'Cuda Rear Frame Rail Replacement

[72bluNblu]

Passenger side rail replacement. This one was replaced from the shock crossmember back, the replacement part is a Sherman piece. It fit well, I had to make a few modifications to the overlap section to get it to slide in but it was pretty simple. The trunk patch was cut from the leftover part of my driver's side trunk patch, which is why it's missing some of the proper grooves. Again, not a show car. I also had to section a piece of the rear cross brace on this side.

[72bluNblu]

Driver's side rail replacement. This was done with an AMD piece, it's about 2/3's of the rail. I bought a left over from another member here who needed only the front section. It fit great, although getting the old rail free of the shock crossmember and getting this one in definitely made it more difficult than the passenger side. The section is basically right in the middle where the sway bar mounts attach (woohoo! extra gusset!). I also had a driver's side half of a trunk pan, also a sherman piece, so, that's what I sectioned in there. The floor of my trunk pan is fine, believe it or not, so I left it alone. I did forget to take a picture of this one half way through.

[70HoosierCuda]

Thanks for taking time to post the pictures...looks like the pieces fit pretty well.
At least you know the structure is sound again

[wantone]

I paid $3,500 to my local shop to do this work for me.... I pus'd out.

[70HoosierCuda]

I paid $3,500 to my local shop to do this work for me.... I pus'd out.

What did they replace/repair for that price?

[72bluNblu]

Thanks for taking time to post the pictures...looks like the pieces fit pretty well.
At least you know the structure is sound again

No problem! I'm trying to document this whole thing so I had plenty of pictures. I should probably start a thread, I've got a lot of work to do. In addition to the rear rails I've replaced a decent amount of the front floors and a chunk of the firewall, plus a conversion from an A/C firewall to a non-A/C firewall, and the hotchkis frame connectors this all started with. It's getting full quarters next, and I have to pull the roof skin to repair some of the roof structure. The whole thing is moving into my shop because winter is coming and I'm tired of welding in the wind. I've got to shuffle some cars first. This wasn't supposed to go this deep, but I went past the point of return. I knew my Challenger wasn't perfect when I bought it, and over the last 8 years and 60k miles of daily driving I've learned that it was actually pretty rough, even though it was functional. But as I started into it I've realized it was much worse than I thought. More rust than I expected, and I expected more than a little. The bodywork basically qualifies it as a bondo sculpture, its bad. But I digress.

Yup, everything fit well. Kind of surprisingly well actually, definitely some of the better replacement parts I've used. It's definitely solid. Maybe not the prettiest work, but it's solid and structurally sound, which it wasn't before. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, master of none kind of guy. I do everything on my cars except the machine work on the engines. I'm actually pretty good with a TIG welder, but MIG has never been my thing. And MIG on sheet metal, well, it's not going to fall apart but it's not my best work. But it's a non-numbers '72 that started life with a 318, so it's not a big money car.  Solid driver/corner carver is all
I'm looking for.

[rhamson]

I need to replace both rear frame rails on my '70 'Cuda....unfortunately the trunk pan and floor pans also need replaced (along with nearly everything else ).
 Not sure the best way to go about doing the rails in this scenario...any advice, opinions, pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

If you are not trying to do a show car or concours restoration you might consider a frame cap. I used them and replaced the trunk pan without messing with any of the measuring or straightening problems. I used POR15 over the old rails and when I removed the trunk floor pan I coated the interior of the old exposed frame. Everything else went in perfectly.https://www.autorust.com/

[1 Wild R/T]

If you are not trying to do a show car or concours restoration you might consider a frame cap. I used them and replaced the trunk pan without messing with any of the measuring or straightening problems. I used POR15 over the old rails and when I removed the trunk floor pan I coated the interior of the old exposed frame. Everything else went in perfectly.https://www.autorust.com/

With the amount of metal you replaced theres no way I would had not changed the rails...

[rhamson]

I was in the same situation as Hoosier Cuda who as he said "Unfortunately I don't have a frame table and would prefer not to farm out the work". I did not have to move any structural element or sacrifice the integrity of the car to remain as the factory originally made it. It was cheaper and faster and Hoosier Cuda is replacing everything I did. I would do it again if the same situation presented itself.

[rUNCHARGER]

I've done a lot of cars: I can't see any reason whatsoever to not use that clip that Alan posted.

Sheldon

[anlauto]

I opened up and looked at the WT6000 floor section. It does not have the hole for the fuel tank fill neck so it can be easily made to fit a Cuda or A Challenger 

[70HoosierCuda]

Would you mind posting a picture of the whole assembly?

[anlauto]

The part is put away in storage right now and pretty heavy to move around...I'll see what I can do next time I'm over there.
Comes in a weird silver colour ?

[70HoosierCuda]

Thanks, I'd appreciate it.
EDP coating maybe?

[mopardave]

Heres a pic of the rear assembly. I was to do mine again I would definitely go this route instead of piecing and grinding all of those welds.

you really cant see the details, but it has the rear crossmember and extensions in place already.

member price is 1195.00 + freight.