.

Why are you spending 5k?

[Primo's Silvia]

The only problem i see here is a rusty exhuast lol , the only 240's i have seen with out those problem's are vert's due to thier slight reinforcment
And quick note KA POWER!! lol

[JBB]

Where the hell did you get front AND rear z32 calipers for only $100

on topic: what everyone else said -- previous owner probably jacked the car up on the rail.

...Im guilty of it

[Scope240sx]

Just get a roll cage. My car has identical frame damage, but thats cause I landed on a guardrail on a mountain... lol i wasnt drunk. maybe.

[Dragula]

Looks like an attempt at using jackstands, since they are at 2 small points at each side of the frame rail.

[JSimpson]

Originally Posted by XMcEvilson

you aren't going to make 225hp with the n/a KA idea

Haha yeah exactly, no way in hell will a KA ever make 225 at the crank NA. For any amount of money. $40,000 full race Atlantic engines make 230-240hp and rev 10,200rpm.

[ixfxi]

that exhaust piping looks rad...

like something from the stone age.

[onehundredoctane]

240sx are unibody cars, NOT "body on frame"

So "frame damage". . . not possible.

[Spectre420]

K sorry unibody damage, unibody frame damage, frame damage. You know what I meant!
As far as 205-230hp, I honestly don't think it takes 5k of spending. Well, considering half my upgrades are also repairs that may make a diffrence. Either way, I think these upgrades should at least put me over 200chp:
Cold air intake routed to bumper air inlet
larger TB
New intake manifold (matched to exhaust manifold powerband)
11.1 : 1 compression
20 to 40 overbore
248/248 cams
port and polish of heads for N/A POWAH!!!!
lightweight flywheel
clutch fan->electric fan w/ quest alternator
PS/AC/Emissions delete
lightweight pulleys
crank scraper/windage tray
4-2-1 header
3 inch test pipe with electric cutout
Proper tune/timing

Would that not be good for about 225hp?

All in all, the completed car, assuming I dont include non-mechanical stuff like audio and comfort, and assuming I dont run into "oh shit i forgot this/need this" spending, should cost just about 5.5k if my math is right. 6k if I forgot something.
That is suspension, shell, 5speed swap, LSD, and engine.

Correct me if I am wrong as I am new to working on 240s.
If you could also explain why your right/I am wrong or cite a source that would be great!

[simmode1]

Originally Posted by Spectre420

Would that not be good for about 225hp?

Why are you doing all that work to settle for 185whp (maybe)? Just so you can continue getting walked on by stock FRS's? For the money & effort, a KA-T could give you like 300whp. Please don't waste your money like that.

[Rustys14]

The problem that you run into with building a high hp NA KA is that the motor has a very long stroke. High hp NA motors need to to be able to spin at high rpm which is something that the long stroked KA is not very good at. The mods that you have listed are realistically only good for around 150whp (likely less). You may be able to eek out more if you went with ITBs and very aggressive cams but you will be losing daily driveability at that point.

I built a very similar to motor to what you have planned awhile ago (SOHC pistons, 248 cam swap, flywheel, exhaust, etc) and while it was a fun motor, it was nothing spectacular. I never had it on the dyno but I can assure you that it made far less then 200hp. I also had all of the parts laying around so it cost me almost nothing to build. I would NEVER spend any sort of real money on a NA KA build.

[Standard]

Like everyone said, that damage is very common and nothing to really worry about.

As far as the ka build goes, my advice would be to just do a 5-speed swap to start and keep the motor stock. Do the other mods you have planned and just get a feel for the car with stock power. Suspension and drive train mods will make the car a lot more fun. Good luck, have fun with it man. Good deal btw

[cured13]

Framerails are so overrated, just shave them of
and slam that bitch

[cbcm2435]

Would be cheaper and easier to swap in an sr and you would have more than 200hp, or you could just turbo your ka as mentioned before.

[S-Chassis ftw]

Rb20 is actually cheaper... If you do the work yourself.


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