Hey everyone, I have a 52 victoria, the guy before me sub framed the front with an 83 g body frame, it's welded in poorly and needs either to be replaced or fixed. I guess my question is what approach should I take? Should I repair the g body subframe or try to go custom with it? Is there any way I can custom build a new front half and mustang II it? Thanks, Joe
I would use what is there, but have a pro welding shop repair it. I cant weld upside down, I would not recomend any backyard guy try unless he is an outstanding welder. If the body were off so you can always weld "down", do it yourself.
Pictures would be a big help, Joe, but my guess is that it can be fixed unless it's too wide. I think Tony's (50Fraud) shoebox has a narrowed GM front suspension, but I don't think that it's a job that I'd want to tackle. If your problem was my problem, Joe, I think I'd strip the frame stub forward of the firewall of engine, suspension and sheet metal to get good measurements. Then I'd review the ride height, wheelbase and the squareness of the stub ***embly, changing and/or squaring it up as required. Then I'd review the splices and see how they can be improved in both strength and appearance. Then I'd light up the torch and make it happen. Re***embly would probably require re-fitting the sheet metal and possibly the radiator, but all the rest should go back pretty much the same as it came off. Unless there's something really screwed up, I'd suspect this would be a weekend job for a two-man team. I'd recommend against trying to do it alone... Good luck!
I've been trying to post pics but I cant get them to load. I'll spend some time tomorrow and try to post them. Thanks!
upload your pics either in your profile and post the link to it here, or upload them to somewheres like photobucket and then post the image link here, thats how you post pics in the social groups .
PM Scott and he'll walk you through the use of Image Shack to upload photos from just about anywhere to this social group. It's not complicated and the sign-up is painless. Scott is our official picture-posting-professional-dude...
This is the method I've always used to post pictures. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...discussionid=18102&gmid=327154#gmessage327154
A "devil" with a hammer and "hell" with a torch... More pictures, please. Perhaps some that show the side profile of the car. It looks like the front end sits way up in the air...even with the motor in it. Part of the beauty of a stub frame is that you can adjust the ride height lower at the same time you're upgrading the suspension so no cut coils or dropped spindles are required. But...this requires planning ahead to a great degree and it doesn't look like there was much planning involved when your car was spliced. More pix. There's a way out of this but more info is needed... One more thing... One of the solutions - perhaps the best one - would be to cut everything that's been added ahead of the firewall off and splice on the stub frame from a '54 Ford. So it might be a good thing to do this weekend to drive around and see if you can locate a '54 Ford donor car. Model doesn't matter, but look for complete, undamaged frame and suspension forward of the firewall. P*** on the '52s and '53s - they've got the old kingpin front end - and look for the newer ball joint style '54. Be sure to check for excess rust in the front crossmember while you're at it. It might take two donor cars to get the job done - one for the crossmember and one for the rest. Frame charts are available so you can locate the '54 parts on your '53 frame properly, so getting the parts will probably be your biggest problem. Good luck...
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