Subframe connectors NOW or later...???

When you think about when these cars were made, quality wasn't exactly job 1. The automakers got away with a lot of crap that wouldn't pass muster today. It's entirely possible that the subframes don't match, I.E. the holes the springs mount in could be in different places. It's even possible that the subframes are a different thickness, see that on a Chevy one time myself. I agree, a good frame shop can restore the clearances and measurements to factory specs, if any thing is bent. They will have frame charts that list every measurement on the frame, and where to measure from and how to meaure it. I'd look for somebody that has been in business for several years, and has experience with older cars...

 

How can the floor and sub-frames be twisted and not show ripples in the top? I would be looking for bad patch jobs and past history of crashes.
You might measure the distance between the spring perches. If one is longer it will sit at an angle. While you have the tape out there measure each side from the front of the rear wheel well to the end of the rear sub-frame. Maybe one is bent more, or straighter than, the other?

 

It just doesn't seem to me that the car has enough power to permanently twist the unibody. 'Definitely a mystery here...

 

That's what I was talking about. If one of the holes is off 1/4", it could make a large difference in the side to side ride height. Another possibility is one spring perch hole is wallowed out a bit, with the same end result....

 

Thanks for the suggestions...I will check those out.

I agree, I don't think the car has the power to bend itself. But THAT is the ONLY explanation for how it could start to bend in the past 2 years that I can think of.

That, and possibly (maybe MORE possibly) jacking it up all the time. It is ALWAYS up on jacks. It is right now... I wonder if some of the times I jacked it up one wheel at a time may have twisted something...

 

Re:

You could always bolt on the sfc's. Still works and you can take them off when your ready...

 

Before i went to a stroker kit and parked it for restoration... my 9.5:1 compression 71' 302 w/ a b&m shift kit in the tightened c4 put a few ripples in my roof. i have multiple waving lines where i was at the track, left on foot brake mind you, but creased it non the less....

however, this is purely aesthetic in damage, it didn't bend my "body", but the car has flexed over the years. just ideling the car bounces from the cam.

even though these cars are unibody's they handle a good bit of stress without bending. I would say something else is up with your car.... who knows....

now....if you slap some MT slicks with a trans brake and leave ultra hard on the car you might get a nice L shape....

atleast that would give the nice front to the ground look...lol.

 

At this time, I REALLY don't have the money to get the frame even LOOKED at, much less straightened. I don't see any other evidence of a bent frame, such as the ripples, mismatching panels, etc. So I am going to assume that the frame is straight and weld the connectors on.

If I find that the frame is NOT straight at a later date, at least it will only be as bent as it is RIGHT NOW, and not worse due to an extra couple years driving on it.

I may have to do a little extra work on the areas where I welded, but I think I can handle that pretty easily at a later date.

Besides, nobody told me that anything "bad" would happen if I drove it with SFCs on it for a couple years, yet I hear of all kinds of "bad" things that can happen if I continue to drive and push more power out of it without SFCs on. Next time I drive, I will have a little more power (new 1.7 roller rockers) and a bit more traction (26X10.5 street slicks and Caltracs) so at least I can rest easy knowing that i am minimizing my chances of doing any further damage if I put them on now.

I know, the BEST way is to have it straightened first, but I don't have the cash flow at this time to do that. So...

 

July 07 Car Craft has an article on installing SFCs, and at the very end of the article, they make a reference to the body of their mustang twisting due to jacking the car up...

More evidence that jacking it up all the time may have caused my lean...

 

i always jack to whole front, or the whole rear at one time. i never jack up just one tire. i guess thats a good thing.

 

I try to, but there were times when I just jacked up one front tire at a time, to mess with some suspension stuff, or to compress a spring, etc.

 

If it goes straight now it will go straight after the connectors. Lean or no lean.

 

You could level the car on a true surface (concrete) Off of the ground. with a peice of chaulk a measuring tape and a plumb bob ,you could referance certain points by marking the floor, and height referance with the string. You could check squareness with the tape useing your referance points on the floor.This would show just how bad the problem is. A good frame shop could tweak the uni body and weld in the connectors.You will probably find that it may not be that bad . Installed spring heights do sometimes change over time.