am looking for information on building a full frame to put under my 86 wagon...front subframe has some rust going on and doesnt appear to be the strongest, but dont want to ditch the car.

 

info I am looking for is...

1. is this a doable thing?

2. what size square tube would you recommend? (dont really plan on doing off road with this car, but may pull a small trailer with it)

3. where and how should I be linking it in to the car itself (ie mounting body)?

4. any other info you could possibly come up with in regards to this kind of project.

 

thanks in advance.

It would probably be less work and appear less "booty-fabbed" to just weld in patches of sheetmetal. For more strength you could go to a lower gauge (thicker sheetmetal), you could also weld square tubing in to reinforce, but you shouldn't have to make a full frame. If you do full welds the sheetmetal will be strong enough.

Depending on how bad the rust already is, as you cut the bad out, you will find that it goes way deeper than you would expect.......

 

I've seen 3 wagons from the rust belt, and all 3 ended as scrap cars......Sucks, but your better off trying to find a decent Body, and transplanting all your mechanicals....

 

If You proceed with this project, Look at all rust and probe it for depth of Uglyness,then get as much gone as Possible ....After you have it prepped, paint on a good rust inhibitor before welding in good Metal.....Once past the welding point, undercoat it with something good to get some life out of the car again......

 

Hope it helped, John in Oregon....

rust belt!

every soob i have seen has at least some but of rust at thr front of the framewell. all i have seen have held up for everyday driving. most of the front structure will be at where the inner engine bay and strut towers meet the firewall.

 

it doesnt really rust too bad around where the bolts go through

 

if you want to build a frame have LIFT in mind, but the sheetmetal will actually make the body stronger. as long as the jack doesnt stay with the car when you lower it(as in a scissor jack) , you are ok!

 

when i had to get the axle from that yard in wisconsin it actually took longet top find a solid spot to jack it up than it did to pull the axle!

 

i know how your rust plight can be! the soobs around here never came with rocker panels or rear side storage(behind the wheel)

wheel well arches are always gone, too

thanks for all the input guys, it is appreciated.

the body of the car is in pretty good shape overall, very minor rust considering where it lives!! LOL

not much in the way of mechanicals to transplant out of it if i was even thinking of doing that....only half of the motor is in it (was a turbo! :boohoo: ) but the 5 spd w/ p/b 4wheel, transfer etc is all there....only real bad lookin spot is on the front subframe, and i will have to do some grinding, poking and prodding to find out just how bad it really is, could be it looks worse than it really is (one hopes so anyway!)

I know i have seen talk of Por 15 here before....but you guys that have used it, recommend it? i have personally heard nothing but good about this product if used correctly....just looking for some more input...

thanks again all

I have a good friend that is in the process of POR15ing his entire frame. ('51 International service truck) He swears by it. Seems to do that trick, and it looks pretty good.