frame rail/ torque box help

[pgrunt24 10]

hello, new to the forum... well forum's period, but i need a hand in how to handle this. car is a 69 fastback and mostly rust free. pulled the motor today to paint the engine bay to start the painting process. while underneath the front driver side i saw where the front frame rail / torque box is rusted out. how do i go about fixing this. i have a crappy welder, i ain't the best by any means but my inner fender well battery area looks good where i replaced it. should i even try to do it myself or look for a "professional" to do the work?

 

-btw i am just a normal guy with a family trying to get back into his dream car so money is an issue. i wish i could just drop it off somewhere and pick it up finished, but where would the fun be in that.

 

not sure how to post pic but... http://s1313.photobucket.com

 

any help is greatly appreciated. thank you in advance. =)

[manley 13]

How do your firewall extensions/toeboards look? When I replaced my toeboards and torque boxes, it appeared no paint was ever applied to the "hidden" surfaces of each, which caused them to rust away. The condition of the toeboard is going to determine how you tackle this issue and which torque boxes to buy.

[pgrunt24 10]

toe boards are a little rusted, but not rusted through. no holes or anything.

[latoracing 256]

Welcome to the forum, and to fixin' rusty car parts. By all means, attempt to fix it yourself. It is a little difficult, really dirty, but lots of hard work. Buy a torque box that is in 2 pieces, or take a welded up one apart. If your toe boards are in fair shape you can install the new torque box from underneath the car, lid first, lots of epoxy primer / paint, then the lower part and all the attachment points. I am installing them right now, just took the driver's side out the other day. Mine is easy to get to, no floor at all. Search around the forum, they have been installed many different ways, just make shure you seal the bare metal, so you don't have to do it agean!

[manley 13]

From what I can tell, there are two designs for the torque boxes, one is designed to be installed without touching the toeboards in your car. You wasting your time buying torque boxes already welded together. As latoracing said, either buy the 2 piece setup, or cut the one piece apart. this is a MUST, in my opinion.

 

Depending on what you buy, you may have to modify them more by cutting off sections that are sandwiched between the toeboard and the framerail. One version of the torque box is already designed without this tab and another version has the tab(which is actually what you want if you are replacing the toeboard, too). Other differences will be in how the flanges are bent. They need to be bent in order to allow you access to weld them to the car. Depending on what you buy, you may have to bend these the opposite way... it should be kind of obvious, I think, once you start test fitting the pieces.

 

Don't be scared to weld them in very well! And don't leave any bare metal to rust all over again!

[pgrunt24 10]

ty so much for the replies, that seems to cover the torque box. if you see the pic it looks as if the frame rail is ate up also. any ideas where to get or how to deal with that part?

[manley 13]

That looks like the framerail extension/floor support. They are cheap and it should be easy to replace the whole thing. It is spot welded to the underside of the floor and overlaps over top the frame rail. Grind, cut and drill till it comes off. Drill holes in flanges of the new one and "spot" weld it into place. You could possible also patch it, but I think I would replace the whole thing.

[manley 13]

Here are a couple pics that might help you visualize what you are working with.

[bomccorkle 12]

My rails were rusted under/ above the floor support I started on the passenger side and bought the patch panel that "fits" but of course its a 69 so nothing fits. Anyways long story short I just cut out the bad part and made my own patch from some 1/8 a36 plate. A little overkill but its what I had laying around and it went way quicker that modding the one I bought. I also added angle iron inside mine so I could be lazy and not lay on my back to weld on the bottoms. (Got all that done on the bench) anyways good luck it seems daunting at first but the key is to remember to go slow you can always cut a bit more but its a pia to put it back.....

[pgrunt24 10]

absolutely amazing guys, ty so much. was trying to figure out what those pieces were called to order them. the pics are a great help too! any recommendations on who to order the frame rail extension / floor support from? i know the regular places, but anyone know who makes the best (aka original tooling) pieces?

[Fordrevhead 29]

Dynacorn makes the best torque box imo. Look for unwelded (ships in pieces), easier to align, coat inside and weld solidly. Make sure to request the diagonal brace (to the floor support) and the ebrake bracket as well for drivers side. Search here for dynacorn and torque box and you will find many threads on this. My build thread has a drivers install with pictures of this.

 

My project has been idle due to finances, other projects, busy work schedule and lack of room. I should be getting back on it this summer.

[manley 13]

I have ordered most of my parts from NPD. I have always received great customer service and only have one complaint about a part a bought.... which we finally figured out here on this site awhile back. They were selling 67-68 monte carlo bars as 69-70 monte carlo bars. Good thing they are cheap.