Technical Tell me what is up with my frame?

I’ve been working on my 41 sedan and noticed this repair to the front of the frame. Any guess as to what the patch was for? I doubt rust as the rest of the car was super solid. Possibly hit in this area? Does it kill the car in anyway? How would you proceed? Thanks

 

I think I see a kink in the top of the frame,,,not the neatest welding job as long as it doesn't affect drivability....it could be cleaned up if you wanted redo it...

 

You do see a kink, think it was wrecked and a portion was cut out to straighten?

 

I'm bored

 

What year, make and model is your 41 sedan?
Looks like a oxy-acet. gas welding job done a long time ago.

 

Looks like old school torch welding
Probably repaired a very long time ago

cool

 

As stated above, looks like it was bent and the section cut out to straighten it. There looks to be evidence of the kink still on the top if the frame.

Probably done decades ago as part of a crash repair.

Worth checking over all the surrounding components (suspension, steering etc) for signs of distortion.

 

The top hat section, bolts in the web and the independent suspension leads me to believe its a Chevy, but others are similar so can't say for certain.

Chris

 

That’s neater than Ford or Chevy factory welding!

 

Unless you are going for The Ridler, leave it

 

If it bothers you grind it down so it looks better and paint it flat black so it blends in.

 

Check the frame asymmetry (straight and square)
If it’s good, go with it

 

Thanks all it’s a Chevy, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything detrimental. I guess it gives character.

 

I'd be curious to see what's underneath that patch, but like the others said it's been like that for a long time. That ain't no mig weld, probably done with an oxy/acet torch and a coat hanger.

 

I wouldn't grind it, it's an honest repair. As long as the car can be aligned and drives straight leave it alone.

 

measure the frame to see if it's out of diamond, if not forget it

 

Thanks all

 

Grind it smooth, toss some filler on it, paint it flat black and it will fade away out of sight.

 

I do this, (not this poor of work though), for a living. So from what I can see, it got hit, wrinkled, then pulled and kind of straightened. They seem to have a cut an access hole in order to go in and work the wrinkle out.

And from the size I'd say they used a punch to do the straightening.

It looks like they found a donor piece, covered the hole and welded on the filler piece.

"IF" I was going to do it that way I would have made an actual flush fit patch and weld, ground, and metal finished it all.

But personally I've done a bunch hit that way with wrinkles, I work 99% of the wrinkles out, then cut the corner open. I built a couple pry tools out of different width leaf springs that I slide thru the corner slot, pry and hammer dolly the rest of the wrinkle out from the inside. Once I'm happy I work the corner back down to shape, weld up the corner and and grind and dress the corner out. When I'm done the only way to tell I was even there is from the inside where you can see the corner weld...

It's a dying art that no one wants to learn and all the experience I have and no one interested in learning so I can pass it on...

...

 

cut out the old repair

straighten what's left

weld in new patch

sleep well

 

Nah, dial 1800newchassis and it'll be on your doorstep in the time it takes to get a grinder plugged in.