Rear shock punched through
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: Arcadia, CA
Rear shock punched through
Folks,
Newbie here, starting a project helping out a young friend on an '83 305 car, but gots to fix the busted stuff before the fun begins, right? Scary part is that I'm the SMART one here, supposedly, but I'm mostly Mopar these days & an '83 carbed 305 Camaro is a tad different from my last Chev, a '71 Malibu. So, I figure to lean on y'all pretty heavily as this thing progresses. Hope that's cool.
Problem #1: Previous owner (I swear!) ran over a huge rock & the driver's-rear shock punched through it's mount, leaving a neat circular hole in the deck with the top of a shock pokin' through. Common problem? Any suggestions? I hit the yard, thinkin' to cut out a good one, but a whole mess of joints/seams & stuff come together here & I didn't think I could remove enough to weld/screw/epoxy/baling-wire safely. Before I start carving on a piece of 1/16" steel plate, is there an easier way?
Thanks,
Scott
Newbie here, starting a project helping out a young friend on an '83 305 car, but gots to fix the busted stuff before the fun begins, right? Scary part is that I'm the SMART one here, supposedly, but I'm mostly Mopar these days & an '83 carbed 305 Camaro is a tad different from my last Chev, a '71 Malibu. So, I figure to lean on y'all pretty heavily as this thing progresses. Hope that's cool.
Problem #1: Previous owner (I swear!) ran over a huge rock & the driver's-rear shock punched through it's mount, leaving a neat circular hole in the deck with the top of a shock pokin' through. Common problem? Any suggestions? I hit the yard, thinkin' to cut out a good one, but a whole mess of joints/seams & stuff come together here & I didn't think I could remove enough to weld/screw/epoxy/baling-wire safely. Before I start carving on a piece of 1/16" steel plate, is there an easier way?
Thanks,
Scott
Supreme Member
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 18,457
Likes: 16
From: Loveland, OH, US
Car: 4
Engine: 6
Transmission: 5
Very common. I just had to have that fixed on my car a couple of weeks ago. People who put air shocks on their cars would have an even bigger problem withi it. IMHO it's a bad design, it would have been so simple for there to have been a bracket or some reinfircement or something there, but oh well...
I had a couple of large washers welded in there. One side had already failed, and the other was cracking. My car is a low mileage unit, only 315,000 miles or so on the chassis, I can't see why stuff like this should already be failing.
------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports
I had a couple of large washers welded in there. One side had already failed, and the other was cracking. My car is a low mileage unit, only 315,000 miles or so on the chassis, I can't see why stuff like this should already be failing.
------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports
Supreme Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 13,414
Likes: 6
From: Central NJ, USA
Car: 1986 Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: 700R4
Well, here's an old message of mine, the offer still stands, of course. Good luck!
------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by TomP:
This happened to me, and yes, as a result of air shocks.
I didn't have a welder when it happened, and didn't even know how to weld, but I fixed them myself. Visit the Home Depot speed shop; you should find some steel stock in their hardware aisle. I bought a 6 foot length of 1/8" thick, 2 inch wide steel plate. I also bought a thin sheet of aluminum. I cut a strip of aluminum two inches wide, and went under the car. I bent the aluminum into a template that would fit the area of the busted upper shock mount. I took the template down and made two copies onto the steel. Then, I nested the two copies together, so I had a total of 1/4 inch of steel for the upper shock mount. Some thick bolts and locknuts anchored the steel plates to underneath the car.
The driver's side busted in '95, the passenger side in '96. I check them every now and then- the last check, early this year, showed no signs of stress.
If you want more detailed notes, let me know. I wrote it up a while ago. It's one of those things where you have to get under the car and fabricate it as you need it.
</font>
This happened to me, and yes, as a result of air shocks.
I didn't have a welder when it happened, and didn't even know how to weld, but I fixed them myself. Visit the Home Depot speed shop; you should find some steel stock in their hardware aisle. I bought a 6 foot length of 1/8" thick, 2 inch wide steel plate. I also bought a thin sheet of aluminum. I cut a strip of aluminum two inches wide, and went under the car. I bent the aluminum into a template that would fit the area of the busted upper shock mount. I took the template down and made two copies onto the steel. Then, I nested the two copies together, so I had a total of 1/4 inch of steel for the upper shock mount. Some thick bolts and locknuts anchored the steel plates to underneath the car.
The driver's side busted in '95, the passenger side in '96. I check them every now and then- the last check, early this year, showed no signs of stress.
If you want more detailed notes, let me know. I wrote it up a while ago. It's one of those things where you have to get under the car and fabricate it as you need it.
</font>
------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: Arcadia, CA
RB, Tom,
Thanks for the info. Big, flat washers or steel plate, huh? I was afraid of that. Man, you guys remind me of me! Guess I was hopin' for some miracle, only-your-body-shop-knows kinda deal. But my course is clear & just like Spicoli I have a totally awesome tool set, so it oughta be cake. Annoying cake, morphodite cake, but cake nonetheless. Hey, it gets us closer to the "fun part", right?
RB, only 315k on the clock & somethin' broke? Darned Yankee junk! Guess we should'a bought Toyotas, huh? With great, huge wings on 'em. LOL
Thanks again,
Scott
Thanks for the info. Big, flat washers or steel plate, huh? I was afraid of that. Man, you guys remind me of me! Guess I was hopin' for some miracle, only-your-body-shop-knows kinda deal. But my course is clear & just like Spicoli I have a totally awesome tool set, so it oughta be cake. Annoying cake, morphodite cake, but cake nonetheless. Hey, it gets us closer to the "fun part", right?
RB, only 315k on the clock & somethin' broke? Darned Yankee junk! Guess we should'a bought Toyotas, huh? With great, huge wings on 'em. LOL
Thanks again,
Scott
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