Thank you Ford for this design flaw. Did it not seem to anyone at the time that this little "tray" where the shock tower meets the rail would hold crap and water?

Well, as holes go, these are not too bad. I plan on having a patch welded in for the shock tower. The rest of the tower is fine. A little surface rust in a few places, but that's all. I am wondering though if a larger plate to fit the entire exposed part of the top of the rail wouldn't be better than patching the hole in the rail.

I understand they also make a brace which fits over the rail and butts up to the tower. That would close in this little water trap completely, wouldn't it? Anyone done that?

 

National Parts Depot makes a patch panel that covers the frame rail and extends 3.5" high around the inside of the shock tower. Part #129-1 It won't stop water from getting trapped in there but it's 14 ga steel and you could probably modify it or add a few pieces of sheet metal to close off the water trap.

 

I had shock tower braces welded in w/o removing the motor. Be careful, though.

CP

 

Funny thing is that when I went through my '66 I found the drain passage that was completly filled with seam sealer. If you prod around you'll find a large dart that's in the center of the inbord side of the tower that leads to the bottom of the channel the engine mount bolts onto. I cannot believe that they would not have left it open to drain, oh well the car was only designed to last 24 months.

 

Look at this http://home.flash.net/~sanco/mustang.htm the kits they sell only partly over that cup.

 

Yeah, mine was too. There is center drain and one at the back. Not sure about the front but I did not see one. The driver's side was completely coated with seam sealer and the drains were plugged. The passenger side had no seam sealer, and that's where the rust holes are. I think it just gunked up over the years. All-in-all , there's not a whole lot of damage. Certainly repairable. I lost a little thickness on the side of the rail and I am sure the top of the rail is thin, but most of the tower is fine.

 

Mine is rectangular. It does not have the "dog bone" shape to it. I think any rectangular sheet of steel would close it off. I would think it would make up for the loss of strength from where reust has thinned the top of the rail too.

 

Well, I don't want to be the one to bust your bubble but, it looks to me like you need a frame rail to cure that cancer below the lip as well as your tower has a crack. Might also need to replace a section of that apron...I would keep grinding it down til I got to "good" metal and see what's left. The parts are pretty cheap...it's all labor.

 

Yeah, that would certainly be best it ain't happenin'. Not right now. Parts are cheap. Labor isn't. It will be patched for while, maybe till the next owner, or till I retire in 5 - 10 years and have time to learn welding and time to take the car apart. Everything I have done to this car is repair, not restore. It's not a daily driver so it won't have much stress on it. I thought that was a crack too and went after it with a screwdriver and hammer. It looks cracked but it isn't. It is a flaked layer...not good but not a crack. Actually, what you see is after a lot of screwdriver/hammer work. I have hit solid metal everywhere at this point but have not ground it off to shiney metal.

 

I agree with Stepman. Rust holes are like icebergs, the part you see is only 10% of the problem.