Gerahead's 71 Dart
Wow, where has the time gone? I have found some lost motivation and have been back at it. At some point in my car's previous life, the ends of both the front and rear sub-frames had been dinged up. I am thinking that it was due a lift? I was originally planning to just leave them alone, but have found my OCD inner self. Why have all these nice tools if I am not going to use them, right. I first tried to pull out the dents with a stud welder and slide hammer and that was a no-go. So I decided to cut out the bent part of the frame rail, straighten out the metal that was cut out, the frame rail and weld the piece back in. The first victim was the passenger side rear rail. I marked out the portion that I wanted to remove, cut it out and then glued it back in. After dressing the welds, I think that it turned out pretty well. The next one will be what I think is the worst one, passenger side front. The corner of this one is crushed. You can see it at about 5 o'clock to the round drain hole in the last picture. This one should be a challenge. Jeez, it feels good to be back in the saddle!! L8r
Wow, where has the time gone? I have found some lost motivation and have been back at it. At some point in my car's previous life, the ends of both the front and rear sub-frames had been dinged up. I am thinking that it was due a lift? I was originally planning to just leave them alone, but have found my OCD inner self. Why have all these nice tools if I am not going to use them, right. I first tried to pull out the dents with a stud welder and slide hammer and that was a no-go. So I decided to cut out the bent part of the frame rail, straighten out the metal that was cut out, the frame rail and weld the piece back in. The first victim was the passenger side rear rail. I marked out the portion that I wanted to remove, cut it out and then glued it back in. After dressing the welds, I think that it turned out pretty well. The next one will be what I think is the worst one, passenger side front. The corner of this one is crushed. You can see it at about 5 o'clock to the round drain hole in the last picture. This one should be a challenge. Jeez, it feels good to be back in the saddle!! L8r
