tx_stingray

anyone ever notice the poor quality of the factory welds on their frame, or is it just mine? i have a '75 BTW.

i'm in the process of grinding them down and rewelding them, plus welding up all the spots that were missed for whatever reason- and there are a bunch. it seems the worst of the factrory welds are at the rear of the frame, especially the joints where the trailing arms mount. i also noticed a few cracked welds-- mostly at the mounting pads of the rear end crossmember.

just amazed at the poor workmanship quality for the flagship of GM back in the 70's.

rgregory

Yep welded mine up a few months back. I did notice less shake in the steering wheel over bad roads now. Don't know why I waited so long to do it.

Twin_Turbo

yes, it's just downright terrible...what a shoddy job they did at the factory. Then again it was never intended to last for over 25 years.

lostpatrolman

how much can be welded with the body on the frame? I want to weld the seams, but dont want to take the body off.

applevette

I may be wrong, but i think the frame is welded together on the top. If that is the case, I don't imagine getting much welding done with the body on.

MikeC

Yeah the frame welds are fairly crappy.... but if they haven't broke by now... they must be good enough, right? I just finished seam welding the frame, I did not re-weld the factory welds.

I would suggest removal of the body prior to welding up your seams, it'll make the job a lot easier.

The main frame rails have a top and bottom seam. The bottom seam you can get but you will be welding in the upside down position.... meaning you better be a good welder to get proper penetration. The top seam will be in accessible for most of the car.

The rear kickup portion of the frame has seams on the sides but access to all areas is very limited with the driveline, gas tank and body still on the frame.

norvalwilhelm

Be sure to install braces on the front lower A arm mounting points and also completely weld up this area. It is very critical.

wacked

You need to see mine.

Enad

Those on mine near the front are junk. :rant: Looks (and feels) like a porcupine where they left weld wire stickers all over the place. Now I know where all the people that we flunked on welding tests got jobs :jester

vince clortho

I am looking at 1965 now, and I was concerned at how crummy the differential mount welds looked. I thought Bubba had been there, but maybe the factory really was that crappy. Makes me feel a little better that other cars have rough welds.

LemansBlue68

Tell me about it!! They outright missed welding one of the brackets that holds the differential cross member on my car from the factory. The bracket held by the small tab that DID get welded, but over time, the bracket was cracking due to the stress of holding the differential. I'm surprized that it held as long as it did. This was one of the main reasons that I decided to pull my body off the frame. There was no way to properly repair the bracket without pulling the body. Overall, I'm glad I did all the work, though.