Two weeks ago, or so, I was nailed to the cross when I suggested that there must more who have lost their rear
shock towers to "Gm ThinMetal Syndrome". I suggested that they are just too embarassed to admit to such a fault in their beloved cars. "Seth's car must be a rust-bucket", members thought. As I have said, my car has no rust or abuse.
The things were a bitch to fix, as the problem can only be attacked from a limited area on the underside of the broken holes.
I found some stainless, mild-tempered 2" wide 'L's and cut and drilled them. I then bolted them to the heavy skirt behind each tire. The return on the 'L' has a hole that lines up with the busted tower hole. Nothing is straight, so my bracket is not tight to the underside of the hole. It works, and seems strong, in spite of things. When the top rubber tears completely through the broken top, it will drop 1/4" to my bracket. Good enough.
What I wanted to say, before drifting off-subject, is that my UPS guy stopped by, while I was buttoning-up the repair. First words out of Harry's mouth were " Finally happened to you, too."
He has a 5.7 liter Camaro of slightly newer vintage. No rust. Same issue.

So folks, what gives? The car weighs 3,200 lbs, and most of that is iron and glass. The entire car seems to be made of paper. I am keeping it, but am very saddened by the whole experience.

Seth

 

im gonna chime in again, and say dont keep it :P
if this problem has destroyed you that much, then drop it, something worse will come along :0
and again point out, that things happen -- i wont say this isnt a common problem, because maybe it is.. i just dont know anyone/or have read about anything involving that
if you think people here are too ashamed to show the problems with there cars, then you should visit more often
refer to my posts about my suspension problems -- and how my bird rides like a school bus.. haha.. i should have broken shock towers, i dont, so.. like im saying... things happen

 

Well, as I said a few days ago, I joined the Antique Auto Assoc. of Brooklyn, last Sunday, so at the moment, the car needs to stay. At least it is not a Pinto. I guess that I need to understand that, as you indicate, there are worse cars. I also need to come to the realization that there will never be another little sports car body as strong as that TR-7.
There are more important things in life, and it is too short to dwell on things that cannot be changed.

I will check your older posts.

Thanks,

Seth

 

I'm not the type to usually flame or bark at someone like this but...

Shut up.

You've been whining about this and outright calling most of the people here liars (in a much more subtle way) AND on top of it all you're acting ignorant as all hell.

I'm sure if it was a common problem then we would most certainly see alot more posts about it here. People wouldn't "remain quiet about it in fear of giving their make and model of car a bad name" and even saying that is assinine.

I'm quite sure that you are upset with the unfortunate event that happened to you, and I'm sorry, but you are being immature about the whole thing.

Even if you managed to find 10 people that had the same instance that would not make it a "common problem" with the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of these cars made.

You are being an immature baby about the whole thing, and some of the remarks you make border on a psychotic conspiracy theory take on things.

Have you owned the car since it was rolled off the lot?

If not, you have NO IDEA how the car was treated it's whole life. Even if an old lady owned it you have NO IDEA who has borrowed it or drove it and beat the crap out of it.

For all you know the previous owners son routinely stole it every night and used it to jump the train tracks down the street. They could get it aligned before they sold it and you would never know.

So please... Quit with this damn subject already.

Post about your advancement and experience with the repair to better help people with the same problem in the future. Don't come in here whining and challenging the integrity of all of the very good people on this board who have already helped me immensely on many occasions.

 

Hi, my name is tim, and I too am in denial. My beloved camaro suffers from paper-thin rear shock mounts also. It has taken a lot of therapy to admit my car's problem. I am now forced to admit I spent a lot of money on my car only to find out it has this terminal paper-thin rear shock mount disease (TPTRSMD). If only there were a cure. Oh, the horror.

Reality check time Seth

You need three things to fix you problem (not counting *****)

-a cordless sawzall

-a trip to the local junkyard

-and a mig welder

I'm going to explain it real simple for you. Take the sawzall, go to the junkyard, and cut out the rear strut towers of another 3rd gen that is not afflicted with TPTRSMD. Be sure and cut out more than you think you will need. Go home, cut out the afflicted areas of your beloved car (not the truimph), and trim the junkyard pieces so as to fit the two together. Clean them up real good with a wiz wheel, and weld them onto your baby. Wala, you have just found the cure for TPTRSMD.

Take off your skirt and put on your pants and getter done (or just sell the F*n car)!!!