how much to weld in strut towers?

[95newbie]

newbie here. just got a 95 talon and want to do it right. its FWD n/t. I WANT to do the AWD conversion heard its a pain and this car is a bucket. anyway even if it doesn't become my project car I do need a safe ride to work. the strut towers are rusted. found some good ones from an eclipse. they will work? also how bout rear quarter panels off eclipse onto talon of sameish year I think. to the actual question this body shop quoted me 960 bucks just to put in the towers not to mention the 100 bucks a piece for the towers. does this sound right should I look around. they said being a structural piece of equipment blah blah. how important is put the in 100 percent correctly? what precautions should I take. after the job what should I look for? Thanks all for your help. hope to be around for a minute.

 

[GSLENK]

newbie here. just got a 95 talon and want to do it right. its FWD n/t. I WANT to do the AWD conversion heard its a pain and this car is a bucket. anyway even if it doesn't become my project car I do need a safe ride to work. the strut towers are rusted. found some good ones from an eclipse. they will work? also how bout rear quarter panels off eclipse onto talon of sameish year I think. to the actual question this body shop quoted me 960 bucks just to put in the towers not to mention the 100 bucks a piece for the towers. does this sound right should I look around. they said being a structural piece of equipment blah blah. how important is put the in 100 percent correctly? what precautions should I take. after the job what should I look for? Thanks all for your help. hope to be around for a minute.

That sounds about right. A friend of mine crashed a camry, and bent the front drivers side of the frame. The body guy said the puller machine wouldnt get it perfectly straight so he cut a front clip off of a donor car, (well the front corner). and welded it on and painted the welded areas black to prevent rust. (he didnt want to pay extra for matching paint, its an A to B car)

It cost about 600-700 I think including the scrap section. Doing 2 towers seems much like the work he did, and if not, more important since the camry still could drive straight and the frame bend was in front of the axle so only cosmetic...

I think 1k is a little steep for what these cars are worth in high mileage and non-turbo... I think with patience, a little selling now and saving will be the cheapest route to your stated goals (AWD 2g). I assume this includes putting a turbo on, which is even more case. I know its easy to look at the car and dream, but sometimes there need to be reality checks.

 

[Joethefallen23]

Considering its nearly impossible to convert a 95+ N/T to awd, the car is little more than scrap. Can you honestly justify spending $1k on welding in strut towers for a car with very little value? IT's absolutely critical that they be welding in correctly and that isn't a cheap task as you've found out.

 

[Dsmkauai]

^^ I agree 100%, for not much more you can find a better car bro, as in gst or gsx. Some cars are just not worth saving! Unless you do it yourself to gain the knowledge and experience with this type of body work, than its not worth it. I did a write up awhile back where I fixed my rusted strut towers by cutting out the rust to good metal. Than fabbing my own new piece and welding in. Came out good for me and is holding very solid, but best part is I stopped the rust. But again I've got 15-16 years experience and can weld and fab just about anything, and only did it to mine because its a fairly modded car and I needed suspension upgrades. And didn't want my brand new coilovers shooting thru the roof because the tower let free. Not that it would have happen but you never know . Here's the little write up I did, not the best pics sorry.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...or/388340-fixing-rusted-out-strut-towers.html

 

[95newbie]

ok. well beater with a heater it is. gonna keep searching for my project car. thanks guys for input.