steel Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) after looking around the site at other peoples projects and looking at my rails which have been patch/repaired to a piss poor standard around the subframe/x member mounts ime thinking of making my own rails out of box section which will run from just behind the jacking point and forward the full length to the front panel i will weld in steel tubes where the crossmember bolts has anybody done this? ime thinking it will stiffen things up for the v8 motor ime ging to fit at the same time as taking care of the rot and probably much cheaper than getting repair sections your opinions/advice are welcome please Edited March 19, 2011 by steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTAMAN Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 If your fabrication skills are good it's possible to create anything. Dont know if you'll need to go as far as replacing the rails in the engine bay as this part of them rarely rots and these are a specific shape and set the position of the cross member hence the wheels. i've always thought it possible to replace the lower part of the chassie rail with two inch box and the jacking point with two pieces of one inch box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) , the off side rail running to the front panels forward of the swan neck is holed and a bit moth eaten for about half its length ime usin a wire brush on a grinder on the inner wing to remove all the old underseal and will cut out any previous patch repairs i will get a pic of it when its in bare metal Edited March 20, 2011 by steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opel2000 Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hi Steel. I think there are pro's and con's with doing this....... Basically the floorpan to bulkhead area doesn't run as straight as we would like when it comes to repairing sections like this, but that doesn't mean you can't notch out V sections out of the Box Section to get them to bend to follow the floor pan/bulkhead. Also I would go for a minimum of 2mm wall on the box section, preferably 3mm+ although the original chassis rails were made from 2 layers there was a hell of a lot of rigidity in them due to the way they were constructed from 2 layers. Awkward thing is when welding the box section to the car, to penetrate the box section you will need more power than you'll need to weld onto the thin floor, ideally for this you would be stitch welding and running the weld pool off of the thicker material onto the thinner material. It's perfectly do-able, can just be a little tricky if a tad inexperienced, apologies if you know what you are doing, don't mean to be condescending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) opel2000 your fine m8,, even if i know how to tackle the job there may be someone who reads this that doesnt [welding side of things ime ok with] its the what can i/ should not remove bit that worries me ime going to remove 1 side at a time [try to take off the swan neck whole] so i can follow its profile and transfer on to the box i was thinking 3mm miniumum wall thickness myself to be honest just a bit daunted about removing a big chunk of chassis rail like that Edited March 20, 2011 by steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantasrme Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 For that amount of the chassis rail it would be much easier to get a genuine rail (new or second hand) and fit it. While a genuine rail will cost a lot, your gaurenteed it will be right and line up The run of chassis rail from the top of the swan neck forwards has so many different shapes and curves along its length replicating it would be very hard. Down the swan neck and along under the floor is pretty straight and fairly easy to fab yourself Certainly i normally fold up steel for the underfloor run from the jacking point back. The other thing is that if you remove both crossmember mounting points from one side you need to be sure to get them back in exactly the right place Someone built a jig that bolted to the 4 crossmember mounting points aswell as front ARB mounts and possibly gearbox mounts (can't remember who though ) Obviously for that you need all the front end stripped out Also if removing that much strength at one time make sure the shell is supported enough to retain its shape before you refit the new rail Axle stands under the back end, other side rail, and somethng under the front crossmember would be my minimum suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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