Donn 66

OK its dumb! But I did it anyway. I was at a car show saturday doing burn-outs and broke the weld on the sombrero bracket where it's welded to the frame (for the second time! Anybody have a way to repair the problem and make it strong enought so it won't break again?

Thanks Donn 66 :smash:


[Modified by Donn 66, 5:44 PM 8/7/2001]

RichF

Patrick:

Nice car! :D

pittsaj

Sombrero???
I haven't heard that term before..
Now I'm confused, What exactly broke??

Tony

Ih2lose

Can you post a picture of what happened ?I drive my car hard and have not torn anything.No less same problem twice.Explain what is happening here or show a picture
Hey patric nice color of car and could you please help me make my sig picture smaller thanks larry


[Modified by Ih2lose, 12:14 PM 8/8/2001]

olredalert

Donn 66,
While your rubbers may be old and need replacing,if you are going to ruff-house in your ride you need to add additional gussets in the general area when you weld it back up.It may be partially the age but Ive seen brand new 65-6-7s with big blocks that have broken that weld.If there is any question about where to put the extra strengtheners find a competent chassis guy to either advise you or do the job!Then you can sidestep the pedal all you want.Just kidding,but at least that area wont give you any more problem!!!!...........Bill S

The Wanderer

You got mail ..... :eek:

The Wanderer

I couldn't find your email so I will post it here. If it is the right size, just right click and save it. If not, email me and I can make it bigger or larger for you.

ryoungda@qwest.net

magicv8

Here's what worked on my 66. It was a road warrior :mad when I got it - with a BB+TH400+4.56 rear. The rear was held inplace by double .375x2 iron straps about 18 long welded 2 inches apart to a pad at each end. The front pad had a hole in it to allow a longer pinion bracket bolt hold it to the frame. The rear of the bars were welded to a pad that replaced the plate that the rear spring is held by. There were ears to grab the differential housing cross bolts - the weldment also replaced the pinion bracket. I gave it to a guy who said his buddy would pay me for it :eek: and that's the last I saw of it. I removed it when I changed the rear to a 3.36 ratio 13 years ago. The twin bars are bent in a C shape to reach around the differential housing, probably by using a lot of heat.


[Modified by magicmachines, 8:10 PM 8/12/2001]

Kid_Again

donn...no flame intended, BUT, imho, your're not going to crank enuf torque out of a small block to break the connection between x-member and the frame unless you have consistently abused the hell out of it (or another owner did...and you'll never know)...i think the age of the car is a factor and the abuse over the years caused one or both of the sombrero gasket retaining bolts to strip and you just helped "leverage" the x-member off the mounting...unless i'm really missing the point...what did you have welded?..the x-member????

..in any event, from the archives, you'll see that one of those gasket bolts on my roadster's x-member was stripped, so check that out, re-tap to the next size bolt, go for new gaskets and i think you'll be fine :yesnod:

magicv8

A reminder that torque is multiplied by the rear end ratio. An SB with 4.56 generates a lot more at the rear than a BB with a 3.08. Also, these were not handmade cars. Some frames were made better than others. When I got my BB road warrior, I had a lot of frame weld beads rewelded to close cracks. Check all the beads verrryyyy carefully. Especially the FRONT end.

I avoid the Chicago area expressways because of the frame cracking potholes. I go east on I74. or through Wisconsin and Canada - rather than jump in and out of Chicago divots at 70mph. The joke is that Chicago has only 2 seasons: winter and construction. It's all caused by trucks. One semi causes more highway damage than 1400 cars passing over a road. Anyone around Chi-town will tell you the chance of finding 1400 cars between 2 semi trucks is a joke. Please ship by rail or air until truckers pay at least triple what they are currently taxed.