Inner Rocker/Crossmember Repair, Where to begin? Options

[WH23]

Have a 1968 Coronet, Pennsylvania car, so it is rusty. The outer rockers are decent, except towards the back, but the inners are bad where the torsion bar crossmember connects on each side. The ends of the crossmember are bad too.

I was wondering how I would go about fixing this. Would it be best to remove the outer rockers for access? I planned on getting the Safe-T-Cap crossmember ends too.

Basically, how do you fix all this without cutting it all out and not have the car fold up in a ball? I work at a collision repair shop, but I have never done anything this extensive. I'm guessing bracing is needed, but has anyone done a repair like this before and can give some advice?

[mrmopartech]

Is this to be done as a complete car with all the drive line in place or as a car striped down and on a car BBQ,mrmopartech

[WH23]

Is this to be done as a complete car with all the drive line in place or as a car striped down and on a car BBQ,mrmopartech

Ideally it would be on a rotisserie and completely torn down, but that probably isn't going to happen. It isn't my car (father), but I will be doing the rust repair (welding).

[jim77070]

Where in PA are you? I'll be in the Punxsutawney area for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Depending on how badly rusted the car is, bracing maybe needed. Check the door opening gaps. Are they evenly gaped? Do the doors open and close with ease? If yes, then the car hasn't sagged from rusty crossmembers, rockers or other components. Use a maganitic base level to check the degree of tilt, in degrees, of the door posts and jams.

Remove the doors, front seat and carpeting. Make a set of adjustable cross braces. For mounting points, use the door stricker bolt holes in the rear and the door hinge plate holes in the front. Remove the front seat and make a couple of adjustable X frames to mount inside the just installed door opening braces, one set for the top and the other for the bottom. Basically we are building an adjustable X frame that can be used to keep the diagional "X" measurements in place when cutting out the rusted parts and welding in the new parts.

If you have a good friend at a frame pulling place, they can provide you with the factory specs. That way you will know that the front and rear sub frames are in proper alignment. If need be a complete frame jig can be welded together based upon the frame specs and the car car rest or it during the rebuild process.

I would use new pieces from Goodmark to completely replace the existing torsion bar crossmember and inner rocker. Safety cap, if not done properly, is a short term fix, the crossmember still can rot away underneath it.

For ideas on the bracing and rustoration look at the photos on these sites:
http://www.autorust.com/index.html
http://www.autometaldirect.com/
http://www.theinstallationcenter.com/chrysler.html
http://www.goodmarkindustries.com/
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...ject/index.html
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...hing/index.html
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...l/photo_09.html

[mrmopartech]

If the doors are going to be off,and striped down,I would mig weld in braces to the door and pillar and cross the car to stop any twisting or bending.And this is really important if the floor is gone or back half of the car.Do a simple look at what has to be done and check every thing really well and post the finds,you might just have to put it on a lift and cut out the rocker panels and weld in new ones,as I do this all the time,with complete new ones,as there are cheap,and easier to change a complete panel than a section,mrmopartech

[WH23]

Where in PA are you? I'll be in the Punxsutawney area for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Depending on how badly rusted the car is, bracing maybe needed. Check the door opening gaps. Are they evenly gaped? Do the doors open and close with ease? If yes, then the car hasn't sagged from rusty crossmembers, rockers or other components. Use a maganitic base level to check the degree of tilt, in degrees, of the door posts and jams.

Remove the doors, front seat and carpeting. Make a set of adjustable cross braces. For mounting points, use the door stricker bolt holes in the rear and the door hinge plate holes in the front. Remove the front seat and make a couple of adjustable X frames to mount inside the just installed door opening braces, one set for the top and the other for the bottom. Basically we are building an adjustable X frame that can be used to keep the diagional "X" measurements in place when cutting out the rusted parts and welding in the new parts.

If you have a good friend at a frame pulling place, they can provide you with the factory specs. That way you will know that the front and rear sub frames are in proper alignment. If need be a complete frame jig can be welded together based upon the frame specs and the car car rest or it during the rebuild process.

I would use new pieces from Goodmark to completely replace the existing torsion bar crossmember and inner rocker. Safety cap, if not done properly, is a short term fix, the crossmember still can rot away underneath it.

For ideas on the bracing and rustoration look at the photos on these sites:
http://www.autorust.com/index.html
http://www.autometaldirect.com/
http://www.theinstallationcenter.com/chrysler.html
http://www.goodmarkindustries.com/
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...ject/index.html
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...hing/index.html
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/project...l/photo_09.html

We're originally from Punxsutawney but moved to Delaware. Dad sold his 70 Coronet to move down here. There were no old Mopars for sale in Delaware that needed fixed up, so we ended up looking in the surrounding areas. This car was originally a low mileage Uniontown car, but someone in the late 90's bought it from the original owners, had it stuffed with bondo/newspaper etc. Then a Mopar guy got it and sold it to us.

I was thinking about making my own crossmember ends instead of using a cap. He wants to cap everything but there isn't a whole lot to weld a cap to.

Thanks for all the info. The frame measuring system at work doesn't have any records for older cars.

[flap]

ive done numerous of these. ill tell ya straight up - brace it all from the start before you start cuttin stuff out. itll save you no end of headache later. brace across the rocker ends front and rear and then x brace it from front to rear and sides.all old cars have distortion, some more than others, you dont know how many times its been hit before either. the point bein distortion is cumulative , an eigth inch here , a quarter there, a half somewhere else can drastically add up and leave you where doors wont fit

as to the cappin or fish plating, i always cut the pieces off to fresh metal and butt weld a new piece in, hand fitted from the same metal type then i will cap it with somthin a little tougher and expand the connection past the original damage(overlap the new metal far enough to have an equal amount of the old metal covered) now this piece i will drill spot weld holes on a one inch square grid pattern(thicker the metal you weldin to, bigger the hole) strength and longevity is the primary concern , not personal convenience.you want it to go down the boulevard with authority, not worryin about stuff poppin loose(if its worth doin at all, its worth doin right) a little extra weight is not as big a concern as havin somthin that will be strong and last for years(if it was a honda or some other kleenex car that you use once and throw away, id say patch it and go) the rockers id say do the same for the inside only you might want to get a piece of strap stock (3/32'' x whatever width and run it the full length of the rocker rail spot welded on a 2'' grid pattern) my stuff never comes apart and in my opinion theres no such thing as overkill. do it once , do it right, iron dont understand oops

[moparman1972]

Not to hijack WH's thread here, but I need to do some similar repair work on mine.. I learned a lot from reading these few posts here. Thanks for the tips guys.