[73LeMans]

This is where any idea of a schedule just starts to fade out of sight. Not necessarily due to the nature of the fix but more from my indecision on how far I want to go with it all. We all suffer from it to some degree I'm sure.


For years now, I could lean on the drivers side front fender and get a very audible squeak from the front end. Through the course of time, I had replaced shocks and springs, but the squeak was still there. I just assumed it was a poly bushing I hadn't lubed enough. I was told they were noisier that stock, so I was resigned to live with it.

Amazing what you discover when removing 20 years of history. This is the inside frame rail, behind the engine cross member, drivers side. I think I just found the source of my squeak:



Well, %^^/ . Add another setback to the list.

So in cleaning this up, I couldn't help but be astounded how shoddy the factory weld was in such a critical location. Take a look. Do these edges have any evidence of good weld penetration? No wonder it cracked. As a matter of fact, I cant believe its not worse considering what I put this car through.



Don't worry, I got the angle and die grinder in there to fully dig out the crack before welding it up.


A little too much splatter, but this ought to hold it together. This is pass 2, over a narrower bead in pass 1.



Trying to control the heat so I didn't melt the paint and still get a solid weld was a balancing act.

The passenger side of the cross member was almost as bad - here is the fix for that:



Now I wish I could say I thought to check the rest of the welded joints after this discovery, but I was so angry about being further behind schedule and scraping off sealer now in TWO friggin spots, I couldn't really see straight. The focus was getting these locations sanded, blended and resealed as quickly as possible, which I did, so I could move on to color.

Then it kept gnawing at me over the week. Eating, digging and grinding away in my head - check those other welded joints. Eating breakfast; check those other welded joints... Brushing my teeth: check those other welded joints... In a meeting at work: Check those other welded joints!

ME: Do I really need to? They're probably fine. They were on there for almost 50 years!
ALSO ME: Just take a look at them......
ME:But setting up to weld and repaint is a royal PITA...masking, sanding, cleaning....
ALSO ME: You only want to do this once, right?
ME: Maybe??

Friggin ME.


Fine, I'll look at them.


You tell me - good decision? Passenger side, rear lower control arm bracket:



I understand for a passenger car in the 70s, this was probably fine. Heck, it stood this long, so it cant be all that bad. Did I really need to "fix" it though? Considering the hard hits on the pavement the front end may see going forward, I thought it best to put a full bead both inside and out on every suspension bracket that didn't have one, which was pretty much all of them.

After -




BTW, don't be concerned about that washer welded to the backside of the bracket or all that metal on the inside. That is finely crafted, precision work done by me to clean up an elongated hole in the mount from a previous transgression. Remember, this car went though the entire family before it got to me~!

I don't have pictures of the other locations but they were all pretty bad. The only suspension locations that didn't need reinforcement were the upper control arm mounts, and the engine cross member to frame on the radiator side of the car.