Burgundy 69

While crawling around under my car last spring, I discovered a tiny rust spot in the #3 cross member (at differential). I poked my finger in and started pulling out flakes of rust, pine needles, leaves, firewall insulation, mouse turds, etc. By the time I was done, I had a huge pile of debris, and the hole, which had been about the size of my finger tip, was now large enough to fit several fingers.

Anyway, now that winter is here, my car is in the shop having some body work done on the nose (previous bubba repair done badly). The car is up on a lift, so yesterday we took a better look at that rear cross member. We banged around with a hammer and the hole is about 2" across and there is more flaking. The body man feels the cross member is still structurally sound, but should be addressed.

I have found a replacement section (Vette products of Michigan) and am waiting for an estimate on the labor.

Before going through with this, I am looking for any comments or suggestions from others who may have already done this job. Anyone???

Thanks


Mark

burners

I haven't done this but the damage is in an area that is critical. It would be very smart to continue to persue repairing it.

stpman

Others may chime in but I don't think that crossmember can be properly repaired or replaced with the body on the frame.

Steve

NHvette

Are you saying the rot is right in the middle of the crossmember,
near the differential mount ?
If so, then you need to seriously look at the two corners
where the crossmember meets the side rails. This is the area
that is usually rotted away first.

It's a big deal to fix the corners, as the body needs to be raised.
I fixed mine myself, fabbed from pieces of heavy sheet steel.
Talk to the person that will weld it before buying any pieces.
They may find it easier to grind it down and plate over the hole
than to cut a section out.

If you were a bit closer, I'd come check it out. My kids ski at
Pat's peak for ski club, but that's not until mid winter.
Maybe I could come check it out later in the year, if you'd like.

Has she lived her entire life in New England ?

gearheaddroppings

I'm afraid that you most likely have problems elsewhere in that frame. Check your kickups in front of your rear wheels. You need to give them an honest whack with a ball peen hammer. If it goes thud and doesn't spring back with a nice ching, you need more work than that cross-member.

If the rust/rot is isolated only to that cross-member, Vette Products is the place to get the replacement.

My frame project started with a whole the size of a small nail head at the end of my driver's side rail. Within 20 minutes, I could get three fingers through it and the body is coming off next month after two months of prep. I ended up buying a partially restored rolling chassis.

wills670

i had the same trouble with rust. the frame rails were shot. i took the body off to repair. the deeper i got the more rust i found. i ended up buying a parts car for the frame and ended up cutting the frame from the rear of the #2 body mts. and then cut the frame at the shock mts. and reassembled the frame. i sand blasted the inside of the frame and i also cut open half the rear cross members sand blasted,primed and rewelded the crossmembers. it is time comsuming to repair your self but that is the only way to make sure it is done. or look around and buy a good frame. i have mine done now and had it checked it was 1/32 out i got lucky to get it this close i feel sorry for somebody.

Burgundy 69

Spoke with Vette Products this afternoon and they said this is definately a body off replacement. I then spoke with the shop and they feel proper replacement of the cross member will require flipping the frame in order to weld the new section in.

Fortunately, the rest of the cross member appears to be solid. We have now looked at the rest of the frame very carefully and have not found any additional problems, so they have suggested removing the bad section and welding in a patch. yuk!

Thanks for your comments.

Mark