Rental_Cop

Hello, all!
This is my first post here and seems to be a bad one...


I work at a gas station and they have one of those lifts that has 1 shaft in the center and has 4 extendable arms. I get to use it anytime, and I put her up today to fix a fuel line, and when I got it back down, I noticed that the gap between the door and the front fender was HUGE. It was regular size at the bottom, but I could stick a finger in it at the top edge.


I had to use different jacking points since I needed to fix the fuel line right in front of the kickup so the rear plates were on the side rails and the fronts were about 10" inboard on the front of the frame - behind the front wheels.

Is it possible the frame just bent?
it's a 79 coupe - and the gaps are distorted on both sides of the car...


thanks for any help!!!


[Modified by Rental_Cop, 4:41 AM 8/22/2003]

gdh

Wouldn't think so, what condition is your frame in ie rust. Have seen a few cars with rusted frames do this and the gaps return to normal after driving it a bit. Welcome to the forum. :cheers:


[Modified by gdh, 11:54 PM 8/21/2003]

Crash Dummy

I'm trying to picture how that could happen. There are multitudes of frame rot posts and pics of horrid stories, but I'd just be wagging the dog if I made a guess. I'm sure many will ask alot of questions... like where exactly were you supporting the front end?

Not the way to start.... but, welcome aboard.

Rental_Cop

The Frame is totally solid - the surface is dirty, but definitely no rust.

The rear supports were about 20" ahead of the kickup and the front supports were behind the front wheels, but ahead of where the frame bends and goes inside. There weren't any creaking noises or anything of the sort.

It looks as if everything in front of the firewall just drooped.
Is it possibly that it was just the metal that supports the fiberglass? I drove it after and it seemed fine.

Thnx for your help!

MN-Brent

Would rust in the A-pillars cause/allow the high attachment point of the front fenders to move under stress load? You would think maybe if you tried jacking the car from the front, under the main crossmember under the engine, could put a reverse stress to this and possibly move the fenders back to original poosition. (Did someone say Bubba?)

Anyways to me it seems that if there was movement, it has to be due to metal fatigue which to me means theres probably rust. Not what you want to hear, but try to look at your windshield pillar area to see if there is anything going on there. Let us know what you find.

or:

Maybe during your lifting, there was frame flex and the fenders attachment just moved with the frame but did not return when you lowered the car to the ground. You might just need to realign the fenders and nothing further. If this is so, count your blessings.

Brent.......


[Modified by MN-Brent, 11:52 PM 8/21/2003]