Thread: Roadster vs 4x4 on fwy

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Originally Posted by Steves32

Is this post serious? My comment about the trailer was to try & lighten up a dreary day. I had 2 pieces of wood that came at me. The 1st one bounced in front of the car & buzzed right over my head- inches above my baseball cap. The second piece was hit by another car in another lane & shot right in front of me. There was absolutely no time to react.
Guess I should have not bothered posting but I thought others might be interested in how & if Grundy handles a claim.

I Sorry! I read that totally wrong!

Pat

No sweat Pat


I appreciate everyone's input on this disaster of mine. I think it makes it a little easier when you have some car buddies to share with. Several of you have had accidents in your cars as well.
For me- shit happens & you move forward. I try & think about how lucky I was to not be hurt! That 1st board could have hit the windshield & then me!

I'm about 99% positive I'm going to send the car over to Pete at So Cal Speed.
One stop shopping, they can handle the whole package from repairs to paint.
At 1st, I thought of sending it over to my friend Earle Williams (Williams Classic Chassis Works) to have him do his Tig magic & plating on it but then I'd be shipping the car all over town to complete the car. Not in the mood to do all the leg work.
So- I spent some time on the phone w/ Ryan at So Cal Speed (shop manager) & he says he's seen this failure several times. According to him- these mounts are welded to side of frame right where crossmember is notched into frame. If you look down a TCI frame- you can see the buldge from welding it in (probably from the heat as mentioned above). So- what happens is the guy goes after it w/ a grinder to clean it up for powdercoat & gets that edge very thin. Also- that threaded insert is only 3/4" deep! It's not attached to opposite side of frame. He says what they do is cut the side of frame open outside the X member & weld in a thick plate inside the X member. Then they use a long threaded coupler welded to the plate & then to the new piece on the outside of frame. He says they have done several of these like this & they turned out nice & are much stronger.
He says I'd probably like this approach better than a shock tower welded to the frame which may detract from the period look of the car. But he says he'll leave that call up to me.

Now if I was building this car from the ground up- I would have used another frame. Read too many negatives on TCI's frames. But that's what I have under the car & I'll have to work with it. I doub't Grundy would spring for another brand frame just because I'm not happy with this one. If it can be made stronger than it was- and safe- I'll be happy.

I'd think the perfect rail would be 1 piece mandrel bent w/ the correct reveal on side of the frame but I don't think anyone offers that.

i would have them weld the drilled and tap some solid round stock to the inside of the rail and bolt the shock towers back in .i think they looks good that way . sounds like they have been there done it that is good they know how to make it better

Originally Posted by Steves32

I'd think the perfect rail would be 1 piece mandrel bent w/ the correct reveal on side of the frame but I don't think anyone offers that.

That's the ASC frame rails (American Stamping Company). The rails alone are, according to last years catalog, $695 plus the boxing plates and what ever cross members you use. Another forum has a current build up thread. If you want to look at it, PM me and I give you the link

SoCal will fix it right and you will not have to worry about anything once they make the repairs. Let us know how well Grundy covers everything.