Need frame rail repair advice. :(

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

I pulled the engine out of my wife's Z to clean the engine bay up and repaint it, and I noticed that there are some rust spots that need attention. There's a rust hole in the frame rail above where the sway bar mounts, and if you stand on the sway bar you can see the frame rail flex a little. On the opposite side, someone has "repaired" a rust hole by tack welding in a patch.

 

Are there any step by step instructions on how to replace the front frame rails?

 

Any tips on how to get the crossmember, steering rack, and sway bar correctly positioned? How about the diagonal bar that braces the A-arm?

 

Can I simply weld in patches here and there until all the metal is new, or is there a relatively easy way to replace the ENTIRE rail and still get everything in place?

 

I have all the tools necessary, I just need guidance.

 

[Mikelly]

Hmmm... There is a way to use a channel section of steel to do that, and weld the sway bar mount nuts inside of the section. It can be done, and you don't want to replace more than you have to there. If you aren't a skilled welder though, I'd take it to someone who can wel in that section. Pull the measurements and go down to the steel yard closest to you and find some scrap within the given size and thickness. and go from there... Use the sway bar mount bushing as the template to weld the nuts into the back side.

 

Do this before doing anything else to the car and I really wouldn't stress the front sub-frame anymore by standing on the sway bar to make it flex (Although I understand why you did it in the first place) because you don't want to pull the chassis out of square any more than it might be already.

 

Mike

[Jolane]

If you can't find any C-channel that will work, I would look into either cutting a square/rectangular tube into a channel or having a piece bent for you in the correct size. Bending will allow you to pick a metal thickness that probably better matches the stock stuff, where tubing will probably start at 1/16". I could not find an C-channel that was not structural, with tapered flanges, and I felt that all of those size were too heavy (overkill). I am going the bending route with guage metal.

Joshua

[Mike kZ]

I would weld in new metal, but here is what Pete did: http://alteredz.com/structuralmods.htm