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When I purchased my 2003 Civic (ex, 2d, 5mt) 2.5 years ago, the bulkhead center stay was unattached to the upper part of the frame near the hood latch:



Ignorant youth that I was, I ignored the problem, resulting in damage to the upper part of the frame that the stay is supposed to attach to. I suppose this wad due to the excess play in the bar. At this point, it looks like the frame is approaching a point where the bar could break, seriously endangering the integrity of my windshield and my face:







I took it in to the Honda body shop in town to get a quote for a repair, and they came back with either $1,150 to replace the bulkhead, or $360 to try and weld it back together, with the caveat that they can't guarantee it will last. I have no idea how to judge whether this is reasonable, so any input would be much appreciated. I'm not a welder (yet?), otherwise I'd consider the somewhat cheaper option of replacing the parts myself.

One thought I had was, could I just slap a thin piece of metal onto either side with some epoxy and hope that will hold it in place enough (I'd also reattach the stay of course)? On the other hand, I'd rather not gamble on my uninformed schemes. I'm hoping someone out there may have had experience with a similar problem and can guide me to the best solution here.

 
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Don't even think about epoxy.
I'd rather see additional steel or maybe some angle iron and a bunch of nuts and bolts before epoxy.

Ask at a couple more bodyshops.



Just wild thoughts:
I KNOW you have a Harbor Freight store in your town, with a coupon you can pick up a 110V flux wire welder for about $99, practice on some scrap steel, then DIY weld up your problem or weld in some steel reinforcement.



You might take the radiator out and cover or protect the condenser before you go drilling and welding though. You don't want to poke or burn holes in them.

 
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+1 billion.

Best to do as already mentioned. Need to tie the metal together on either side of that crack and stop it from propagating further. Thin sheet metal will make welding a challenge but it's not impossible if you just tack.

 
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Shampoo Banana




LOL

 
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Ok, so you guys reckon tacking on some reinforcement with that HF welder should do it? I might just give it a shot - acquiring new toys is always fun. Have either of you used it before? It seems like a lot of people say they have had trouble burning through sheet metal with it, and it would be a bummer to make things worse.

ezone, I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what the giveaway was...

 
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Or bolt in the reinforcement if you aren't comfy with welding.

Welding thin stuff is tricky even with a good welder, takes a lot of practice.

HF sells one serious discount unit, has variable wire speed but only hi/low power settings.



Maybe you could cut a good front bulkhead out of a junkyard car and.....

Ancient Chinese secret..

 
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If you're going to invest in the welder... trust me when I say 1) PRACTICE ON SCRAP PRACTICE ON SCRAP PRACTICE ON SCRAP, and 2) you will find more uses for even a basic welder than you think.

 
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Speaking of just replacing the thing entirely, I looked it up and buying a new part to replace the old frame set is only maybe $80. It sounds like I could grind off the old upper part of the frame and then install a new one with a spot welder like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-ELECTRIC...lding_Supplies

I guess a spot welder is a less useful general purpose tool, but it sure seems like it should be harder to screw up. Thoughts?

 
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Um, carefully chop the old one off so you leave plenty of room for overlap with the replacement. How you attach it is up to you, just make it real secure.

What would your local bodyshop say about you supplying your own parts, you just pay them to install it?

If I was to DIY for lowest price, I'd be tempted to drill plenty of holes and use nuts and bolts.

 
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Legit. I'll give it some thought and call around to a few different places so I know what my options are. I'm leaning toward attempting it myself with a welder, but we'll see. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

 
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Yup. If a sopt welder is within your means, in this situ I'd go for it.

Holes drilled allows for corrosion to get in, and then you're in the same boat all over again, not to mention even a very good fastener joint will always flex more than a weld. Welds use the metal itself to stick a part, so there's more adhesion, and better yet, never any need to retorque your joint fasteners. I will admit, drilling and boltnutting are definitely easier. Better? Probably not.

 
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I also have a Honda which has hood latch problem, a 2003 Honda Civic EX 4 door. I noticed a few weeks ago that the hood had started to bounce somewhat while car was in operation, upon investigating I found the support that the hood latch assembly is attached ( bulkhead) to had a hairline crack appearing. Within a matter of a few weeks the entire latch assembly had broken loose. I've contacted American Honda Corporation today January 19, 2016 regarding this safety issue. So far I've on received a case file number and a lot of run around. This is a safety issue and I'm sure there is many more cars with this problem on the highways. If Honda hasn't addressed this issue in a timely manner I'm going to contact the NTSB and investigate the course of a class action lawsuit. I urge anyone having this problem to contact American Honda at 800-999-1009. When asked use option 7 on key pad.