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ScottD
12-12-2006, 01:48 PM
Anybody know what gauge the steel is on an L-body frame rail? Yep, you guessed it, the driver's side frame rail on my 86 GLHS needs some repair. Typical project, started out as replacing the steering rack and turns into rust repair 101. Better to find it now though! I've cut out all the rusty metal and am going to fabricate patch panels that my turbo Dodge surgeon (Troy) is going to weld in for me. He thinks it is 16-18 gauge steel, anybody else gone through this and have any suggestions?

22mopar
12-12-2006, 03:16 PM
Anybody know what gauge the steel is on an L-body frame rail? Yep, you guessed it, the driver's side frame rail on my 86 GLHS needs some repair. Typical project, started out as replacing the steering rack and turns into rust repair 101. Better to find it now though! I've cut out all the rusty metal and am going to fabricate patch panels that my turbo Dodge surgeon (Troy) is going to weld in for me. He thinks it is 16-18 gauge steel, anybody else gone through this and have any suggestions?

wouldn't it be better to just get a rust free omni to work with? I had a 1965 Shelby GT 350 that was rusted out from the door handles down. I "repaired" the body with a southern fastback mustang.

ScottD
12-12-2006, 03:19 PM
The underbody of this car is solid everywhere else. I was surprised to find this one spot was as bad as it was. It isn't a difficult fix.

JDAWG
12-12-2006, 03:21 PM
sometimes its easier than ripping out a whole engine and wiring harness, inrerior and whatever else too, and swapping it into a different car

Pat
12-12-2006, 04:14 PM
My offer for $500 for the car stands. :-)

ScottD
12-12-2006, 04:47 PM
$500? With the amount of work I have in the car at this point, I'll probably be buried in it!

WVRampage
12-12-2006, 06:32 PM
Yeah that does sound right for the steel to use just weld it up good and rust proof the heck out of it with some good paint(POR15 or chassis saver)also seal it up goot after its wlded and all make sure the water cant get in.I would expect you will be patching part of the floor as well so make sure you spray some good rust stoping paint like mentoned above on every thing and in every hole,I would even drill a few holes on the inside of the car so you could spray some of the paint at the back sited of the rockers so they dont rust out.Thats just my 2 cents.

turbojerk
12-12-2006, 06:40 PM
$500? With the amount of work I have in the car at this point, I'll probably be buried in it!

Ok! $650 and you can just leave the rust where it is.....:lol:

T

GLHS592
12-12-2006, 07:15 PM
wouldn't it be better to just get a rust free omni to work with? I had a 1965 Shelby GT 350 that was rusted out from the door handles down. I "repaired" the body with a southern fastback mustang.

Then it wouldn't be a GLHS, now would it?

Pat
12-12-2006, 07:42 PM
Ok! $650 and you can just leave the rust where it is.....:lol:

T


You bastard! :D

Pat
12-12-2006, 07:43 PM
wouldn't it be better to just get a rust free omni to work with? I had a 1965 Shelby GT 350 that was rusted out from the door handles down. I "repaired" the body with a southern fastback mustang.


This car barely needs any work at all....definitely worth fixing.

JDAWG
12-12-2006, 08:13 PM
yea I seen it, its solid. Deff worth saving. I know troy has a beast welder, go for the 16, cant hurt a thing. Probably better than factory anyways.

ScottD
12-12-2006, 08:31 PM
Just gotta find some black steel to use to make the patches. No luck at Tractor Supply.

turbojerk
12-12-2006, 10:18 PM
Just gotta find some black steel to use to make the patches. No luck at Tractor Supply.


Give me some overall dims of what we need and I'll get some scrap from work............

turbojerk
12-12-2006, 10:19 PM
You bastard! :D

:rockon: :thumb:

ScottD
12-12-2006, 10:32 PM
Let me see if I can round something up by the end of the week. I want to have it here and cut out to save time so when you come over all that needs done is the pieces welded in. That'll be the biggest pain, cutting the pieces to fit the holes.

turbojerk
12-12-2006, 10:36 PM
Let me see if I can round something up by the end of the week. I want to have it here and cut out to save time so when you come over all that needs done is the pieces welded in. That'll be the biggest pain, cutting the pieces to fit the holes.


Kewl,...LMK!

contraption22
12-12-2006, 11:47 PM
$500? With the amount of work I have in the car at this point, I'll probably be buried in it!


Just don't find yourself in my posistion.. where you keep dumping money in your Lbody and it ain't gettin any prettier!

JDAWG
12-12-2006, 11:53 PM
Let me see if I can round something up by the end of the week. I want to have it here and cut out to save time so when you come over all that needs done is the pieces welded in. That'll be the biggest pain, cutting the pieces to fit the holes.

make his lazy --- lay on the ground scott

mpgmike
12-13-2006, 09:53 AM
I just did floor repair on my '84 Charger with 16 gauge and can guarantee that would be plenty heavy for a frame repair. I happened to have the 16 gauge laying around or else I would have gone 18 or 20 on the floor.

Mike
www.PowreHaus.com

BoostedL
12-13-2006, 11:11 AM
Can you buy preformed floors for the L-bodies like you can for classic cars??

contraption22
12-13-2006, 07:16 PM
Can you buy preformed floors for the L-bodies like you can for classic cars??


I wish... but we're not talking 70 Chevelle's or Hemi 'cudas here. It takes a sizable cash outlay to do something like that.

ScottD
12-13-2006, 07:35 PM
Mike - isn't being into turbo Dodges all about dumping money into them to keep them going while at the same time the paint fades more and more each year????

t3rse
12-15-2006, 07:42 PM
i dont' give a rats a$$ how my car looks, all i care about is how many lengths I can put between me and the next evo, vette, or stang...

btw, I think it's 16...what it looks like on mine anyways...i've braced it some...
the k frame is stamped 14...i believe so i would put 14 on it, or maybe even iron stock, like 1/8in

ScottD
12-16-2006, 12:21 PM
Ok, this is what I came up with. I got 1/8 steel for the inside of the frame rail. That's a bit of a thicker area. For the bottom of the rail I got 1/4 steel (right Troy, is that what it was?) because that area is a little thinner. I made the first patch panel this morning. Pics attached. This was the thinner steel, the other hole is a little more complex, I've attached a pic of that area as well.

GLHSKEN
12-16-2006, 12:46 PM
Looking good. No floor pans available. You will have to cut and fab. Just did it to my car. Looks great.

GLHS592
12-16-2006, 01:21 PM
Just did it to my car. Looks great.

How much of that SC floor pan were you able to salvage?

turbojerk
12-16-2006, 06:25 PM
(right Troy, is that what it was)

Close... It was 14 GA steel.

T-organ

ScottD
12-16-2006, 10:05 PM
I'm thinking about using the thinner stuff on the side too. The bottom of the rail is thin steel, the thick stuff might be tough to weld there. I'll cut the patch out tomorrow out of the thinner stuff and see how it looks.

t3rse
12-17-2006, 11:50 AM
if you are welding thick material to thin material, it's easier if you bevel the thick stuff and work the arc down the bevel...

GLHSKEN
12-17-2006, 12:34 PM
How much of that SC floor pan were you able to salvage?

I brought it to the welder. He used it as a giude to shape new metal. None of it was actually used. The only new metal was front floorboards and where it attaches to the firewall. All those areas had minor rust on them sh he made the decision to go with new metal.

Of course. After he completed the work, my daughter totaled her SC... The floorboards in it were MINT. I'll be using that for GLHS #479 when the time comes.

I very much appreciate the floorboard Kev...

ScottD
12-19-2006, 09:55 AM
Some pics of the patch panels I fabbed up.

ScottD
12-24-2006, 10:40 AM
Here's everything welded up. On the inside rail in each pic it looks like a black roll pin is sticking out of the frame, it isn't, it just kept showing in the pics like that. On the inside rail I need to build it up some with some JB waterweld and then smooth it out, then prime it, paint it, and undercoat it.

I'd like to thank Troy (turbojerk) for coming down and doing the welding and providing a flapper wheel on his angle grinder which really helped out, I REALLY appreciated it!

ScottD
12-29-2006, 05:03 PM
Finished product. First pic is with the JB Waterweld smoothed into the inner frame rail. I then sanded and primed it. Then painted it black and the final step was to undercoat it. Looks great in my opinion. Thanks again Troy!

cordes
12-29-2006, 05:05 PM
Wow, that looks really nice. Thanks for the thread and pics.

mpgmike
12-29-2006, 09:49 PM
A new twist on floor board repair:
http://www.allpar.com/fix/holler/carpets.html

Mike

TurboJerry
12-29-2006, 10:12 PM
Looks great. I'm going through the same thing with my Spirit. A rock hit the frame in roughly the same spot as your rust damage........ I can post pictures if anyone wants.......

ScottD
12-29-2006, 10:32 PM
Hey Mike - I haven't forgotten about getting the hood to you. Will give you a call when I get some decent dates in mind that I'm free.