The frame rail, at the fire wall, on my 68 fastback has rusted clear through the through torque box, floor support and bottom of the frame rail. Replacing the torque box and floor support seems straight forward but I have a question about repairing the rear of the front frame rail. I do not want to replace the full front frame rail because I do not want to take my car’s frame completely apart. CJ Pony Parts has a frame patch (part# M122) that says it is a frame rail patch that looks like it would to the job. But, NPD has a similar looking part (part 122-1 on page 151 of there catalog) but NPD says that it is only for a convertible. Does anybody have any insight into repairing the rear of the front frame rail?

Thanks.

 

pics from under the car? Need to be able to see what were lookin at.. tought oget good pics, but give it a try.

 

I should have thought of getting pictures before I posted. I will try to get some tonight. The engine and transmition are out, so it should not be too bad.

 

I tried to upload pictures of the rusted frame rail and torque box, but the system said the files are too large. I will set my camera for smaller pictures and take some more tonight.

 

you can resize them with most common photo applications

 

Thanks paddy187. Will do.
Having worked with computers most of my life, it is amazing how often I exhibit a brilliant blaze of ignorance when it comes to using these silicone sentinels.
Here are the pictures of my frame rails. I need to warn you that if you are even the least bit squeamish, you need to close your eyes


[IMG]local://upfiles/16734/35D3098330C4496DB76F063AD90A6299.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/16734/0F263BC3D8314EC8B095C2B9BC90C0CB.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/16734/5505E2C176614181991614DCB42D7C92.jpg[/IMG]

 

you and me both sometimes the level of my own stupidity can be frightening!

 

Talk about enough to give ya nightmares, looks just like what my torque box did



I know its a huge headache but I think the best thing you could do is replace the full rails. The patch looks like it could do the job but if money isnt a problem new full rails would be the way i'd go.

 

Wow Halz5, yours was even worse than mine.
I am fearful of having to take apart the whole front end and putting it back together and keeping everything square. Did you replace your whole frame rail yourself? And if so, how did you get it back lined up?

 

My old man and I did my frame rails... it wasnt as bad as i expected. Doing one side at a time and SAVING the old pieces was a big help, we took measurements of everything we could think of. Everything kind of builds off the torque box, when you buy a new one it has like a tab where the frame rail sits right on top of it. If you still have your floor supports they will help line up the back and up front your radiadot support frame rail helps. One thing I didnt do that i wish i did was buy new export braces, that is a one piece and bolt that up to help line up the shocktower. It's not too bad just lots of welding and cussing.