02 V40 Front end impact

[sstoynov]

I recently had a front end collision, hit an Explorer and the whole damage was pretty much above the bumper. The hood is damaged, the grill, the headlights, the bumper is cracked on some places and has a few pieces missing. The radiator, along with its support is pushed in but not leaking.
The insurance totaled the car, and I bought it back from them with the idea of fixing it, because I think it is not really a big deal.

My question is about the radiator support. I checked it and it seems like it is a whole frame with top and bottom arm and vertical beams all welded together and this whole frame is welded to the main frame. How should I fix it? Someone told me they will try to straighten it only, but I'm afraid that it never will be as it was, and I'l have problems attaching the headlights etc. Also the radiator support if I buy it aftermarket ( because I don;t think it make sense to try to get it from a junk yard), how easy will it be to replace it with all these welding points?

The hood will be used from a junk yard (i dont trust aftermarket ones), the headlights, the grill and the bumper too.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Here area some pics:

[jimmy57]

The driver's end of that core support looks to have wrinkled a bit. You may be better off to get the assistance of a body shop that has the equipment to pull those pieces back into place. IF you have the ability to strip off the bad parts, fit the hood and then trailer the car to BS with the new headlamps then they can use their pulling equipment to get the core support straightened. and light attaching places squared up using the new headlamps as gauges.
Even if you were to to the great effort to replace the core support pieces there would almost assuredly be some pulling needed to make it all align. Welding in parts when the dimensions are off if far worse than straightening what is there and far harder to rectify if it is wrong. A great deal of what might show any evidence of having been pulled will likely be hidden when all parts are back on.

If you are really creative and have some ingenuity the pulls might be accomplished using a come-along, some flat plate you drill for attaching to various points on the core support, and some bolts and lighter chain for attaching to the plate to allow the hook on come-along to attach to. Then you need a stout post or tree (shade tree......) and you run chain around post or tree and move chain up and down to get the pull height you need and move the car around to get the alignment left-right.
The structure you will be pulling with the little damage evident from pictures is not that stout and cars parking brake being set will likely be secure enough to hold for the pulls.
This sounds hokey but before they came up with elaborate frame benches with pullers and gauge points and lots of printed dimension check point specs, the way to repair such things was a post on a base and a bunch of imbedded chain anchor points on floor. They'd chain cars frame to anchors opposite the pull direction and use a come along or hydraulic pull rams on the post anchored down where pulls were needed and work pulls that way. In the late 70's I worked to make college money by doing the mechanical stuff body and paint guys don't like or can't do. I saw some impressive restoration of wrecks done with those crude methods on framed and unibody cars while doing my work at those body shops.
P.S., the body guys back then hated Volvos because even then they had stronger sheet metal and were much tougher to get back into shape when wrecked.
If the damage was more severe on your car the crude old fashion way would probably not be sufficient.

[sstoynov]

Thanks for the extensive explanation, Jimmy57. My idea was to replace the upper tie bar on the radiator support and the two mount frames, which are holding the headlights (both of them are not in good shape and trying to straighten them I think it wont be easy). So just cutting the old ones and welding the new ones in I thought would be the best way, and this way headlights will be positioned correctly without a need adjusting them.
But you are saying that positioning and welding the new pieces wont be easy? And I should really try straightening the original one?
My only concern is that this way the headlights and the gap with the hood will never be ok?

[jimmy57]

Again, I am no body man, but what I always was told when I'd quiz the guys, was that on section replacements they start by pulling and getting the old piece in the best shape and attempting to gauge alignment the best they could. Then the old pieces were removed by using a spot weld cutter bit in a drill, sawzall, or cutting torch and then the new welded in place.
You have the car in front of you and are the best judge of what needs to be replaced.
From what I see I think my approach would be to get the hood, bumper, and headlights and install hood and check to see that it fits squarely and the gap between fender and hood at each side doesn't grow or get narrower as you go from back to front. If it changes then pull and straighten the rad support and get that back to where rad is setting in the correct position or as close as possible and see what that does to your hood-fender fit. Once that is sorted out, attack the flank panels (my name for it, I'm not sure what body parts catalog calls them) where head lamps attach and see how much you can do to get those straightened. Then you can really see what you can work with and what has to be replaced. When you get the pieces you will be replacing then you may see where there is more work to do in order that they go in and fit.
OH, another thing. it will likely be a good idea to have the car sitting on stands with no load on front suspension. McPherson strut suspension cars are notorious for putting load on the side member and when you take out rad support the distance closed up.
I worked at a Volvo dealer a few years back and I did mechanical work in the body shop there on occasion and paid close attention to those guys too. More recently I was a technical trainer and was a liaison to an outside body repair training company for the car manufacturer I worked for. I was the best qualified to do it in my group. Mechanic types and body/paint guys seem to not be cut from the same cloth usually. I had a blast going to meetings and playing with frame machines and spot welders and other "toys" used to repair modern unibody cars. You don't have to worry about it where your damage is located, but there are some precautions on many metals used in the structure of newer cars. Lots of special welders and special methods using those welders to prevent lessening strength on tempered steel in critical areas.

[jimmy57]

Again, I am no body man, but what I always was told when I'd quiz the guys, was that on section replacements they start by pulling and getting the old piece in the best shape and attempting to gauge alignment the best they could. Then the old pieces were removed by using a spot weld cutter bit in a drill, sawzall, or cutting torch and then the new welded in place.
You have the car in front of you and are the best judge of what needs to be replaced.
From what I see I think my approach would be to get the hood, bumper, and headlights and install hood and check to see that it fits squarely and the gap between fender and hood at each side doesn't grow or get narrower as you go from back to front. If it changes then pull and straighten the rad support and get that back to where rad is setting in the correct position or as close as possible and see what that does to your hood-fender fit. Once that is sorted out, attack the flank panels (my name for it, I'm not sure what body parts catalog calls them) where head lamps attach and see how much you can do to get those straightened. Then you can really see what you can work with and what has to be replaced. When you get the pieces you will be replacing then you may see where there is more work to do in order that they go in and fit.
OH, another thing. it will likely be a good idea to have the car sitting on stands with no load on front suspension. McPherson strut suspension cars are notorious for putting load on the side member and when you take out rad support the distance closes up.
I worked at a Volvo dealer a few years back and I did mechanical work in the body shop there on occasion and paid close attention to those guys too. More recently I was a technical trainer and was a liaison to an outside body repair training company for the car manufacturer I worked for. I was the best qualified to do it in my group. Mechanic types and body/paint guys seem to not be cut from the same cloth usually. I had a blast going to meetings and playing with frame machines and spot welders and other "toys" used to repair modern unibody cars. You don't have to worry about it where your damage is located, but there are some precautions on many metals used in the structure of newer cars. Lots of special welders and special methods using those welders to prevent lessening strength on tempered steel in critical areas.

[yuckuJackD]

Here are some screenshots from VADIS (Parts Catalogue/Body section) I hope they will help you find out how the front section was build:

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GOOD LUCK