Hey I bought an '87 Saab 900 Turbo. It's in great shape except for the fact that I bought it from a guy in Buffalo so the frame underneath the engine and A-arm is rusted so that I can peel large sections off with my fingers. I only paid $500 for it, so if I can figure out how to get the frame fixed then I got a good deal, otherwise Ill just sell it to the junkyard.

I'm just wondering... I talked to a mechanic and he said that everything is fixable, its just that it might cost me an arm and a leg. How does one go about replacing a segment of frame that has rusted? Is it possible to cut off the rusty part and weld on a big hunk of steel in its place or what? Is this something that people do regularly or am I taking my life in my hands?

Thanks,
Robert

 

Yes.

Can't Be any Worse than this....




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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver
Reader's ride -> My Ride

Just another Hot Rod kid, or thats what they all tell me.
Livin' the Stereotype

[This message has been edited by Bort62 (edited May 18, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Bort62 (edited May 18, 2001).]

 

Wow, thats pretty bad. Are you going to fix that? I assume what people do is just get a few steel bars and weld them on the bottom of the frame to connect across where the frame is gone.

 

i've fixed lot of frames when i worked in a small weld shop. about all you can do is find sound metal and start welding new steel over the rusted out parts. the other option is to replace the rusted parts, sometimes no possiable to do or not cost effective.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

my wifes must*ng had rusted framerails. we cut everything in front of the strut towers off and welded a new front subframe in. cost was 425 for a junkyard front clip that was cut behind the firewall in the passenger compartment.

yes everything is fixable if you have money or time

dan


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i got an 84 camaro, shes got a 89 mustang. which do i have to work on more?

 

Buddha
I'm curious, who's car do you work on more, your's or your wifes?

 

The only way to fix that rust would be to pi$$ on it and light it on fire until there is no more rust.

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1986 IROC-Z
383 TPI
Sportsmen II heads
Competition Xtreme Energy
SLP runners
Ported Plenum
Edelbrock base
Edelbrock TES,
Random Tech convertor
Dynomax 3" exhaust
3.23 posi
UNTIL IT F#CKING BLEW UP AND I HAD TO SELL IT FOR $1800 AFTER TO PAY OFF THE $7000 I STILL OWED ON MY CREDIT CARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Can you fix it? Well like the mechanic said sure! Are you a talented welder? Do you have an arc welder? Do you have an oxy-acet torch? Do you have the ability to check that the frame is still straight after welding? Do you want it to last? Good, now that you have heated the metal up to 1000's of degrees or more, you have introduced "Internal Stress" Over the next few years the metal is going to settle...move around a little. To solve this you need to have a temprature controlled room that can generate temps of up to 1000 degrees or so. Next you slowlt heat, and cool the metal slowly. After a few days it'll be settled. Of course the last step can be avoided and compensated for with alignment checks since the affected areas will be small (Unless you try an weld over all the rust spots addind the steel from the stick, in which case you will really want to properly settle the metal!) If you can answer yes to all these questions (except the last one...sorta Then sure, you can fix it.
Good luck!


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Corry Lazarowitz
clazarow@voicenet.com
clazarowitz@hotmail.com
1987 Pontiac Trans AM (GTA?) 350 or is it a 305?! TPI
SLP 1 3/4" headers, 3" cat back (stock cat
MSD ignition.
MSD Blaster SS coil.
3.73 Rear end gears
Accell 8.8 Wires
Bosh +4 Spark Plugs (Don't know if they really help but hell!)
Holley AFPR
Race Built Automatic trans ('vette servo, shift kit, tightly packed clutches)--just needs titanium gears now!
Newly gutted cat (the car gutted it's own cat!)
Hypertech Chip (Just found out I had it! :eek
More soon when funds are avail...

 

I work on my wifes car more as it met a minivan going 35 in a parking lot. so there was more to fixing the front then wat i said but it was collision damage so i didnt include it in how to fix the frame.

Make sure you use a MIG welder, not just an arc or flux core, mig is the only legal way to repair auto frames. at least in my state.
My home welder was about $300, not counting bottle and gas.

I would have scrapped the car, but its hers and i run custom shop at night out of my garage, so i know what to do to fix it. By day i work at a Fo*d dealer as a collision tech.

now that her car is done, maybe i can sink some time into my CAMARO.

dan

 

I was thinking I could scrap all the rust all real good, then take it to the guy who has done some welding for my brother (exhausst, subframe connectors, etc) and tell him to just weld the hell out of it. Just weld on a few strips of heavy metal to the frame to reinforce it.

I dont care if the alignment is a little out of whack, its just an old car, but I dont want the frame to crack later on when Im pulling some g's on an interstate off-ramp. As long as nothing breaks and causes a catastrophic accident, I'm happy!

Rob