Roger's Roadrunner

[TheSwede]

Roger, I would not worry to much over the paint on the steams, 3 sec after fire up it will be history. But I would clear the threads for the spark plugs and exhaust bolts.
Give wifey an applause from Sweden, well done! :hello2:

 

[roadrunnerman]

finally started some work on the floor cutting it out.now i've got to figure out how to repair the torsion bar crossmember.the right frame rail was 1/2 inch lower than the left one,but have it the same now.will i have to move my support that i have now and put it just in front of the crossmember or where should i place it?

 

[TheSwede]

Looks like mine did, I took a 2" X 4" piece of wood, a foot long and placed under the rockers as support to even the pressure from the stand. It worked for me but my rockers had no rust.

 

[Propwash]

Looks like good progress Roger. I would do like swede said and block up at the rockers. If you're paranoid about the car parallelograming on you, run 1.5" steel tubing from the rear door jam area on on side and diagonally across to the hinge pillar on the other side and tac in place, both ways so you end up with a big X. Tac the center of the X as well. Honestly though, with you not riping the entire front floor out, supporting the car at the rocker near the torsion bar crossmember should be just fine. If you have the doors still on your car, and opened-closed well before, opening and closing them will give you a pretty good indication if the car is sagging. I noticed on my 69', the passenger side door became hard to shut after riping the pan out from that side. Supported the body from the rocker in that area and she cleaned right up.

Before you do any of that, measure, then measure, then measure again! LOL. Can't quite press that enough..

 

[Bens69PlymouthSatellite]

Gotta a ton of stuff u will need 4 this project Roger! P.m. me! Lookin' good! Cant wait to see her unfold!

 

[Greg68RR]

Go Ahead!

Lookin good, Roadrunnerman! Brace up/support @ rockers like has already been mentioned. When I first got back into cars in the 1990's, I helped someone replace an entire/full drv quarter on a 70 Challenger convertable. He didn't do any support for the car (running gear still in car) and we fought & fought to get it on & it never would fit right. I mentioned to him that I thought the rear corner had dropped. It was late, so I had to leave. He stayed & started measuring, taking all sorts of measurments. Next day, I returned to help, and found he'd braced it up w/ some home made fixture made of wood. He showed me that the car had indeed sagged like an inch in front & 3-4 inches in the rear. The quarter panel literally fell on by itself! After that, I knew that making a body jig to lock things into place (or at least to provide a solid reference point) was a "must do" task for serious panel/frame rail replacement. 1x1 angle and box tube to make "ties" and 1.5x1.5 box tube for the foundation and major supports was what I used. After metal work was done, I used the metal from the jig to make some storage racks at a friends shop where I did the metal work on my 68 RR. He was happy!

Looks like you're making progress! Motor looks nice in fresh paint! Also, there's a special place in my heart for orange roadrunners. My first car was a 69 orange RR, 383, 4-speed. I miss that car!

Keep up the good work!

Greg

 

[roadrunnerman]

thanks for the words and advise.don't know if i will have a chance to get anything done labor day weekend when i get home,going up to brainard,mn.My brother-in-law is popping the ? and he wants the family to be there. If i get achance to work on it i will put some pics up.As a side note,the doors are still on there.What about those rails from auto rust technology,should i get the full crossmember or go half,or do i need to use them at all?

 

[Greg68RR]

It depends...

I haven't yet tackled a rusted up torsion bar member. I've seen someone use the caps on this site, I think. It fits over the cross member outer area outboard of the T-bar sockets, I think. In the photo's of the repair, they also sectioned out & replaced areas of the original member where it had rusted through, w/ new heavy guage (i.e. same thickness as orig cross member or slightly thicker) metal. I believe they even welded in additional brace plates in the cross-member from the top. If the other side of the cross-member is good solid metal, the cap solution might be the way to go. I think the caps also provide metal used to tie in solidly (w/ welds) to the frame rail, too. They don't look like they do anything for the joint of the crossmember to the rocker area. I can't tell from the photo's if the rocker is rusted through in the area where the crossmember attaches.

If you decide to change the entire cross member, you wouldn't need the caps, but you'd need access to both rocker areas. Sectioning in just one side of the cross member (i.e. just the passenger side where it's bad) is also a viable option, too. A lot of people will buy a whole piece and cut off only what they need to section in. A good torsion bar crossmember from a donor/yard car will likely be cheapest way if you plan to section in a piece. Most will butt weld the sectioned in piece then follow that up by welding in reinforcment metal on the inside of the rail/member that spans over the butt weld. I'd also make a metal jig to ensure nothing moves when making the repair (especially if you do the total replace where you'll detach the front frame rails).

AMD makes the entire torsion bar crossmember that includes the bar sockets. The Auto Rust Technicians pieces I looked at on thier web site all look to be slip-over types of repair approaches. Maybe someone that's done this (total replacement or use of the caps) can chime in.

Hope I helped!

Greg

 

[Propwash]

Roger,

Those T-caps end pretty much at the point where your fuel line is running through. They tie onto you inner rocker on the other end as well as running about 4-5" up the front frame rail. I'd say as long as you have decent metal to weld that cap to, a cap would be a good option. I'm sure you seen, but I put them on my Roadrunner as well and had about the same amount of rot in that area. I also reinforced the inside with 14ga. and 1.5" SCH80 square tubing as a bulkhead. I don't know if that was competely nessasary, but it sure gives me a little better piece of mind. As far as the quality of the T-Caps, they're built fairly well, but expect to do a bit of tweeking to get them to slide over flush. I had to use quite a few jigging vise grips to get them correctly in place.

If you decide to change out the entire crossmember, first make sure the original is square. After that measure and then measure again. You do not want any kind of adverse angle running out of them torsion bars. With your pans out, it won't be that hard to get out. Take out the torsion bars then remove the welds from the front frame rails as well as the welds attaching it to the inner rockers. Also be sure you properly support the car during the replacement.

Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to give me a ring or just PM me here.

-Will

 

[roadrunnerman]

so then should i just go ahead and just cut out the other half of the floor and just expect to replace both cross members just to be on the safe side and do both ends at the same time?

 

[detmatt1]

I'd cut the driver side floorpan out too in order to get a better read on how the other side of the crossmember looks and if you don't need to replace the whole thing then don't. I would however try to find a doner piece or buy a new one from AMD and cut off what you need and section it in that way. From the looks of it you will want to do a rust encapsulator on the inside of that torsion bar k-member and some protection like Rust Bullet to keep it from further decay. I picked up an entire oem t-bar k-member at Carlisle for 50 bucks but have already cut off the passenger side and included it with yhat `66 Charger project I just sold.

 

[roadrunnerman]

yeah i was thinking about cutting the drivers floor out but i want to get the whole car supported first and take off my tires to take as much stress off the frame so i can get a accurate measurement.I did look under on the drivers side and saw some heavy rust(not as bad) but i'm sure once i start grinding the rust off the frame it will tell me how bad it is.

 

[roadrunnerman]

just a question,i'm waiting to order the torsion bar crossmember support (funds),but was wondering if it would still be okay to work on others areas of the car like the rear window channel and b-pillar without worrying about changing the structural when i do get the crossmember repaired.

 

[pgkeating]

Roger....

The older I get, the more I think not to overlook the obvious.

How's the floor under the car? Is it flat?

Just want the reference plane to be good, as it's pitch (if any) transfers to the jack stands/frame etc.

Just my .02

PK

 

[roadrunnerman]

just to give an update:i ordered the torsion bar crossmember(full piece).It came in 2 days ago.So now i will take the old floor pans out (front and rear) after i get the car supported and the proper hieght measurements.Donny,i will be using your measurement chart that is on page 20 of your gtx thread.thank you for that.So now i guess i have no excuse to get off my butt and get busy.

 

[day1glo]

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

[TheSwede]

Any updates since last year?

Sorry Roger, I could not resist taunting you:icon_thumright:

 

[roadrunnerman]

Any updates since last year?

Sorry Roger, I could not resist taunting you:icon_thumright:

hey swede,i did reply to your PM thanks. no updates as of yet. been working on my ramcharger like i said. been kinda holding back on the RR.Want to get a mig welder and have been looking at a hobart 140.I think it will do a better job then the flux core welder i have been using.I just want to make sure i get a good solid weld for the crossmember and floor pans. P.S. I don't mind the taunting, i need it to get my butt in gear. L.O.L

 

[Propwash]

Would love to see how the RamCharger is going for you Roger...I remember the pic's of major rot you posted on that...Lotta surgery! Heard a lot of folks are having pretty good luck with the Hobart 140. Heck, they're owned/made by Miller and made in the same building as the Millermatic 140 and 210 in Appleton, WI. I hear you on the flux core, just a bit too much spatter/slag to deal with for auto metal.

 

[wannadrag]

Rodger,not sure if you have any Fleet Farm stores down your way but they had the best price on the Hobart 140.I've burnt two 2lb spools of wire through mine far and i like it so far.