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Im new to hhrs but am already rebuilding several. Sooo, in this thread, my 2006 with 130k miles has amber lenses all black, cracked and melted on both sides. the bulbs look old and still work. will eventually tear them open and clean them up. ill saw them open with a band saw and one of those hand held vibrating saws since I already see the glue is crazy strong. I can never find glue like that when I need it. I bought the car cheap from an idiot moron guy who got it for free from a pair of dizzy women. So its no wonder little problems like this never saw the light of day. The guy was a moron because he sold it to me for $300 with the engine siezed up. But the engine wasnt siezed up. The alternator was locked up solid with rust because the women let the car sit for 2 years after they lost the keys. The guy burnt the starter out trying to get the engine to move. I fixed all that, got keys made and now have a car running very well. But dad was killed in his hhr and I now have it to rebuild. Im trying to find a front end doner car but I keep buying hhrs cheap with very little actually wrong. I have 3 now and looking for another cheap that really is junk on the rear side. Junk yards want a crazy price for hhr front ends including the drive train. Any ways, these threads are all old I guess because they stopped making them but the car seems dependable so I will be an HHR driver for awhile.
The reason the lenses melt is using the wrong bulb. The correct bulb is listed in the Owner Manual. It has a "equivalent" number that is just a bit hotter. The 2006 model uses turn signals for DRL so they are on always.
Welcome to the site, sorry for your loss, I’m sure your father will be smiling, you got the HHR fever.
Front ends are rarely in sellable condition due to collision damage, our resident HHR part out guy might have what you’re looking for , check out our Classified ads.
The reason the lenses melt is using the wrong bulb. The correct bulb is listed in the Owner Manual. It has a "equivalent" number that is just a bit hotter. The 2006 model uses turn signals for DRL so they are on always.
Thanks for the info. I will get the cooler bulbs when I refurbish the lights. Or I may go the LED route. I have seen some nice LED mods here. As for dads car, the front is destroyed as well as windshield, steering column and driver door. But the rest of the car is in nice shape with 26k miles on it. Under neath, theres not a speck of rust. Not even on the bottom door seams where they have a rust history. So I hunt for a donor where the timing chain came loose and destroyed the engine. Dads transmission is shattered but his engine seems good. The plastic intake is busted as are the alternator and compressor. But Im confident the engine would fire up once I get it free from the twisted metel. There has been many of those timing chain totals come up but all the wrong color. The state doesnt know the car was wrecked so I have a spotless title. So I will cut away the front at the spot welds and make it look whole again with hopefully just touch up painting of the silver doner parts.
Hmm. That unibody is most likely twisted. Probably can't be fixed unless you have a frame jig machine and the experience/know how to straighten it back. Even if you tried, I'll bet there's a lot of unseen damage.
Seen a lot of these when I used to work at a body shop. Most likely not worth the labor and money you would expend on it.
Sorry. Just my opinion from experience.
Last edited by firemangeorge; 12-31-2019 at 01:32 PM.
Reason: spellcheck
I’m with FMG in this one, however we are hundreds of miles away , and can’t see of measure the distortion of the unibody.
I understand why you want to restore it , but there is a ton of work to be done.
Its pretty bad but its all compartmentalized. The right side is the worst but that door still fits like its supposed to. So that pillar is good. I cant see much if any twist so it should pass muster if I weld the front on strait. I will strip out the drive train soon to get a better look see. I figure I will sit back and drill out spot welds until all the front frame falls off. The bottom frame bolts on and its mangeled too. 4 bolts. The 2 rear ones being the most important ones. The driver bolt is fine but the passenger bolt is driven back. But that bolt cradle is another mangeled spot welded part. So that gets drilled out and replaced by a doner one welded into the correct position. Ill set up the frame parts with fenders and hood setting in place spaced in alignment. Then Ill start tack welds to cement that alignment. Caster camber bolts should take care of small discrepencies. Its no doubt a lot more work than I thought dad would leave me but it was his baby and there just no rust anywhere. This is a 2007 and it looks like the mangled parts just came off the assembly line. I got a 2006 dark grey one cheap and its got lots of little rust in all the nooks and cranies. I have that one to help guide me in the repairs. I also got a dark blue 2007 donor with some body damage that has no title that I also got cheap. But I dont like the idea of painting it silver, so its a backup donor if I cant find a silver one timely. Its my winter project for sure only waiting now on a good doner car.
Ill do that. Tips on making this easier are welcome. That bay has a 5 ton crane so Ill use it to get the drive train out. I could also use the electrical sckematics for the electrical problems that are bound to crop up. If people are passing around a pdf, I would be delighted if they send a copy to my email as well.
Heres what I got so far. Spent all weekend tearing out everything inside the front end. It was slow going as everything was bent into everything else. But I lifted up the front end and hauled the drive train out the bottom. I put the wheels back on so I could move the car to my home to do all the drilling and welding. Ill bring the car back to the shop when its time to put the drive train back in. The donor blue car has a 2.4l drive train that runs good so thats what Ill be putting back in this. Too bad I cant keep the computer that says 26,000 miles but it only runs 2.2 motors. So Ill be trading down to 129,000 miles. Also have to take the 2.4 exhaust system since its bigger. Just as well because dads exhaust system was buckled from the impact.
12-31-2019, 02:47 AM
