Where did you get the drawings for you measurements?
I made the drawings Don. I guess I could have taken a picture and then imposed the measurements on a computer program, but the drawings made quick work for logging them
Hey Prop,
I see you did not use a full frame rail. You sectioned a new one into the old one and butt welded it in.
Is this going to be strong enough?
Why didn't you put in a full frame rail?
My car looks very similar to how yours did look in the rear. And I'm trying to get ideas. (needs rear frame rails, shackle mounts, floor pans,basically all new metal in the rear)
Thanks
The rails will be plenty strong enough in the rear. I stick welded them in and welded from the outside and inside. They're not going anywhere. I deal quite a bit with structural welding codes with my job and the orientation, fit up, prep and weld layout on the rail to rail welds fall well within the perameters of any cyclic and static service welds.
As far as grafting in at the hump instead of the full rails. One, there was no need to, the last 2-2 1/2 feet of the rails were junk, forward of that the metal was still servicable and I was able to bring it back down to clean shiny metal. Where the factory undercoaing was still on, nice clean paint was underneath it, and below that was shiny metal. The cuttline ended up there because thats where the repair rails ended. Second, money and time. The full AMD rails would have cost me over twice as much and would have taken me over twice as long to change out. Third, with half the factory rails in place, there was a bit of ease as far as proper position being able to work off that reference. I'm sure I could figure out the proper placement for full new rails, but that would be a very critical project involving a lot of research, more complex measuring and constant cross comparison.
Best advice I can give you with changing all that metal out is measure and measure again and then...well....measure again. Tons of reference pictures as well. That I would say is the most critical part. Also, if you're gonna be pulling all that metal out back there, you will need to jig the car for support. Myself, I put the car on stands and jigged from overhead, but if you check out some of the other resto threads like Detmatt's, Donny's, SGT's, Swede..ect..ect you'll see there is other methods that will work. I guess pick one or formulate your own plan to suite your needs.
Any questions moving forward, please feel free to ask. One of the main reasons I created this thread and posted info/pic's is so folks like yourself may be able to take something from it down the road. I would recommend you do the same. Beside reference down the road for others, the threads a good place to gather tips/advice/ideas, chat with your buds and fellow members and a place to look back and watch how your project is unfolding. Sometimes I reference mine just to build up some momentum to get right back in the garage. The resto threads going on here at FBBO are something to behold. When you think about it, where else can you get that many great pictures, info, ideas, advice for bringing a car back..good stuff!
