Rear Frame Rail Repair Question

[Shmingey]

Hi I was wondering if someone could help me out by giving me an idea on how extensive the work is on repairing the rear frame rails on a 73 Challenger.  I found one for sale that has some pretty bad rust on the frame rails but the rest of the car is supposed to be original and rust free.  The body looks nice and straight and looks like a fresh paint job was done and according to the seller the original quarters are on the car and are rust free.  I am a little hesitant that a car could have rust this bad on the rails and no where else, but if it all checks out and seems to be true, I might be making a offer on this car if it isn't too extensive to repair this. 

I am mechanically inclined but have never owned a Challenger or really worked on them.  My father also has a small machine shop in his garage with plasma cutters, welders etc so doing the metal work shouldn't be a problem.  Thanks for any info.  Here are some pictures of the rails and of the trunk showing that there is no rust in the trunk so any second opinions on if the rest of the car potentially being rust free would be greatly appreciated too.  The car is a good drive away so I'm trying to do my research before committing to the 10 hr drive.





and the trunk

[mopar12372]

you could repair the section or buy a new frame rail , remove the old drill holes in the new and weld.

[73RallyeChallenger]

Here is a pic of the rear frame rail on my 1973 Challenger. As you can see mice made a nice home for themselves.

[Challenger III]

If that's the only problem it's a piece of cake. I notice a patch in the trunk floor also. You will definitely need to check this one out well, in person. 

[73RallyeChallenger]

Here are some more pics showing some of the steps involved. A lot of these cars have rusted sub frames. What I would be asking is what is under that new paint and how much bondo was used putting it back together. It is very expensive to repair these cars. It would make me blush if I told you how much I have into my car right now. If i had to do it over again, I would look for a car that didn't need extensive rust repair. With this car you are looking at, it is very unlikely that only the rear frame rails are rusty.

[73RallyeChallenger]

another inside car

[73RallyeChallenger]

New AMD frame rails beside the old frame rails

[73RallyeChallenger]

Here are the freshly installed AMD rear frame rails. This was the summer of 2009, and I'm hoping to have the car painted this spring. Restoring this car was like pulling a string on a sweater, I was hoping that only the subframe needed repair, and I quickly discovered that just about every panel needed replacement. This was a car that had a fresh paint job when I bought it. I had to ask myself, who paints a car that needs such extensive sub frame work?

[Shmingey]

Here are the freshly installed AMD rear frame rails. This was the summer of 2009, and I'm hoping to have the car painted this spring. Restoring this car was like pulling a string on a sweater, I was hoping that only the subframe needed repair, and I quickly discovered that just about every panel needed replacement. This was a car that had a fresh paint job when I bought it. I had to ask myself, who paints a car that needs such extensive sub frame work?

This is exactly what I am looking for.  I am going to be getting some more photos sent to me today from the car owner. The other thing that scares me is that the owner has only had the car for one year so I am sure that they bought it to flip and sell it which worries me about shortcuts being made.  With them having a lift in their shop I will be hopefully getting some good pictures sent me way.  The rest of the car does look pretty good in pictures. Hopefully its the same in person.  Here are some more photos of the car.  Any estimate on what you would pay for this car if it does check out and not need other body work would be greatly appreciated.  They can't find a fender tag and the engine bay is painted black and the car is red but originally bronze so I know this will deduct from the value along with a 69 340 with J-heads obviously isn't numbers matching but is a prefered engine compared to the 73.

Thank you for all of the info, if it is just frame rails it looks like it could be a good car to buy given the right price.

[Shmingey]

I just got some more undercarriage photos.











Thanks again for all the info you guys are giving me.  It really helps me out.

[73RallyeChallenger]

I can tell you that there is alot more rot in that subframe than just the rear frame rails. The torsion bar mount look solid, but I can see a patch in the floor under the rear seat, and the driver side front frame rail has alot more rot than my car, which by the way I had to replace as well to get a government safety here in Canada. I would not buy that car at any price due to the significant rust damage on the subframe of the car. This is based on my own actual experience. Looking at the outside of the car, I can see alot of short cuts, i.e. painted bumpers, no attempt to paint the engine bay. If you do decide to buy the car, do yourself a favour, and ask for pics of the car prior to primer and paint. If they cannot provide, then run away.

[brads70]

Run Forest RUN!   it's a rot box!  That's a $1500-$2000 car to me? 
My first Challenger I had in the 80's was like that. The rear springs came though the trunk, and the front wheels started "self cambering in" ( front rails were rotted so bad it was caving in)
You will spend 3-4X fixing this as what you can buy a fixed up one for!

[Shmingey]

Thanks for the info guys, it really helps.  With this being a Canadian car (BC) I assumed that it couldn't just have the rear frame rails with rust.  You guys helped give me some good peace of mind on skipping by this one.  Looks like my search continues.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Thanks for the info guys, it really helps.  With this being a Canadian car (BC) I assumed that it couldn't just have the rear frame rails with rust.  You guys helped give me some good peace of mind on skipping by this one.  Looks like my search continues.

Boy, just looking at the paint job, you would never know what evils were hiding below.   

If you find another car and want some opinions, let us know. Good luck with your search.   

['Cuda Hunter]

What was the fella asking for the car?