2012-3-15 22:51 - Frame Rail Repair

So, progress has been a little slow lately and I do apologize for that. We`ve been in the process of changing the shop around some, clearing out some old projects, wrapping some others up and it`s all so we can focus on the new project.. the 71 Dodge Charger.

So where are we? Well, the drivers side floor pan has been opened up and as we expected there is a lot of work to do. The frame rail is pretty rough on the bottom but appears to be saveable. The rest of the frame looks pretty solid especially near the torque bars which is a relief. We`ll clean the whole area up and make sure everything is solid anyways.

Right now we are working on fabricating some inserts to go inside the existing frame rails to strengthen them up. The plan now that we have them opened from the top is to media blast all of the rust out of the inside of the rails. We then plan to drop the insert in and weld it in place from the top and sides. The rust chewed bottom of the old rail will then be carefully cut off, everything sandblasted and welded again and finally a new bottom half of the frame rail will be fabricated and welded into place.

Why are we doing it like this? Several reasons, thank you for asking. First off it`s cheap. No buying a new or repop frame rail to do this fix. Secondly it can be done with everything in place this way. No need for special supports or anything. We don`t remove any real material until the inner support is already..well...in. Finally we are doing it this way because we want the repair to be strong but hidden. This will allow us to make it look like nothing was ever done but still have the confidence that the repair is strong.

Check out the pictures of the damage. We`ll update soon with a full write up and plenty of pictures of our fix. In the meantime those of you that have projects waiting for you - log off, shut the computer down... stop day dreaming and go make it a reality.

Coming soon we`ll give you a full review along with pictures of our installation of all new floor pans. We may even be using a brand you may not have heard of before but that shows some good promise...



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