Worth Fixing? (Honda Accord Content)

So a customer brough this in to my friends shop and we had it on the lift for something else and found this. Is it worth fixing? The rest of the car is really rust free and in very good shape. I can not figure out why just this area rusted and really no other place on the car.

Photo of the car

Looks like the pieces that is rusted can be unbolted but does the motor have to come out. This is a relatively low millage car (about 80k if I remember)

Owner signed over the title. Now it is a case of what to do with the car.

I've got a 98 accord that I'm fixing up too. Local yards want 450 for a front subframe. Mine has 150k and I feel its a 2500 tax time special flipper.

If I don't have to take the motor out to fix it I would consider it. If the motor has to come out it is going to the scrap yard.

There is surface rust on the underside of the car in some places but for a NE car it is as close to rust free as youa re going to get. The surface rust would clean up really easily with the rust converter paint as it is not scaling yet and it would be all set for many more miles. Just this dam sub frame at the point where it bolts to the cross member and the suspension bolts in seems to rust like crazy.

The biggest headache you will encounter working on a Honda like that is getting bolts out of bushings. I have found, in my 34 years as a professional mechanic, that something about the Honda design makes them more prone to rusting solid than just about any other type of car.

Not dissin, just sayin.

you could weld in some steel across the broken part. the area above the sway bar mount looks pretty crusty though

That's so much rust! Since it looks like it's the chassis, not just the subframe, it would be a good car to part out, then take it to the junkyard.

The other idea was actually making a 20XX challenge car. As at the moment the cost on it is $0

I was thinking take ratchet straps and pull the thing back together and weld in some steel. Then gusset the snot out of it. Add a turbo (or two) and then bolt on what ever it takes to make this thing handle the twisties and go fast in a strait line. Empty the interior of everything (sell it all off or what ever) Pop rivet in sheet aluminum to clean up the interior and see how competitive it is.

Simple strait forward plan really. I have the welder and the capability to fix the immediate issues with the frame. I would need to study up on what it takes to make this go fast and handle. Unless some one here has a recipe for it that is challenge friendly. That would greatly simplify things. The rest is basically adding lightness and then cleaning up the interior to make it presentable.

Seems like a plan to me. What am I missing?

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: That's so much rust! Since it looks like it's the chassis, not just the subframe, it would be a good car to part out, then take it to the junkyard.

For NE that is not much rust. The photos don't really show it but everything that is rusted is bolted to the unibody so it all could be replaced. I don't mind doing it BUT I don't want to pull the motor to do it. If the motor can stay in and it can be done then it will be fixed if the motor ahs to come out then it is plan b or plan c.

Front wheel drive cars often use one of those support cradle thingies that span the engine bay when you are, for example, changing the transmission. If I had to replace that subframe, I'd build something like that out of steel, 4X4s or the like, and a bunch of tie downs. As to removing the rusty bolts, looks like a S.O.B.

Rusty bolts = Blue tipped wrench = No problem

Honda bushings/bolts are a total headache. I spent 6 hours with an air hammer to get ONE lower control arm bolt off of my s2000. If you can break the control arm bolts loose and they move freely, throw another subframe in it and flip/dd that thing. If they are seized, you could be in for a huge headache.

At this point new control arms would not be out of the question. I don't know the cost but considering the amount of stuff that has to come apart to fix this anything to save labor would be good. Worst case is I just return them. But I can see that it would make cense to have them handy ready to go if the old ones can be that much of a problem.

If that's not much rust for NE, I'm surprised that car guys up north don't make plastic undercar trays for the winter, especially for good cars.

Just did this repair on my brothers 02 Accord. Same thing, rest of the car is rust free, but sub frame rusted in the same spot. We pulled the sub frame and replaced it. Had a hard time finding a used one, because this is a problem on all Accords of this vintage. Apparently the problem is this is where the condensation from the a/c drips on that spot and rusts it out.

Bitch of a job, didn't have to pull the motor, but it is debatable if it might if made the job easier, but if the rest of the car is good, it is worth it.

You need one of these to hold the motor up, then you should be able to drop the subframe out and pop in a new one.