Body Work questions

JPittenger

New Member
Hey everyone,

I just got an Integra about a month ago and didn't look at it well, but I really enjoy driving it so I want to try to make it look nice. I've never done any type of body work to a car, so I'm hoping I can get some good tips or advice here.




Right now my main concerns are the front bumper and driver's side fender. When I bought it, the guy said the person he bought it from put a 98 front end on it because it looked cooler (its a 96), but as my mechanic pointed out it was in an accident. Its quite obvious now looking at the last picture where it was welded, aside from the driver's side fender being a different color matching the bumper.

Also, this is my first car that's been lowered so the bumper is getting kinda beat up while I got used to it, thought it wasn't great to begin with. From what I gathered, all 3rd gen Integras have the same front end type. If this is right, an OEM replacement bumper wouldn't make much difference compared to this one? I'm not sure if its because of the welding, but the driver's side doesn't seem to be attached as well and I actually have it zip tied to the bumper.

So my main questions are:
  • Will a replacement bumper fit any better?
  • Is that welding the likely cause of the uneveness in the body?
  • Would an aftermarket bumper fit any better?
  • Is this even worth doing?
I really enjoy this car. My last one was a Honda Accord and as you can see my dad has a Cobalt I was driving. The engine was swapped as well (to another LS motor I was told), but drives well for all that isn't working. I'm in college currently so I was hoping I could do most of the work myself to save some money, then save up to get it painted.


Thanks for any and all advice.
 

jsoto1785

New Member
The body is uneven cause of the core support being tweaked if you want it perfect you need to get new one cut out the old and weld in the new one the bumper fenders and hood are not your issue its easy fix just time consuming
 

jsoto1785

New Member
you know the more i look at it the more it looks like you may be able to take a dead blow to it and straighten it out though its not that bad. if you take the front bumper and look at the core support you can see where its bent and what needs to be straightened. the core support won't be right and the car won't be perfect but you may be able to close all the gaps up in your front end. so it really comes down to what do you want perfection or the illusion of perfection. if you want a core support for it though they are only a 150ish on ebay. then you just cut all the spot welds off and weld the new one on. i dunno i would fix it yours is better than my gsr and i'm fixing mine lol. but i got an awesome deal on my car i paid less for it than it would cost to buy the swap and i don't mind body work so new core support it is haha. good luck with the car man its a keeper in my opinion.
 


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