Projects 56 Fairlane frame question

As some of you know, I acquired a 56 Fairlane and have hired a mechanic to work on various parts of the car to restore it to good condition.
I have encountered a problem with the front suspension that I need advice with.
Here are a couple of pictures of rust area that needs some sort of remedy.
What could I expect to have done to take care of this.

 

I had to put a new cross member in mine

 

Its a common place to rot out. They sell replacements

 

theCommon problem on '54-'56 Fords. One of my cousins wrecked a '55 because the lower A-arm attachment pulled through a rust-weakened crossmember. Many of these cars ended up in the junkyard because of a rust-compromised crossmember that failed. I had to replace the one on my '55, was able to find a solid one on a car in the junkyard that was too far gone to save otherwise. There are NOS and aftermarket replacement crossmembers out there, otherwise you'll need to find one out of a dry desery donor car. The reproduction crossmembers are generally thicker metal than the origioals. Don't attempt to drive the car with a rusty crossmember.

 

Common problem as said. The Hot Rod Reverend has this covered in his 55 rebuild blog. The link is to part 4, I can’t seem to get part 3 up this morning. Worth a look.

https://www.hotrodreverend.com/post/2017/09/07/55-ford-restoration-blog-part-4

 

Thanks, I found one on Ebay shipped for a grand.

 

Any suggestions on best way to remove the old one?

 

If they can be accessed drill out the spot welds or cut the welds with an angle grinder. Not fun but the best way to do the job.

Hopefully you don’t have to remove all the front sheet metal to get at it.

 

Much easier to do with the front clip off. Obviously the lower-a-arms and other parts. I know you were considering an engine swap when it would be easier to do it all.

These Fords with good to excellent frames are getting harder to find as we see photos of them on the 3 Facebook pages I am a member on vehicles guys think should be saved after sitting on the ground for 50 years. Perhaps it’s why we see so many “g***ers”.

When anyone asks me about buying one I tell them to look at the front crossmember for replacement or patch welding. If they have that kind of repair you better get it on a rack for floors and lower body panels.

 

Floor panels look good. I won't be swapping the motor as this one has good compression and the valve train looks refurbished.

 

Typical issue, and that one has already had some repairs done to it. I did one back in the pre-internet and repo days and bought every decent OEM one I could find (six IIRC) in the local yards and had them rust dipped. I got back one good one....

It'll really be easier to replace the more front sheetmetal you remove. At a minimum I'd recommend the bumper, splash pan, turn signal housings, grill, radiator and sheetmetal attached to the radiator support. Pull the headlight buckets and clean behind those also. That's another known rust spot. I made sure I hosed that area out every time I washed the car.

 

We would see those frames rusted out in the 70's and 80's. Then the fix was to find a good frame and swap frames.

At one time I think that Riley at Rocket's Hotrod Garage had one or two of those frames in his frame stack that were left over from donors when he did the wagon. He has been cleaning out some of that stuff lately though.

 

Tracking says delivery will be this Saturday. Comes from Colorado. Nice and dry there but sometimes they use salt on the roads. Pix show some surface rust but nothing major. Probably wire brush it down and treat it with Ospho then paint it.

 

These rust from the inside out. Try to coat the inside with something to prevent further rust.

 

Ospho works better than anything I know of. It changes iron oxide into iron phosphate.

 

Getting ready for the welder to come out and replace the crossmember.
Some pix of the old getting ready for the new.

 

One of my cousins wrecked a '55 Ford back around '68 or so because the control arm bolt pulled through a rusty crossmember. In areas where they use a lot of salt on the roads, people were having to replace crossmembers when the cars were less than 10 years old.

 

OK, here is the new crossmember installed.

 

Now I can start putting all the new front end and front disc brakes on.

 

I hate to sound harsh, but I'd be chewing some major *** about that install. Sorry, but it looks like a hack job. WHY didn't he just grind the existing welds to the rusted crossmember away to remove it with the same to remove the frame 'pieces' on the new one? Push the 'new' one back in place, weld 'er up and you'd never have known it was replaced.

I sincerely hope that's not representative of the rest of his work...

 

sounds to me you don't really HATE to sound harsh. Sounds to me like you sort of revel in it. Maybe my mobile welder that showed up to my house to work on my car is not experienced with repairing 56 Ford crossmembers. Maybe he used what I have in my garage to hold the new unit in place and do the best he could to insure that the integrity of the metal that is never exposed to the persnickety eye of the judgmental public will hold up to the job that it is intended to do. I am talking about functionality and not Hollywood looks, after all it is on the underside of the car.
So no I am not going to go after the *** of the guy who was good enough to come to my home to work on my car and pretty much do as I asked him to do to remedy my problem .
Thank you very much.

 

Hey, if you're happy, I'm happy. But I'd be pissed if it were my car...

 

we don't all live in a perfect world

 

I am glad you told crazy steve to not be so critical

 

If it's fast and cheap it won't be good.
If it's cheap and good, it won't be fast.
If it's fast and good, it won't be cheap.

I'm with Steve on this one. For such an integral part of the suspension I would want it done right (good) so I didn't have to worry about it again. However, your car - your money so as long as you are happy and it holds up then push forward and get her back on the road.

 

But Crazy Steve is right!

 

It may look a bit cobby and that I could care less about. I do know that he used 1/4" steel plate on all 4 sides of the members and the welds are solid. If I hit something that breaks those welds, I will have bigger problems on my hands.

 

He is right but that doesn't make me wrong. and he is wrong to tell me to get in the *** of my welder. The welder did what I had him do. He does know metal and integrity of the welds. I wasn't looking for a hollywood slick job.
If it were an exposed area that could be seen without crawling under the car, then yeah, I want slick. Here in this case functional is good enough, unless one is a cork sniffer.

 

'That' guy does not have to be a car guy to do a better job than what you have shown. Half of a weldors job is to properly fit the pieces together.

 

If the welder did what you directed him to do, my apologies to the welder... although he should have known better as 73RR said. He probably made more money doing it your way.