VE Commodore Front Structure

[Citroënbender]

D’you reckon this is Red Passion? This is the bonnet.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/195706327212

[commodorenutt]

Yep, that looks like it.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Of that VIN? You’re awesome!

Nope, thats from the crashed car, just made another call with the second VIN and its the same Red Passion, but paint code is 26U which matches up with 352N elsewhere

[Citroënbender]

Ironically, still chasing the complete radiator support assembly.

Have radiator (in the car already), bumper, bonnet in matching red, headlights…

Any new “spots” welcome. Trying to snag the radiator support complete with washer reservoir and pump, wiring, front reo and impact absorber.

[Interceptor]

Surely the rad support isnt that hard to get?

[Citroënbender]

The reason I’m mostly chasing private wrecks is wanting the whole lot removed as one - rather than assembled from bits bought separately. Less risk of missing clips or getting the routing of harnesses/hoses wrong. Plus the backyarders are likely to be a little sharper on price. I’m sure I could get it as desired from a legit business at $400-$450, but looking to pay half that if possible.

Running parts tally $975.02 excluding paint materials, but I now have a pair of spare foglights that might be worth $25?

E46 lands tomorrow I think, going to be absolute chaos in my street.

[commodorenutt]

Same fog lights (VE1) also fit FG1, Focus, transit etc.
I bought a pair when I needed one in the FG. The other went into my wife’s VE.

The $25 eBay ones have a “fake” adjuster on them - it’s just a bit of plastic glued in place to look like an adjuster. Genuine ones have a working height adjuster.

[Citroënbender]

Friday saw me line up a complete front support and reo structure as desired. $250 and no ghosting, collect Gosford West on Monday.

The beautiful link back to AFF is it’s from the same semi-private wrecker who sold me the engine for Dover in May 2020. Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel…

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Friday saw me line up a complete front support and reo structure as desired. $250 and no ghosting, collect Gosford West on Monday.

The beautiful link back to AFF is it’s from the same semi-private wrecker who sold me the engine for Dover in May 2020. Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel…

Or a Windmill?

[Citroënbender]

One for Interceptor or Commodorenutt, perhaps.

Front parking sensors - donor bar is blank - can I just super carefully copy the locations, or are there any model specific “gotchas”?

[Interceptor]

Not that I'm aware of, dont quote me but a blank bumper might even have marks moulded into the back of it where to drill....

[Citroënbender]

This is how it’s marked (one side of the bar):

Kind of looks like it’s made to fit a template.

With the combination steering cooler and condenser, is the steering fluid just in the bottom few tubes? I’d like to cut the bulk of the condenser off, if possible, as it’s badly distorted and also ruptured.

Shopping around for timing kits still, about $1000 delivered from RockAuto is the cheapest genuine kit I can scare up. That excludes cam sprockets and some bolts but includes an oil pump.

[Interceptor]

The sensors IIRC sat in an additional housing that was stuck to the back of the bar with an epoxy or urethane adhesive.

I dont recall the PS cooler being part of the condensor though?

[Citroënbender]

S1 had the PAS cooler integrated with the condenser, obviously a rubbish idea as they dumped it for S2.

A bit more reading suggests that the parking sensor kits had paper templates, so a careful copying should be fine. I should be able to recover any bonded brackets if they’re not badly smushed.

[Citroënbender]

Something to gratify the people who’ve helped in this thread. Replacement bonnet fitted. I split the skin off the old one, to recover all fixings.

Rails seem OK, save for a little bending right at the actual fixing flange - easily worked up. Not that I ever doubted PJ.

[Citroënbender]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

The sensors IIRC sat in an additional housing that was stuck to the back of the bar with an epoxy or urethane adhesive.

I dont recall the PS cooler being part of the condensor though?

Here’s the cooler details:

And the parking sensor mounts, it can be seen how they index to the horizontal bosses I posted pictures of earlier. Interesting adhesive used, had expected something like black Sika 227.

[Interceptor]

Well I'll be.....

[Franco Cozzo]

What a **** idea that is with the power steering cooler going to the condensor, the condensor gets warm from the operation of the AC system - thats where all the heat goes!

[Citroënbender]

Not their finest hour, that design choice. Perhaps Behr, who were OEM on the cooling system parts, sold the idea. (Maybe a cold climate solution to regulate system temperatures?)

I have to concede the front comes apart quite logically and very easily. I would rather work on this, than the project E46.

[commodorenutt]

Those parking sensor mounts should come off easy enough. I’ve had 2 fall off, and when I pulled the bar off to fix them, I decided to do the other 2 as well. Gentle persuasion with a paint scraper and the oem adhesive let go easily. I put them back in place with sika urethane. Just clean it up well with Acetone first. They ain’t moving!

You can see how those 2 moulded nubs give you the location for the mount. I would line it up and use the mount to give you the centre of the hole you need to drill. If you want to make a template you’re welcome to come and lay some tape across my car, but I doubt you’ll need to.

[Citroënbender]

Thanks - I just tried with a spatula and two of them came right off. Confident now to carry on. 🙂

Lost a whole day to other missions but will be back onto it tomorrow. Wondering how a PDR person might go with the raised-up guard “ears” as they’re not creased to the point of paint breaking.

[Citroënbender]

Question on fitting up the radiator support and reinforcement. Do I dummy up the support by itself first, then centre/level the reinforcement - or do I centre the reo on the radiator support and fit them just once as a pair?

[commodorenutt]

Looking at the bends in the guards, I think it won’t be long before that paint visibly cracks. You probably can’t see it, but I’d suggest it’s already got fine cracks, and once moisture and rust do their work, you’ll see them. I had unbroken paint on some dents from a tree on my FG that looked like PDR would get it out, but the PDR guy said he wouldn’t do it because the paint would not hold. Sure enough, a few months later visible splits appeared in the paint.

Did the guy selling the bonnet have guards in the same colour?

With the reo, you may have to loosen the bolts and give it a few bumps to get the front bumper to sit right. The bumper does attach up high, and has a backing matrix, so it does look like it fits well, but if you have saggy gaps under the headlights you’ll need to bump the alloy beam up a bit higher to lift everything behind the bumper cover.

[Citroënbender]

Thanks. I completely dismantled the donor radiator support for cleaning and noted large fixing holes for the reinforcement.

Good point on the PDR, the bonnet came from JJ so no great favours on price. Guards off the same car would run me another $420/pair and the doors would likely have to be blended.

[Citroënbender]

This is where the structural damage stops. Pretty trivial, easy to cold work.

A good design for low speed collision repairability. Not sure on the higher G-force ideas, perhaps designed to tear away and not stop the power train from submarining.

[commodorenutt]

They are designed to concertina in a heavier crash - controlled deformation.
They can’t be pulled out and reused - the whole rail has to be replaced for an insurance repair. You can see why someone made plywood spacers in that damaged and shonky repaired one I saw at the wreckers.

The design of those rails was the major talking point at the trade night I went to when the VE was first released, and Holden did promo videos for the crash repair industry to explain all the high strength steel and repair methods. 17 years later, the cost of repairs like that far exceeds what a lot of them are worth.

[Citroënbender]

It’s looking like the guards would be better off changed, I can’t get them to resume anything approaching the correct “wind” at their lower front edge where it meets the bumper and radiator support. I’m sure a sandbag and hammers, dollies would help it along but that’s above my skill set for a tidy result.

I confess to using (dull red) heat just on those flange kinks pictured, it made all the difference. I’d also clamped a massive old bench vice onto the rail as a backer for working these areas.

[Citroënbender]

DIY steering cooler, cut from condenser. Brackets were prised off, the drier cartridge recovered and then cutting started.

It’s interesting to note the empty tubes either side of the fluid line, and the weepholes.

.

[Citroënbender]

OK, these cars have a smart alternator. Can I charge it through the underbonnet lugs used for jump starting? Having been barely driven in three weeks, yet locked, unlocked, open and shut many times - it would be ideal to top up the charge.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

OK, these cars have a smart alternator. Can I charge it through the underbonnet lugs used for jump starting? Having been barely driven in three weeks, yet locked, unlocked, open and shut many times - it would be ideal to top up the charge.

Should be fine, they're nothing special