Hit a curb, bent the engine cradle, now what?

[serenitythen]

So I was going around a round-a-bout in my 97 SL2 when my front passenger wheel hit the outside curb. Woops! I was watching the stormy weather and the falling trees limbs and didn't see the outer curb.

Anyway, the front alloy wheel sustained no damage other than curbing on the face. I checked it for trueness and it's miraculously straight. My passenger wheel did turn in about 1" toward center (tow in). I drove it home with the tires squealing in protest.

Unfortunately instead of bending the wheel, all that energy seemed to transfer to the engine cradle and crumpled it. It's bent up a below where the sway bar mounts to the cradle and around the area where the access holes are located to unbolt the cradle. The sway bar might have been bent too.

So as a quick fix to keep my daily driver on the road, I screwed in the tie-rod end a number of turns to bring the wheel back in line. I got the car actually to drive straight again without any hands on the wheel. But that still leaves me with a bent engine cradle.

QUESTIONS: Can you replace the engine cradle with the engine/tranny still in the car? By the looks of it, it seems possible.

And how dangerous is it riding around with the cradle damaged? I'm not on the highway, just driving around town.

The lower control arm, tie-rod end, rack and pinion rod, steering knuckle, strut assembly all look ok. Should I still replace the tie-rod end for safety sake?

Thanks for any input!

[76oldsguy]

See the post #8 on the page. It will tell you how to change it. Fairly easy.
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=146391