Okay folks, so here's the deal... my 22 yr old daughter (Katy) wrecked the front passenger side of her 95 Camaro (she calls it Paddy because we bought it on St Patrick's Day and it's tealish green). The only thing that appears to be preventing Paddy from running is that the battery broke. Nothing else in the engine looks damaged, but the metal is bent here and there on that corner and of course there's lots of torn up plastic/fiberglass/whatever these things are made of these days.

We removed the old battery and cleaned off the splashed acid. We bought a new battery. The headlights are knocked out, but the wiring harness looks to be intact, as are all the contacts (incredible). The battery tray also came apart from the radiator reservoir underneath, so we took those out (tray came out the top, reservoir out the bottom).

Luckily, we found a 95 Camaro in a nearby junkyard. We dubbed her Scarlet, our donor car. We harvested the reservoir/tray assembly from her and also took the headlight bracket, hood, passenger front quarter panel (with wheel well plastic), and plastic nose cover because once we get Paddy running, we'd like to eventually make her pretty again. The focus at the moment tho is getting her running so we don't need a tow to a body shop for further help.

Unfortunately the metal that protects in front of the battery is bent in JUST far enough that I can't get the entire one-piece reservoir/tray unit down in there where it should be. I just need one freakin' inch more room.

My other vehicle is the Best Jeep Liberty Ever. My thought was to hook a clamp to that bent metal on the Camaro and connect it to the tie down hooks on the Liberty and pull forward so it moves the metal out just enough that I can get the reservoir/tray in there. We tried this tonight with a chain through the clamp and a rachet tie down doing the work, but unfortunately the chain was weaker than the Camaro metal.

I know something about physics and I know every point between the metal I'm pulling and where it's hooked to the Jeep has to be stronger than the metal. Either that, or I have to use leverage to increase the strength pulling on the metal. Trouble is, I'm at a loss now as to what is going to be stronger than that metal. Is it simply a heavier chain or is there another solution?

If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. I've posted some pics for clarity.

 

trying not to burst your repair bubble but that car is totaled and defiantly wont roll right ever again odds are you moved that strut tower which will throw all the suspension off which will eat tires and ball joints like a fat kid with cake... i suggest you part out that car and get another one you can pick up decent 95 3.4s all day for 1500-2000 or better yet a 96 3.8 for 2500

 

if this car really is what it says its a steal

1994 Chevy Camaro

there all over cl

 

It is hard to tell from the picture but I think Basic is right. These cars are unibody constuction and where that one is hit it most likey tweaked the whole front end. To pull a structual part of the car (like you are trying to do) requires the car to be supported in areas (on a frame machine the body would be bolted down.) Lets say it take 1200 lbs of force to pull a kink out a pc of 16 gage steel. That same 1200 lbs could do more damage to other sections of the unibody if they are not supported. These cars are designed to be strong but only to certain types of loads or pressures you start fooling with that with out the training or the equipment you would have to be very lucky to not do more damage then you fix. The 1200 lbs of force is a guess it could be a little less or it could be much higher. The last thing you want to do is put that much pressure on a car sitting on its wheels in park. The car itself will most likely slde before you pull anything straight.

Warning: Frame machine uses very expensive clamps but from time to time they pop off and when they do it sounds like a shot gun going off and there are deep gouges in the steel support beams. Your home made clamps look like a ER trip waiting to happen.

The old school way you are trying to fix this car was the way a lot of cars where fixed back in the day. But those where full framed cars and we were just playing with stuff that did not really matter. You are reforming the structure of the car with your jeep. I would not want one of my kids driving a car that was repaired in that way.

 

Ya that truck thing is pretty sketchy

 

Aside from the core support being toast. IDK if anything else was damaged. I would the damaged section out and replace with pieces from the donor car. Before anything i would have a frame shop tell me if the suspension was tweaked. It may be tough for you being a woman, they may try and pat you on the a** and send you on your way. Anyhow, find out if the front end is still where its supposed to be. Then, cut up the other car and weld the support in. I did this on a 86 a few years back. except i drilled all the spot welds and replaced the whole panel. Tons of work.

 

That process could work but the welding would need to be top notch, not the normal stich welding used in bodywork. That corner area of the unibody is very important to the structure of the upper part of the front suspention. The K-frame handles the stress from the lower control arms but the upper control arms get their strenght from the box created by the "inner fenders" and rad support. Unlike the 1st or 2nd gens where those same items on add support to the frame.

 

I'm impressed... And would say get a chain and continue to pull it out till you can get it back together. Then before spending any more time and money take to to a shop and check and or have a wheel alignment done -if it can be done then I would continue with the Re-build -good luck

 

??? you obviously dont know much about frame straightening... that ratchet strap (with maybe a 200 lb limit) and a jeep is NOT going to fix that car... actual frame straightening equipment uses thousands of lbs of force to do what it does the op is just looking for a reason to go to the hospital here

 

I know some things about physics too, and I know it isn't exactly smart to be doing what you guys are doing.