[JUDGE3]

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.

[JUDGE3]

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.

[JUDGE3]

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!

[dfektive4]

I will be helping my buddy do some repair on his rear frame rails soon and this information will really help. Thanks for posting.

[JUDGE3]

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.

[JC455]

Looking good!

[JUDGE3]

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!

[JUDGE3]

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.

[JUDGE3]

thought i'd post pics of my restoration process.

[JUDGE3]

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.

[lugnutx2]

Really impressed with the way you're getting things done, nice work ! Keep posting!

[dataway]

Looking good ... nice shop too

[JUDGE3]

never get tired of watching this. If I had the bucks my car would be capable of this to. yeha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNfK3TRs1N0

[JUDGE3]

fabbed up trunk floor panel(s) above the area I needed to cut to replace the rear frame rail piece. had to fab 2 separate panels and weld together due to the shape and bends. got it completed. then welded the bumper bracket on.

the frame rail is just up there as I adjust for fit and proper location, have not welded it up yet. initial fit looks very good! happy about that i'll take all the ease of install I can get when dealing with repop parts.


sprayed the area with rustproofing copper rich weld thru primer. the rear rail has several open tooling holes i'll be able to spray undercoating thru when completed. I used 16 gauge thick steel sheet for the fabbed floor panels, a bit thicker than OE to make that area stronger.


the nasty rust side is the trunk drop off and quarterpanel. leaving them attached so I could be sure and get the size and bend flange in the right place for he new drop off panel. I don't remove any metal until i'm actually ready for that specific area. always saving reference points.

[JUDGE3]

gradually covering the shop ceiling with stuff. preferably Pontiac stuff!

fixin to spray the moser rear with black epoxy primer as I plan to install it as soon as I get the rear frame rail repairs completed. get it back on 4 feet for the first time in a year.

the tail and outer wheel houses, quarter skin will be next so don't need the rear up so high and might turn my attention to a few mechanical items and tak a break from the metal work just for a bit.

really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now though even though I have likely 2 years to go. that's because from late may to end of august I tend not to work on it as much with summer activities and such.

[JUDGE3]

completed the drivers side rear frame rail replacement today. it fit great, but needed cut a few places as required. I spliced mine over the existing good portion of the frame rail by around 3 inches. by cutting each side of the new piece along the edge equal distance it allow the repair piece to flush right up. weld it all closed and its done. In keeping with my overkill ways I doubled factory spot/plug welds and then welded it solid at the entire edges. super strong. maybe better since i'm using subframe connectors anyway.

[JUDGE3]

on to the passenger side now! will be soooooooo glad when the on my back work is done. at my age the hassle is the distance to car is just to far for my magnifying piece in my welding helmet but to far to see good laying my head flat so constantly trying to prop myself up.


can't wait to do the trunk drop offs/outer wheel house/quarter skins. be in a good working position for a change!

[72projectbird]

Looks great!

I'm very interested in the tail panel replacement, as I'll be doing the same in a month or so. I also need to replace the inner panel behind the tail, where the rails connect.

Keep up the good work!

[JUDGE3]

here's the spot I was talking about. not in the wheel well meant just forward. you can see where the torque box meets the floorpanel, my car appeared to not have ever had the seam sealed. water gets right between there, bad news. I sealed it up overkill now.

ugly pic I hadn't removed the original undercoating yet at this time. I was thankfull for it though, it saved this car. the needle scaler made easy quick work removing it.


be a bit before I get to the tail panel. decided I want to get the rear back under it, swaybar and such. do some mechanical and take a metal break.

I will be just splicing in both inner and outer tail panels. neither need full replacement.

[JUDGE3]

darn flu plague ran rampant here took me outta commission last weekend. finished the passenger frame rail and decided to take it easy and worked over the trunk floor some. it is solid just needed a good scuffing. por 15 on everything. looks like a bunch of dirt in the por 15 with it being gloss version but its just the rough texture trunk spatter. when I put new spatter down it'll be nice. por 15 on the new frame rail repairs also. then i'll seam seal the welds, por 15 again, and "fog" the rails inside from front to back with the eastwood stuff.