#1  
Old 11-17-2018, 09:05 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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Default Floor/torque box/frame rail

So I have searched and am surprised there's not clear info on the torque box and frame rail repair that is so so common for the firebirds.

So i'm learning it mostly on my own, finished welding in the passenger side torque box today yeha! gotta do both sides.

I'm doing it laying on my back, no fancy stuff here. this is a do yourself thing not professional here likely better ways but sharing what I'm doing. that said i'm not a newbie and know what i'm doing.

what iv'e learned: remove the floor pan/torque box/frame rail portion as one piece. that is if like mine, you only need front frame rail repair. the torque box is spot welded to the floor pan to difficult and not worth the expensive bits to try and remove all the spot welds. of course its spot welded to the rocker and the frame rail to the torque box as well.


use a small drill bit and drill from the bottom along the torque box. make your line inside and using a cutting wheel cut thru the floor along the torque box fwd/inboard/aft areas then I used an air chisel from top along the rocker and broke those spot welds loose. out it comes.

I ordered the under seat pan and rear floorboard and cut to use only what I needed to replace the floor above the torque box first. then welded in the torque box after adjusting for best fitment. next is my short frame rail repair splice. I ordered full frame rails because it was cheaper than just repair pieces. i'll cut em where I need to.


made some measurements as well as checking level from one side to the other. do one side at a time of course. lotta labor but sure feels good to have that strong new metal in there! I overkill the welds. twice as many welds as the factory did. I use por 15 everywhere I can as I go.


not after pretty just strong and straight. non visable stuff is fun! my cars a driver/race so no concerns there. but I dpnt want ugly either. ha. anyway just sharin maybe help someone else.

  #2  
Old 11-23-2018, 11:00 AM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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Default .....as the process continues

It actually didn't occur to me that I suppose I'm lucky not to have more rust on this car than what it has beings it was bought in Omaha Nebraska and stayed there till I bought it. Thought about that while doing the unpleasant on my back brush on Por-15. messy stuff ya gotta stay outta the way of while applying! but its great stuff. Going to undercoat it after this as well.

Getting ready to do the drivers side floor above the t-box/T-box/frame rail i'll take some pics as I go.

This is a street car do it yourself clone project that my goal is to have no more than $20,000 in, going to drive the heck out of it and race once in awhile. started nov 2016 goal is complete in 2020.


I found this copper rich weld thru primer at my auto paint supply store. expensive but good stuff.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:03 AM.
  #3  
Old 11-24-2018, 06:19 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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removed the drivers side today. cut the straight areas from the bottom, drilled guide holes where I had to cut from the top. I stay back and inch from the aft floorboard seam so I can overlap that with the new floor patch panel. the seam line is a good guide to cutting the frame rail also. air chisel the welds on the rocker side and out it go's. three chunks of sandwiched rust!


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:03 AM.
  #4  
Old 11-24-2018, 06:48 PM
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dfektive4 dfektive4 is offline
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I will be helping my buddy do some repair on his rear frame rails soon and this information will really help. Thanks for posting.

  #5  
Old 11-24-2018, 07:23 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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couple more pics. where I cut the frame rail. side benefit is I had a seat belt bolt seized up and the new torque box replaces that.




trunk floors good. drop offs and other areas are not. this car has some rust where it shouldn't you would think and zero rust in areas you would think it would.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:03 AM.
  #6  
Old 11-26-2018, 01:38 PM
JC455 JC455 is offline
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Looking good!

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  #7  
Old 12-28-2018, 06:52 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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welded in the floor above the torque box and torque box. just the frame rail splice piece to do and its on to pieces that will move along faster and easier not having to be on my back so close to the bottom of the car!

lot more room to work on the rest of it. felt like my car had a decent amount of rust but after watching others new purchase threads, i'm sittin' pretty good! i'm applying multiple coats of por 15/weld thru primer/undercoat when i'm done with an area. triple the welds as the factory as well.

they don't make a torque box floorboard piece so I bought the under rear seat and the rear floorpan even though I only needed small pieces of each. the fun part is rustproofing way beyond the factory efforts preserving things another 45 years and beyond.


I can't imagine paying a body restoration shop to do this work, would cost a fortune its definetly labor intensive and I can see now how a restoration shop would ka-ching the cash register on ya for 60 plus grand!


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #8  
Old 12-31-2018, 06:12 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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wow finished up the drivers side torque box/frame rail/floor board today! both sides done, holy smokes that was a lotta work laying on my back with the car so close above me. rich guys got it made doing that on a rotisserie! burned a hole right thru my 2 shirts with weld spatter once, that'll always wake ya up.

time to por 15 and seam seal all the welds and gaps then por 15 over that. feels good, the area is much stronger than factory with all the xtra welds I added. peace of mind come track time.

drivers side was more of a challenge as the frame rail shape was poor. had to cut it in several spots and fabricate (rebuild) the dang thing. the passenger side was to good to be true, no issues and great fit.

sometimes i'm pretty sure when you order a pair of something, the vendor toss's in one good one and one that's known to be bad to get it out of stock. coulda shipped it back but then that would have shut me down. times to valuable.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #9  
Old 01-04-2019, 09:44 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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thought i'd post pics of my restoration process.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #10  
Old 01-04-2019, 10:05 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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interior dash etc, trans am dash bezel is my prototype deciding if I wanted a 2 hole or 4 hole bezel. decided 2. (no ac bezel) and speedhut gauges. original dash no cracks, switched glove box door and drivers panel to no a/c versions. no ac fiberglass firewall cover.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #11  
Old 01-04-2019, 10:30 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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kind of driving I do, manual front disc rear drum brakes are great. tossed the ugly brake booster. installed a repop auto trans brake pedal for a 69 firebird. direct bolt in, has the extra hole for manual brake. removed windshield squirt setup. blocker kit mod on the scoop.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #12  
Old 01-04-2019, 10:47 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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few repair welds on the wheel wells and core support and por 15 applied. car sat since 1988, had this vintage sanyo 8 track in it, got lucky it was a fit that didn't cut the dash openings any. new heater core refurbished inside heater box fabbed a plate to block off the previous front opening for the a/c duct work.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #13  
Old 01-04-2019, 11:03 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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restored the front bumper, filled the bumper jack slots to clean it up beings the car won't ever see a bumper jack again. new danko flares and spoiler. very impressed with the fit. restored the valance, welded the early brackets to the new fenders for the valance.


whole lot more completed, currently getting ready to replace rear frame rails with a repair, then on to the tail/outer wheel house and quarter skins. goal is to complete all metal work next 6 months and begin final body work this year.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #14  
Old 01-05-2019, 11:01 AM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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restored tail lights, grills, repop shaker scoop, original front fender scoops from ebay, and anything else removed. floorboards were really good, both fronts only needed this triangle shaped area where Nebraska snow covered feet allowed water to collect to. had to get the big floorpan just for these pieces. everything trimmed to exact fit, butt welded not overlapped.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #15  
Old 01-05-2019, 11:18 AM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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doors completely rebuilt/ restored, cut out the heavy sidebeams, mirrors restored and anvil auto manual drivers and passenger mirrors installed to toss the octopus cable.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #16  
Old 01-05-2019, 11:36 AM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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these are the same engine. offered my 69 Judge clone for sale with/without the black version, fella chose without called me a week later wanting it. hes since had len Williams in Oklahoma build him an awesome 455. anyway the Pontiac blue version is the TA clone engine, mellowed out some. no headers, performer rpm intake, holley 1,000 cfm carb, smaller fuel line (to start with) and mechanical fuel pump. plan to mod it to fuel tank with built in electric pump later on. gotta save some fun for later..... out with the original rear, moser awaiting with new 4 leaf springs, global west subframe connectors. got a great black Friday deal from moser! plus they raised there prices after the first of the year, whew.


been applying decals as I go to decide what I want. the originals for a 72 are small, thinking I like the bigger versions for now but I dunno. that's the fun of a clone not trapped to originality. guilt free modern mod upgrades.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #17  
Old 01-06-2019, 12:01 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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brief history, was the most enjoyable road trip to get a car me and my wife ever went on. lol been many, some duds. watched the car on craigslist for 6 months. started at $6,000 slowly went down to $3,000 which is what I bought it for. sold the drivetrain/new exhaust and other un needed non trans am parts so I began the restoration with just $1,500 in it. complete car.


few more pics as purchased and the white pic is to be the end game.


cruise route 66 and 12.30's at the strip is the vision.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #18  
Old 01-27-2019, 07:01 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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removed the screw on panel at the base of the rear windshield today just piddled a bit this weekend. zero rust there nice and dry. zero rust at the top of the cowl and base area at the front windshield to.

began the rear frame rail splice repair. same process as the front rail portion. tried to get away with just removing spot welds but the lack of space on the inboard side and trunk pan didn't allow for room to get in there and knock things loose. my trunk pan is also rust free and good but have to get the section out to remove the rusted rail. no big deal, easy to fab my own trunk panel there. this will go much faster than the front with no torque box to replace.


being a clone the trunk lid doesn't stay up with the spoiler, I noticed the different notches for the torsion bar, I really don't care but if its easy to move the rods to another slot to achieve the lid staying up with spoiler i'll do it. saw a youtube post on that somewhere here.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #19  
Old 01-27-2019, 07:34 PM
JUDGE3 JUDGE3 is offline
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I have the inner and outer complete tail panels. I will be cutting them and splicing in only the areas in need of repair. its the lower areas as usual on these cars. no need to tear everything apart and replace the entire panels creating much more expertise, alignment issues and work. I like keeping the cars "square" areas as its much easier to follow the original lines. done properly it won't be noticeable. as with the rest a heavy dose of grinding/por15/seam sealer/undercoating ensues as it go's together.


Last edited by JUDGE3; 12-20-2023 at 11:02 AM.
  #20  
Old 01-27-2019, 07:53 PM
lugnutx2 lugnutx2 is offline
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Really impressed with the way you're getting things done, nice work ! Keep posting!

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