I took my camaro to a local body shop that has an excellent reputation for doing quality work. I asked them to put the vehicle on a frame machine, make the unibody straight as posible, and then weld in my UMI subframe connectors. I get a call from the manager yesterday, and he gives me some seriously disappointing news- My torque boxes are crushed and there was no way to hook up the jig for the laser frame straightener. He also proceeded to tell me that the metal is weak there and the subframes will end up welding to that part of the chassis, and he does not feel comfortable in working on my car. He parked it outside for me to come get it. So I leave work and drive 2 minutes up the road to get my car, bring it back to work and put it on the lift. I can see what they are talking about. One of the techniians that I work with did heavy line body and frame repair for about 15 years before he became a tech. He told me that they weren't that bad, he'd seen alot worse, and that the body shop pussed out on me cause they probably didn't want to work on my car at all. So I guess my question is, are torque boxes able to be repaired or replaced? I will need to try to find someone local to the Tampa FL area to take my car to and see if they can do anything with it. I do not want to have to start all over with another car. I have way too much time and effor in this one. I thought that when it came to body work anything could be fixed. You watch those car shows on TV and they take some seriously wrecked stuff and turn it into some of the most beautiful cars Ive ever seen. Any thoughts or opinions?

 

I would get a second professional opinion. The weld in connectors wont be a walk in the park on a 20 year old car. some customizing in that area might be required and that might have scared them off. Stay away from the corporate midas type companys and find a nice hot rod style shop to work with.
Is the underneath rusty? What is the story with your underneath? Any accidents is it really all twisted up or what?

 

No the underneath isn't really rusty at all. When i got the car it had some pretty bad oil leaks and the whole undercarriage was oil soaked. I cleaned off all the oil and grime, and applied a few layers of rubberized undercoating to the whole underneath. Everything else was painted so it isn't really all that bad. The frame is not twisted per se, but there are a few things that are wrong with it because of the way the car sits. When you look at the car just sitting there, you can see that it leans/sits lower on the passenger aide. When I get in the car, it sits level. The new suspension parts did not fix this. I know that it has been in an accident before because there are some welds that were made on the upper radiotor support just above the passenger front low beam headlight. The front bumper impact bar channel braces?????(I don't know what they are called but they look like boxed steel that goes from the front bumper to the car) were crumpled up pretty bad. The body shop guys said that someone heated them up with a torch and pulled them out. Now they will be brittle and if the car gets into another front end collision they will shatter like glass. He also said that fromt he way the damage looks, either the car was airborn and landed hard or was bottomed out really bad at one point. I am the 3rd owner so I can't be exactly sure but I know that it wasn't me. I found a guy named Ray Miller that is supposed to do excellent chassis fabrication work. Supposedly, he has a few cars that run at our local drag strips here, Mustangs mostly. From what I was told he has frame jigs for the Mustangs and F bodies so I am hoping he will be able to help me out, or at least point me in the right direction.

 

Get a second body shops opinion, third if you like

Body shops are not always the expert in car repair.
I can give you horror photos of a reputable shop thats been around for over 100 years

As for the shop telling you the old crumpled metal is weakened, they are right, shatter? No. Repairing these areas is either stretch the metal back like what you have, or cut out the entire front frame rail.

 

figure out what is bentup or twisted or whatever. See what needs to be done and how much it will cost. Get to a reputable shop that wants to work on it. Once you do this i think your decision will be easier to make.