I had my car up on a ramp in my buddys garage today and i noticed a small crack in my chassis just in front of the steering box. Is there anything i can do to save her? Its just starting so i would say its not too late! How about getting it welded up with a plate and getting subframe connector and a wonder bar? What do u guys think? I dont know why this happened!!!

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Light em up!

 

The welding & steering box brace seem like the answer to me!


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Believe it or not, this is a very typical problem with these cars. Later years (I think around '89 or so, the factory even started putting on a triangular brace there. Just a piece of pretty strong steel located by 3 bolts. I have an '83, and the holes were there for it, but no brace. Found a couple in a jy and got them for a couple of bucks apiece. Get the bolts too and within about 30 minutes you'll have a stronger frame connection.

Since it has already cracked though, you will need to get it welded up first. Should only be about $50 or so, doesn't take but a few minutes.

Hope this helps.

 

My 83 HO Z28 has the triangular braces. It's a much more solid feeling in general car than most. And, it has over 300,000 miles on teh chassis, with no cracks by the steering box (which is a very common problem as the other post pointed out). The "wonder bar" brace supposedly helps that too; I added one of those to my car which further stiffened it up noticeably, someday I may even put a strut tower brace on it.

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