body frame rail replacment

K

KEN2939

Junior Member
got the 31 tudor interior apart, found both body sub rails rusted along with cross bars. going to order parts. any advise when replacing the sub rails.
 
I found out when riveting my new sub rails into our 1930 phaeton, with my riveting gun, I had to turn the air pressure down from 120 to 60 PSI. At the higher pressures, the riveting gun was hammering the crap out of the rivets and making a mess of them. At the lower pressure, the results looked professional. If you can, get someone to help buck the rivets. I did all of our 1930 phaetons all by my self, and it was awkward doing it by myself. For a rivet gun, I used one of those "Harbor Freight" type of air chisel guns. With the correct rivet anvil in it, it worked well.
 

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Only replace metal that absolutely needs replaced. All air hammers aren’t rivet guns, buy a rivet gun. Check with aircraft suppliers for rivet guns, borrow from a local A&P mechanic. Don’t enlarge the old rivet holes, be very careful drilling out the old rivets. Practice riveting on like metal pieces, don’t practice on your car.
 
If you are replacing a substantial segments of the body sub-rails, I strongly advise you to align the doors so the belt moldings line up, and then tack weld the doors to the body. Keep the gas tank and firewall secured to the cowl. These actions will hold the body in proper alignment while you replace the sub-rails.
 
Bob Bidonde said:
If you are replacing a substantial segments of the body sub-rails, I strongly advise you to align the doors so the belt moldings line up, and then tack weld the doors to the body. Keep the gas tank and firewall secured to the cowl. These actions will hold the body in proper alignment while you replace the sub-rails.
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It would also pay to have a total frame alignment done on the car before starting any frame work. Frames do sag and twist over 85 years. Any collision shop will have the rack that can push and pull the frame back into shape. Hopefully you can find one with a guy that knows old car frames. The shop I used is owned by a guy who is a Model T owner and knew what he was doing. You can over-do the job sometimes too, so it is advantageous to get someone experienced in antique cars.
 
About the frame shop,

I tried like hell to get a frame shop to straighten my frame, NOBODY will touch them now. The machines they use today would rip the hell out of our frames. Clamping methods have changed so the clamps have a hard time staying on.

I had a guy walk me through all the issues he was talking about and most of them seemed reasonable. I ended up straightening my own frame with 3 chains, a Porta-Power and a railroad tie. The front of the frame needed to move to the right .5" and both rails needed to be straightened.

Straightening your frame yourself is easier than one would think.

Regards
Bill
 
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