Hello everyone, ive discovered a terrible thing lurking underneath my car..hence the title of the thread. At first I thought I could easily just beef it up with some fabricated peices of material in my shop but now im wondering... is it at all possible to remove the subframe by unbolting it and throwing in a subframe from another firebird in the junk yard? Or is alot of the subframe factory welded in place due to its f-body nature? Im charging my camera right now and I will post pictures of EXACTLY where the problem is under the firebird. Thanks everyone! Ride or Die! Jared Paterson

It's not like the older Camaros and Novas where the subframe unbolts and comes right out. 3rd gen subframes should never come out. My floors are rusted pretty bad too. I'm gonna use parts from a donor car and 2 pairs of SFC's. Should be good to 300hp with that, never planned on a hi-po build. Post some pics and we'll be better able to tell if it's saveable.
Good luck
Alex

Certainly looking forward to seeing the pics... I don't wanna say much 'till we see 'em. Floors fall outta these cars all the time where I'm from. ...it's funny 'cause it's true. But subframe damage can be... well not good.

Oh... you're from where I'm from. Wow. It's probably pretty bad, eh? Hmph. Connect, connect, connect with sub frame connectors...

Heres Pics. Ill put in 3 more. As you can see... I have hammered out much of the floor where your feet go lol...

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Heres 3 more, and two of looking from the inside

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Any ideas or has anyone had a similar problem?
Thanks guys

Jared

Ouch.

Let it go.

It's too far gone. Buy another. After you buy another one use any parts you can from the one got and sell everything else. Hopefully you can make up what you put in it. Maybe you can find a decent v8 car.
Good luck
Alex

is it bad any where else? how about the rear subframes? any other spots just as bad? and what where your plans for this car?

This is the only spot that has this problem. It also looks bad because ie already taken a hammer and tin snips to much of the area. I would like this to be my everyday vehicle.
I just bought a 230V Lincoln Mig Pak welder (Gas and gasless) so i plan on fixing it myself. We own our own welding shop and have all of the necessary tools, I just need input on how to fix these f-body vehicles that I am unfirmiliar with. Id hate to get rid of it because I have put so much money and time already into the wheel wells, rockers, new front/ back brakes, new all round speakers/cd deck, new seats, and some fixed body work on the quarter panel.
My plan was to just beef up the subframe, and also do the same to the other subframe so that both are equal. Than after that I would just fab up some flooring and connect everything to the subframe and body.

Lmk guys, I appreciate the help so far

Well, if you don't put to much power through it you should be ok. Remove all the rust and paint it with por15 or rustbullet. Then weld in some thick metal from the inside. For the floor patches try and use something from a donor car or a repro pan. Then install some sfc's and you should be ok.
Good luck
Alex

my drivers floor was rotted out too, but not to that extent. it was not into any of the subframe structure. we cut a pan out of a donor car and put it in along with part of the rocker. i can post some pics of it completed when I get home. I'm going to add subframe connectors as well, but the repair did turn out pretty good. not sure I would have tackled the project had the damage extended into the subframe area....

get rid of it and buy another one

I would cut out the rest of the rot and ditch the front subframe. There are companies that make aftermarket front subframes. Bolt/weld one in and then replace/repair the floor pan sheet metal. If you are not willing to go that far, part that one out and start looking for a better rolling chassis.

the last 1 i seen that bad, i bought it as a parts car, for fun i did a burn out in it the the cross member ripped right out of the frame, up to you on what your gonna do, but id find another 1 in better shape

They are a little difficult to find in even decent condition up in the great white north, if you're confident that you've welded 'er up safely, then it looks like you've got a saved car on ur hands.

im near london ont,canada, i never seem to have a problem in finding 1 thats decent, but its all up to you, if you can weld giver,

dont let it go all these cars are projects im in the middle of redoing my buddy's car now that min is done but i just cut out the floor and now im about to repair the drivers side sub frame it looks like your yeah its a big project but when its done its solid and thats hard to find in these cars well good luck with your car

Dont let it go!!! I have the exact same problem but WORSE!

check out my car restoration it has detailed pictures of how to fix this problem.

Im nearly finished with that part of my project.

This is the link
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3382110

Hope it helps

It only cost me $20 for a scrap yard sub frame/floor support, plus a sheet of sheet metal and about a week of work

Id get rid of it. That looks border line not safe.

No offense, but i can see if it was a GTA/Iroc or something. Its just a 2.8 Firebird. in my opinion, i wouldnt spend any money trying to bring that back.

well my 89 has a similar problem, the front by the rad of the k member the bottoms are starting to rot, but being 20 years old and not alot of money, getting another car is not really an option. the car is rust free down the whole middle of the car, but the rockers, bottom of fenders and quarters are shot (bought car for $200) but nothing is junk if you want to put the time in. Sfc and depending how far you wanna go, i plan on tubular front end and sfc to fix my problem, gonna cost more in the end but the performance will be there, and floors out of another car to finish it off