So my son bought a 2006 HHR that later we find out was in a wreck. The left front tire rubs the back of the fender well as you turn left sometimes. The left side of the engine cradle was hit a pushed back about 1 1/2". So I bought a straight engine cradle from a junkyard and am planning on swapping them out this weekend. I have never done anything like this before. Ideally I will replace it and will not be able to put the bolt in at the front left, because the box/frame is shoved back at this point. I will fabricate a bracket to attach to the bottom of the box and try to move it with a pair of come-a-longs. If this dont work, last resort will be to take it to a body shop and put it on the frame puller ($100 per hour).

My questions is does the engine need to be supported to drop the engine cradle? I se that the engine is bolted to the cradle in the front and back and it is bolted to the frame on each side. I thinkt he mounting point on the engine cradle are just rubber bushings, but I am not sure if the aluminum brackets on the sides are designed to support the weight of the engine.

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I would be concerned about the alignment after the repairs have been made.

 

Yup! I thought about that too. Once repairs are made I will do some research on front end alignments. I want to get one of the good ones where they take all the measurements with lasers. I am not sure, maybe they all do it like that now days. I'll do some googling once I get to that point.

FYI . A great source for locating used parts for your HHR (or any car as far as that goes) is car-part.com. This is like having every junk-yards inventory at your finger tips. The collision center quoted me $350 for an engine cradle, I found one for $90 and this junkyard had three already removed and I got to take my pick.

 

I would think the motor should be supported to pull the cradle out for safety reasons.

 

I hope that car was an incredibly good deal. Was it a salvage title, did you check the vehicle history. While you are at it you would be very smart to replace the lower control arms and struts (new not junk yard). Make sure there is no bending of metal around the strut towers, body pull won't fix that and makes the car junk.

Check your PM.

 

Personally I would take it to back to the seller, even if they sold it as a rebuild they should have fixed it properly.
Once you get into it there could be many other issues getting things to fit properly.
As for supporting the engine, there is the one used by gm that hooks onto the loops, one on the corner beside the coolant hose, I forget where the other side hooks up.

 

I did not want to bore you guys with the details ... but since you asked. I found the HHR on craigslist. It was a rebuild/salvage title. No, regretfully I did not run a background on the vehicle. The seller insisted that the car had not been wrecked and was a salvage title only due to the hail damage. He had it listed for $3200. I took it for a spin and it drove fine. I offered $2600 and he took it. Three days later the kid tells me about the wheel rubbing every once in a while. You got to be turning left at a certain angle and either be going kinda fast for such a hard angle or run thru a dip/bump and then the tire would rub. Only after closer inspection did I see what was going on and then found the damage underneath. I took it to a collision center and he said $350 for a used engine carriage and $500 to install and repair. When I found an engine carriage for $90 and most junkyards have them for $200-250 I see that the collision center is kinda sticking it to me also.

So with that said I am gonna turn lemons into lemonade. I think this would be a great father and son experience repairing this vehicle and he will appreciate it even that much more. I will shoot some pics of the repair process and post them later. I have it jacked up and we removed the wheels. Gonna change out the engine cradle in the morning. I fabed a bracket to attach to the front left corner of the frame. I am gonna back the car up to the fire hydrant in the front yard and chain the back wheels to it, then I am gonna take another chain and attach to my bracket on the HHR front of the frame and hook it to the back of my wife's truck. I'll start off by just bumping it lightly and tugging it with the truck. If that don't work I am gonna gun it and see what gives.

 

"Back up to a fire hydrant and chain the wheels to it."

Please tell me you're joking here. If you're not, then call 911 ahead of time because you're going to get someone seriously hurt or killed.
This is NOT the way for a father to teach his son.

 

x2!!!

 

fire hydrants are really only held up by a 3 inch pipe, at the most. They are not as sturdy as the appear. Maybe try a telephone pole at least it won't get you wet.