has anyone repaired rusty shock towers? any advice?(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

visit the Governator and buy a shell. With a little looking you can get a good shell and still have it hauled back to wherever you are for <$1500. The type of rust you're describing will cost you lots more than that to have fixed.

Build the clean shell and let the rust gods take the one you have.

Regards,

John N

[Guest Anonymous]

There are a couple schools of thought here, depending upon whether you're going for a restoration, or just building a car that you want to be solid with nothing "growing."

You can get good shock tower sections cut out of a parts car and weld them in. You'll need to drop the rear suspension, remove the wiring, and fuel lines, and have a someone that measures carefully and lays downs some good, strong beads of weld. It can be done. Or, if your existing towers are starting to pop through around the spot weld you can fabricate and weld patches on them. Go the patch route if you're not really concerned about having the stamping marks on the towers. Clean off the existing areas as best you can, and might want to clean out inside the towers as well by removing the plastic plugs inside the wheelhouse.

The left shock tower on my 1969 1600 was totally collapsed. The patches have held nicely for 15 years and counting.

[Guest Anonymous]

now if i can only figure out how to replace the trunk floor.

[Guest Anonymous]

The trunk floor is pretty simple. Since you are looking to get used, I would wait to see what amount of metal you get. You can also have a good look at how the panels go together when you free up the trunk floor from the extra metal attached (the drawback of buying used is you have a lot of extra work).

If I were doing this, I would go around the perimeter, from just in front of the flat between the shock towers and all around the trunk to including the rear panel and remove all the seam sealer. You can then see some of the welds that make the connection. there are other welds, called spot welds, that are in the middle of panels. To see these, you cut out that majority of the floor you are going to remove, and then sand the back of the floor where it meets the rear panel and q-panels. Sorry not the best description. There are several spot welds along the rear panel, and a couple on the q-panel and i think a couple with the shock towers. You will need at spot weld cutting drill bit to remove these.

It is difficult to describe. Just remember to ease up to total metal removal. It is ok to quickly remove the bulk of the floor you know you are going to replace, but take your time where the remaining metal meets other panels.

Here is a pic that should help.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

or i can email you the picture for your opinion.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

to welding in a new floor trunk, donor shock towers and one rocker panel?

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

Sorry, I don't have a clue.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

DEREK WHAT GAUGE METAL DID YOU USE FOR YOUR PATCHES

[Guest Anonymous]

i'm pulling the engine and trans tomorrow. you can have both if you want. not sure of their condition though. the guy i got the car from said they were fine unitl the starter died. i'm droppin' a rebuild and 5 spd in.