i have an 82 berlinnetta and an 88 base model camaro, im planning to use the two of them to make one car. my question is, on the 82 the drivers side frame rail is rusted pretty bad for about the last six inches where it sits under the floor pan. it hasnt rusted all the way through yet but its extremely thin to the point that you can press the metal in slightly with your hand. on the 88 the drivers side rail is one of the few things that is solid on the underside of the car.how hard would it be to swap the rails, or is there a way to fix the existing rail considering that the damage is only in the last six inches

 

Actually this would depend on your fabrication skills. You can get a new frame rail and weld it in. Last time i checked they were pretty high. As I've done alot of welding on frames and body panel replacement, a good welder/fabricator can make their own rails and install them. Using what you have on the car you can make thin cardboard templates to transfer on some sheetmetal(not sure what gauge you would need) and make your own. It would sound like more work to cut off a section of one car to install on the other. Unless one of the cars was in really bad shape and not worth saving at all( i believe all cars can be saved....lol). Pics would help to see how bad the rust damage is too.

 

thanks, ill try to get some pics to post. the place where the frame rail is getting bad is in the thinner part that comes out of the end of the heavyier portion right under the floorpan almost looks like its made of sheetmetal, was thinking about cleaning off the rust and welding some heavy gauge steel over it. im gonna be replacing the section of the floorpan that goes over it so it should be easy enough to get to. i wish i could save the 88 because its got a lot of sentimental value to me but the last time i sat in it the drivers seat went straight through the floor to the ground.if you look at pictures from the outside it doesnt look too bad but when you get under it its a completely different story. the whole reason i actually got the 82 was for the shell so i could convert it to the 88 will take some pics in the next couple days so i can show you what im dealing with, thanks

 

Imo cut off the rotted out portion of the subframe with an angle or die grinder, and weld in steel plate to basically just replace the bad portion, or just cut out that chunk of it from the 88, rather than replacing the whole rail, but I also don't think you should just grind the rust off and weld over it, should just cut that section out and replace imo.