CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion - Partial Frame Replacement Question

Hello all,

I have an odd ball car. It is a '72 Corvette (454/400), but it has an AC Cobra 427 Fiberglass body on it. An older friend and I built it when I was in High School, and he left it to me when he passed away. The frame has had 8.5" cut out of the center, and the front and rear had been heavily modified to accommodate the body. This fabrication work was done before I came into the project, so I don't know the gory details of the fabrication, but the fabricated parts are strong and necessary.

When I was replacing the front control arm bushings, I noticed that the two halves of the cross member were begining to separate from one another at the spot welds. This was allowing the bottom half to move relative the the top half everytime the supension articulated, which caused a crack to propagate on the underside of each framerail. I clamped the two halves together with 1/4" bolts as a stop-gap measure, and the crack has not advanced since then.

I showed it to one of the suspension engineers where I work, and he said that I should be OK as long as I don't corner aggressively. He also told me that just rewelding it would be a bad idea, as the quality of the metal underneath is an unknown comodity. That leaves me with replacing/repairing the front section of the frame if I want to have some fun.

I have searched the forums regarding frame replacement, and crossmember failure seems to be a problem that is common enough to have good aftermarket support. This is good news, but so far I have only seen full replacement frames, and no sections. Do you know of a source for just the engine cross member and forward section of the frame? I am planning on replacing just that portion, becuase removing the body from the entire frame would be nearly impossible, but the forward part is accessible enough to cut away without major damage to the body.

Thanks for your help and input. :bigears

-Steve