Broken shock tower - bleh

[foothilltom 33]

Though I pledged not to get melodramatic with every pitfall during this restoration, I feel like I've run into a problem that may sink this project.

 

The car leaned to the passenger side since we bought it and I made a mental note to look into that at some point. After investing what feels like most of my adult life into prepping this car for paint, I finally discovered that the passenger shock tower is basically broken. I've taken 2 pictures that will hopefully reveal the damage:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tdayton/MustangStuff/photo#5146609245168585314

http://picasaweb.google.com/tdayton/MustangStuff/photo#5146605439827561042

 

The thing is, these look like they're welded to the car and welding is where my experience ends. From some searching tonight, it appears that folks have had "cracked" shock towers, but I cannot find a link on how to replace one entirely.

 

Are shock towers replaceable? Do they require welding/cutting or just (god willing) a lot of un-bolting? The car is entirely put back together in prep for paint and it just feels like heck knowing I waited to investigate something so serious. 2 steps forward, 1 massive leap backwards.

 

Anyway, I'd be real grateful for any specifics on how one might attack this or whether this might be a budget-buster.

 

Happy holidays, everyone.

Tom

[dave69vert 10]

Hey there, I had the same problem. I'm not going to lie to you, Its alot of work to replace them! It involves drilling out your spot welds, air chiseling, alot of grinding, I mig welded new ones in on both side along with front inner aprons. I would not attempt this if your not a experianced mechanic and welder. I'm not sure if this is from years of wear and tear or if my car took a couple of shots from another car years ago. You will first have to look at the amount you have invested into this car. Some one might be able to just weld them up for you. Hard to tell from the pictures. If I were you I wood get 3 estimates. Good luck and happy holidays

[russ69coupe 3]

OUCH!!!

Replaceable, yes. Lots of spot welds though.

It may really be time for you to consider learning to weld. Or to make a new friend who can weld. :-)

I can't remember the price for a repro one, I "think" around $500 for a pair, but not sure. That is of course not including installation.

Oops, they are only about 120 plus shipping each. This is only a link to show you some details, I am not recommend you buy from this place. I would buy from NPD if I was doing the buying.

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000016a~Z5Z5Z5ABFIW~P119.95~~~~S29819MQP271661006406a~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000016a

I can't remember if you have the engine out or not yet. You will need to have it out for this one.

You can remove the old one by yourself even if you will have someone else do the welding, that would save you a lot of money.

I know I have seen pictures on the web of this, but I can't remember where. BTW, the process is basically the same for any early year Mustang.

hth,

sorry.

Russ

[ForceFed70 14]

Wow, that tower is bad! With the passanger side that bad, I'd be scared that the driver side will need attention as well.

 

The good news is that repo towers are available now.

 

This is going to be a lot of work. You'll need to remove the engine, as well as most of the suspension on that side. I agree, it's time to learn to weld or at the very least, rent a welder for a day and get a buddy to help with the welding part.

 

The welding is the easy part. It's getting everything removed, sized, and cleaned up for welding in the new tower that will take all of the time and effort.

[MAD IN NC 21]

Check to see if there is other damage beside the shock tower like the frame itself. If you need to VA Mustang has the whole inner fender, shock tower and frame for ~$500.

[bnickel 10,004]

yeah this one is beyond repair, it will need to be completely replaced. from the looks of it i'd say you probably have some frame damage as well so it may be best to get the complete assembly, especially if your battery tray is rusted out as well. make sure and check the other side really well too. do a search for username protowrxs he has done this on his car and has a pretty good writeup on his website. i'd also recommend getting the export brace and monte carlo bars to help line everything up during replacement, i'd also recommend buying a frame dimension chart as well, you can usually find them one ebay for $10-15, if you can't find one for the 69 you can use the one for a 70, the dimensions are the same

[bnickel 10,004]

i just remembered you had the parts car. you can probably use the tower from the parts car, it will be a lot easier than swapping the roof on the parts car, that thing is wasted. alternatively you could patch the roof on the parts car and re-sell it and just buy a new shock tower for the other one.

[69 convertible 10]

Oooops, but you are not alone. These are pics taken the last two weeks of my 69 convertible:huh:

[MAD IN NC 21]

Oooops, but you are not alone. These are pics taken the last two weeks of my 69 convertible:huh:

 

 

 

Morten, my hat's off to you as we say out here. WOW - it must be a long and cold winter to take a project like that on :thumbup1:

[69 convertible 10]

Morten, my hat's off to you as we say out here. WOW - it must be a long and cold winter to take a project like that on 

 

No, not one long and cold winther, this is the second cold winther:whistling: . The car was bought from the USA as a nice cruiser that was restored a few years ago. Showed out to be a lot of rust. Talking about the car with my friends I just called it the Rustang. My welder has named it Lasarus after a man who wake up from the dead. Most of the chassis has been changed, rear outer/inner fenders, trunk, floor pans, door panels, right inner fender/shock tower. The rest of the chassis is now mainly waiting for good enough weather to take it out of the garage and sandblast it. Hoping for next summer, but most important is that the work done on the car is properly done. I rather wait one more summer for that:huh:

[6T9rustang 11]

 

Are shock towers replaceable? Do they require welding/cutting or just (god willing) a lot of un-bolting? The car is entirely put back together in prep for paint and it just feels like heck knowing I waited to investigate something so serious. 2 steps forward, 1 massive leap backwards.

 

Anyway, I'd be real grateful for any specifics on how one might attack this or whether this might be a budget-buster.

 

Happy holidays, everyone.

Tom

 

 

 

 

G'day Tom,

Don't despair! NPD sell the shock towers by themselves with the motor support bracket welded on already(less work for you)and sell for $115ea. That looks like its all you need to replace. There are spot weld tools for cutting out spot welds. Here's a link for 'em. www.matcotools.com/Catalog/toolcatalog.jsp?cattype=T&cat=2283

As for the welding, well it shouldn't be too expensive.:whistling:

 

 

I have already had my xmas because I fly back out to work today but happy holidays to you.

[PaleRider 12]

Couple of links - good luck!

 

http://www.pro-motorsports.com/?page=article_102

http://www.mustangandfords.com/howto/19998_shock_towers/index.html