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would the front frame off a 1971 fastback ,fit my 72 mustang convertible? im talking about everything from the firewall forward, fender aprons, shock towers ,radiator support, frame rails,crossmember. the engine is out of the 71 ,how much labor is involved in removing that part of the car ? thanks for any advice
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the subframe should although the convertible has more bracing than the coupes and fastbacks
is your subframe rusty?
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rusted so bad in certain areas that i think it could be unsafe to drive, had motor rebuilt it has about 310 hp dont want frame to fall apart,,do you know how much labor it takes to pull a front frame off a stang ,with motor out, or should i just consider having rust areas patch ,dont care what it looks like underneath , just want it to be a solid car .The body and the interior are very good and the car drives great thanks for any advice
Taking the stuff off the donor car is easy if you just use a torch. Torch around the front frame structure to get it off then you can work on drilling spot welds to remove the stuff you don't need that remains (Pieces of floor, firewall, cowl, and torque boxes.
Taking the stuff of the car you are fixing you need to drill the spot welds so that the fireall, floor, cowl, etc. remain intact. Once that is done, position the new front end on the old car and make rosette welds through the holes where the old spot welds were drilled out. Done.
If your floors, firewall, cowl are good you could probably do this in a couple weekends. Need to know how to weld to put the new one on. Be careful with measurements to line up the new front to get it straight. When I put the new front on my 70, I had the car on stands and dropped a string line from the center at the back of the car, and one at the firewall down to the ground. Then connected these points with a line extending forward. When the new one went in I made sure the center of the radiator support was centered on this line. Also, before I removed the old front, I had the car supported and made blocks of wood that fit perfectly under the front of the front frame rails.
Post some pics of how bad and where, as long as the rails are ok you have a decent basis for rebuilding. If the rails are rusted then it gets much more involved.
Check the Pit of Despair link for pics of a bare 71 front end. It still needs torque boxes and trunk floor, tail light panel, but the rest is pretty much done. You would need to replace quite a bit to do a complete swap and welding it in straight would be challenging to say the least. If it isnt straight it will never be aligned right, and that will cause dog tracking, tire wear, or at worst a completely undriveable car.
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frame work 72 mustang
here is some pics of the frame
