1932 Roadster Frame Rail Sag

[David J]

You will need something like my toy in pic .
A couple laser levels and some plumbobs .
Plumbobs can be nothing more than nuts hanging on threads .
The important part is marking the thread EXACTLY the same distance from the bottom of the frame rails .

It can of course also be done with a tape measure .

Had that rack for well over 20 years now and you learn quick that fixing things that someone else attempted to fix is by far the biggest nightmare .
Many just start bending things and only make it worse .

These old frames bend real easy so be careful .

DO NOT start bending things until you have removed the shims meant to correct this issue .

From what I see here your frame is bent in more than one place .

If you were close to MPLS MN your issue would be easy to fix .
That is assuming the frame is not weakened by rust .
Good luck !!

 

[SUHRsc]

Thank you very much everyone. I will have to really look into it farther and diagnose where the bend or bends may be. It's pretty obvious at the back, but I'll look for signs elsewhere. I have various other 32 frames to compare measurements.

Thanks!
Zach

 

[David J]

The bends in the siderails will probably not be visible kinks like the rear bends . The gap looks like the hump may be under the rear of the cowl .
Again take out the shims first as you are getting false readings on the body with them in .

If you figure out where it is humped and are going to fix it yourself send a pm as I can walk you through the proper way to cure this .
Dave

Thank you very much everyone. I will have to really look into it farther and diagnose where the bend or bends may be. It's pretty obvious at the back, but I'll look for signs elsewhere. I have various other 32 frames to compare measurements.

Thanks!
Zach

 

[32phil]

In my experience the bulge shown is caused by the frame snubber hitting the top of the axle bells caused by hitting a bump in the road or a rear end collision (one side or both)
I would start by removing the rearmost body bolts and making sure the body is not/no longer being pulled down or held by those bolts.
Then check the flat area on the frame from the rear of the firewall leg to just before the kick up.
If the frame is flat or close to it most likely the damage is limited to the area around the bulge.
The severity of the bulge will help determine the fix.
A good rule to follow is to look at the space between the top of the gas tank and the rearmost edge of the body typically about 3/8".
Remember on both sides of the body you must have enough room to slide the rear frame horn covers in.
One method I used placed the car under a garage door opening we placed a brace (actually 2 6x6 treated posts) from the floor of the car to the top of the garage door framing and then with a rear spreader bar in place added another 6x6 across the rear of the frame.
We then jacked up the car at the end of the frame and monitored how the frame moved upward. Obviously the frame at the bulge was not going anywhere because of the brace to the building. A little heat (gas tank out please ) at the bulge and some judicious blows from a 3 pound sledge helped. Once we had the desired spacing at the gas tank we stopped. The bulge was just about gone too. There was some wrinkling on the flange where the rear snubber is but also barely noticeable. On an original unrestored car it was fine.
Obviously several other methods can be employed the best being in a frame fixture without the body mounted.
As far as the door gap issue I've never seen one do that due to the bulge in the frame.
It looks suspiciously like an over tightened adjustment bolt. That's the one at the firewall that goes through the eyelet at the edge of the cowl about 1 1/4 up from the frame.
That one should not be too loose or too tight ...no spacers washers or anything between the top of the frame and the bottom of the eyelet. Tightening or loosening that bolt will move the rear of the door up or down. Hope this helps

 

[SUHRsc]

Thank you guys, I'll look into this all closer in a few days. I have 9 month old twins so not a ton of time to jump right in each day unfortunately.

 

[FlatheadTed]

I have used the 32 Phil method more than once , the bulge in the frame can be caused by a rear impact to , We cant see that well but it looks like they have reversed into something and damaged the tops of the doors but that may be a allusion , As Phil said ,you can put a 8x6 up to a solid beam just south of the Kink .jack rear up plenty of tension one rail at a time , wack the side of the bolge ,do this with Axle stands in the front you may find you dont need heat ,Ted

 

[FlatheadTed]

You can use a length of ply cut to the frame profile and draw around it as a template compare that to a known good frame ,Ted

 

[BoxCar Tom]

The attachment bolts at the front of the cowl pull the body down on the firewall seal. They can also have a minor effect on the door gaps. I don't think there is that much adjustment available. Even so, given the no cost low effort involved I would give it a try, loosen the bolts, rattle the car then check to see if anything changed.

I still believe the frame is bent, albeit very slightly. And I believe the damage is right under the doors exactly where the K member is located.

Also I don't think measuring is all that necessary to identify a very slight distortion. The objective is to straighten the frame with the body in place so the doors fit properly. Your finished when the door fit is pleasing to the eye.

 

[FlatheadTed]

I agree , Heres some pictures that could assist ,Ideas from various contributors are all usefull hopefully the Questioner can get any one of them to work for him ,

 

[SUHRsc]

Thank you, guys. I have things improved greatly... Still not perfect but I may just throw in the towl for now and call it good enough after a bit of shimming around at the cowl. Another issue that was amplifying the issue is that the b pillar area of the quarter was pushed inward causing the body line not to flow nicely down the length of the car. First I jacked the car up and removed the rearend. I put the entire car resting on the bumper irons on jack stands. And let gravity do the work for me, then smacked the side of the kickup at the bulge. A friend called and offered the idea that this worked well on his car. It did do quite a bit to help the problem (I loosened body bolts a bit before this)... Next I decided to tackle the B pillar issue...so I took out the whole seat and pushed from the base of the drivers side across to the top of the pass side, meanwhile pulling the bottom of the door with a ratchet strap. This work surprisingly well. It's still not perfect but it's a lot better. I started fooling with the adjustments at the cowl to try to overact the possible slight bend at the K member area. Again this hasn't gotten perfect but overall it's not too bad. I think after a bit more time spent with bolts and shims, I may just call it good enough. In the end it's just an old car and the paint is. Failing anyways. So it's a job to spend more time on down the road if I ever decide to make the car a bit nicer. It appears to only have ever been painted on the outside in the early 50s so it's largely all original underneath and I'm doing my best to preserve that appearance for now.

 

[David J]

Smacking the bulge with the rail under pressure is an old and good trick .

DO NOT HEAT the rails .
Many make that mistake and then wonder why it bends so easy in that spot after .

I cannot find it right now but I have a pic of a new 33 2d and the fit of the hood and door to the cowl is TERRIBLE !!!!
Again this was a new car .

Chances are good your car was not better new THAN NOW AFTER TWEAKING THINGS .

Thank you, guys. I have things improved greatly... Still not perfect but I may just throw in the towl for now and call it good enough after a bit of shimming around at the cowl. Another issue that was amplifying the issue is that the b pillar area of the quarter was pushed inward causing the body line not to flow nicely down the length of the car. First I jacked the car up and removed the rearend. I put the entire car resting on the bumper irons on jack stands. And let gravity do the work for me, then smacked the side of the kickup at the bulge. A friend called and offered the idea that this worked well on his car. It did do quite a bit to help the problem (I loosened body bolts a bit before this)... Next I decided to tackle the B pillar issue...so I took out the whole seat and pushed from the base of the drivers side across to the top of the pass side, meanwhile pulling the bottom of the door with a ratchet strap. This work surprisingly well. It's still not perfect but it's a lot better. I started fooling with the adjustments at the cowl to try to overact the possible slight bend at the K member area. Again this hasn't gotten perfect but overall it's not too bad. I think after a bit more time spent with bolts and shims, I may just call it good enough. In the end it's just an old car and the paint is. Failing anyways. So it's a job to spend more time on down the road if I ever decide to make the car a bit nicer. It appears to only have ever been painted on the outside in the early 50s so it's largely all original underneath and I'm doing my best to preserve that appearance for now.

 

[joe 1950]

I agree with Outlaw go find a body shop that has a modern frame rack with computer alignment my son has a body shop with a very good rack and can straighten just about anything shop around and just check it out