Another forum I've been on for several years has one of these threads that has been running for about 7 years. Thought I would post what I have been doing the past few days at work.
1968 Mustang that had rust holes thru the frame rail ahead of the apron. Manager told the owner we could "slip" a new rail in. He ordered a complete rail and it was sent to me in the back room. I told him the first thing we need to do is pull the engine/trans. "Say what, can't you levitate them to replace the rail"? Um, no, this is a unibody and the rail is spot welded to the apron from the inside...where the engine is...
Anyway, I removed the lower suspension but had to wait for the owner to get a new spring compressor, as someone had misplaced, or "borrowed" it and no on could find it in the building. After removing the drivetrain, I started drilling out the spot welds and removed the rail ahead of the shock tower. I had to cut open the outer rail at the tower, as there was ONE spot weld that wasn't accessible from the engine bay and that area was right behind the upper control arm.
I then moved to the rear of the rail and analyzed the cobbled, patch job back there. Someone had been in there and replaced the torque box and toe board but only patched the rail and not all that well either.
I needed to get the patch out of the way to access the flange on the torque box to rail, so I cut that out.
Oh, yeah, nice patch job...
I cut the TB in half to access the rear of the rail that is SUPPOSED to have a weld flange at the toe board to drill out the spot welds, but the patch didn't have the flange... Oh well, the emplacement rail does, so I still needed to get in there to weld the new one in.
The new spring compressor came the next morning, so it took all of 2 minutes to get that out. MAN this new tool is way better than the worn out old one !!
Finished drilling the rest of the spot welds and removed the debris. Any of you Mustang guys notice what else the previous patcher didn't do with the replacement frame extension ?
Did a test fit and tweak with the new rail and marked all the spot weld holes to remove the EDP.
THIS is the flange that should have been on the previous patch.
I was able to get the 2 oval alignment holes to match up very well, so knew it was far enough back.
The crossmember is a very precise part that keeps the distance between the rails accurate. It has tapered head bolts that when tightened, holds that tolerance. I was pleased that the member and bolts when right in without any forcing, or movement of the rail.
As of 3 pm, when my "day" is done, the rail and car are all prepped and the rail locked in place, ready for welding when I go back on Monday. I usually work Monday-Wednesday, but I had to skip yesterday to work with an excavator who cut out a spot in my yard and built a gravel pad for a new 12X16 shed, so I worked today to make that up.
The shed is my home project for the next week or so.
SO, what did you do "today" ??
