87.5ea82txt Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I would like to save my 1987.5 GL-10 XT, and was wondering what I can/should do to replace the subframe. I was thinking about making some sort of bolt in skid plate with X bracing between the rails. Where the seatbelt used to mount... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87.5ea82txt Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 (edited) If you can do all the work yourself (welding, etc) you can be okay. If you have to pay someone to do the work, it would be better off to pull off the good parts, and wait for a rustfree shell to show up from west coast. Thats why we junk em. But for an 87, thats really pretty good still. If that was me, i would weld in tubular steel NEXT to the rotted rails, and make brakckets from the new tubes lated to the subframe mounts, trans crossmembers, seatbelt mount. Edited May 16, 2011 by bheinen74 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I can do it. Can'y tell yu how much it will be, or if i ever will have time, but i did the same repairs on my 86 3door, although not as severe. There are 3 stampings of metal. One, the channel that contains the captive nut. 2nd, sheetmetal to tie that into the floor. and 3rd layer surrounds the whole piece making the framerail. I repaired mine with about 5 bucks of random angle iron and flat stock, and cutoff sheetmetal from an 89 xt6. search "runabout' and you will find my build thread as an example of what is involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Since you got a swaybar mount hanging loose, instead of letting it fall off, put it in an envelope and sent it to me, as i need one:grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 sort of related, someone on the west coast could make decent money cutting sections out for us rust belt folks and marketing them to us as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 sort of related, someone on the west coast could make decent money cutting sections out for us rust belt folks and marketing them to us as needed. There would almost be as much work in salvaging these parts as complete stampings cutting and drilling out the spot welds in the right place, and you would have to gut the interior to get to the other seams to take off whole stampings. someone should just engineer replacement panels for these. You can get cab corners and rocker sills all day long for a 68 gmc, just build a whole truckj from the catalog justabout, but good luck if anyone ever made so little as a dress up item for these old soobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87.5ea82txt Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 Since you got a swaybar mount hanging loose, instead of letting it fall off, put it in an envelope and sent it to me, as i need one:grin: You can have it! I got a new bushing for it a few years back and I bet I've bolted that clamp down a half dozen times, only to have it pop back out a few miles down the road. Maybe because of the longer 2WD struts? I think I read somewhere that flipping the sway bar over relieves the stress from lifting. I read your runabout thread....and WOW. You did a very clean job. Nicely done. My dad is an International Harvester mechanic and has all the welding, grinding, and cutting tools I'll need, as well as scrap 1/8" steel. I went to school to work on aircraft and am very skilled at making parts out of aluminum, but I'm a riveter and not a welder and have never tackled this type of surgery before.. I do however, have a friend who can weld the sharp ends of two razor blades together and make it look pretty. Cutting out the rusty pieces at right angles will make sizing up new plates much easier. I can grind the high spots down with a grinder as I fit each piece. I'm thinking I can remove the mounts for the radius rod, cut away the part of the subframe that it bolts to, bolt it back on, then fit a piece 1/8" steel with a hole drilled in it under the bracket. bolt it on, weld the nut to the back side, and box it in. Where should I jack the car up at? I watched some thing a while back on welding in a piece of tube steel to connect the subframes on early American unibodies, and they made a point to jack the car up at the center so that when rested on the wheels, the car did not sag and the doors closed like they did when the car was new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87.5ea82txt Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 I do like the idea of a skid plate. Possibly a few separate plates that cover the whole underside of the front of the car, bolted on and reinforced by steel tubing. It would have many lightening holes throughout to keep weight down and provide airflow. I bought some 15" wheels and a set of 215/75-15" General Grabbers. They may very well outlive the car. The tires should be in by the end of the week. I'm going to have my welding friend take the wheels with him to work to have them drilled, as the chuck on the prehistoric drill press here on the farm is jank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 You can jack up the car right in the middle of the engine crossmember, and place your jackstands either on the swaybar mounts, or on the control arm pivots where they meet the frame. Before i did my repairs, p ipt wooden bpards along the rocker sill behind the pinch weld to spread the weight of the car on the jack stands. Then i removed the crossmember, jacket up by the tow loops, and placed the jack stands under the framerails between the crossmember bolts. This will not be necessary for you unless there is rust to repair on the front framerails. If you are trying to repair non structurral areas, like the hole in the floorboard, you can rivet in metal and use a body sealer. You can get the body sealer in a caulk tube at NAPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Wouldn't this car just crumble in an accident? You are a brave man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Wouldn't this car just crumble in an accident? You are a brave man. The entire midwest would crumple in an accident. Unless your car was only a year or 2 old. But then it would start to rust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Wouldn't this car just crumble in an accident? You are a brave man. Most cars on the road over 7 years old are like this around here. It is not limited to Subarus. Some shops won't even touch some cars, cause they can't put them on a hoist with out the car folding in half (yes i have seen cars fold in half before) the old citations and cavaliers of the day.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87.5ea82txt Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Before the wedge, I had crxs of all generations, and ALL of them except for my del slow (east coast repaint) had rust holes somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 The entire midwest would crumple in an accident. Unless your car was only a year or 2 old. But then it would start to rust. Scary thought. Glad I live out here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87.5ea82txt Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Scary thought. Glad I live out here. It usually comes down to how much rust your willing to deal with. If my car hadn't been repainted at some point, I'm sure it would have holes in the fenders as well. The underbody is fairly soft. The floor usually lifts a bit before the car does. I'm comfortable with the car eventualy being a parts car. Thats why I don't mind beating it up a bit offroading it. I just want to keep the wheels from falling off in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 I am from PA, so I have seen my share of cheese graters on the road. However, I don't think a car that rusted out would have passed the yearly inspection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 I am from PA, so I have seen my share of cheese graters on the road. However, I don't think a car that rusted out would have passed the yearly inspection. we don't have inspections ever, not a thing they do around here, because nobodies car would pass after 6 yrs of winter driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 we don't have inspections ever, not a thing they do around here, because nobodies car would pass after 6 yrs of winter driving. Lucky, inspections suck. Just replaced a rusted out and totally broken rear tube frame on my GL. Much better in that dept, but still won't pass ME inspection... Sticker is run out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Most cars on the road over 7 years old are like this around here. It is not limited to Subarus. Some shops won't even touch some cars, cause they can't put them on a hoist with out the car folding in half (yes i have seen cars fold in half before) the old citations and cavaliers of the day.... 7 years is a bit extreme. My wife and I have 4 cars, all in the 11 to 16 year old range and none are even close to being that bad. All cars have been in WI and MN their entire existence and have high miles (145,000 to 230,000). If you wash them regularly and take care of them they will last considerably longer. Hell, my dad's '78 Ford Bronco, which only does winter duty, is still less rotten than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 There would almost be as much work in salvaging these parts as complete stampings cutting and drilling out the spot welds in the right place, and you would have to gut the interior to get to the other seams to take off whole stampings. someone should just engineer replacement panels for these. You can get cab corners and rocker sills all day long for a 68 gmc, just build a whole truckj from the catalog justabout, but good luck if anyone ever made so little as a dress up item for these old soobs Owning an old Chevy is nice, you can get what ever you want out of an LMC or Eckler's catalog as Chevy was the most popular, best selling car brand for decades. Subarus annual volume in the 1980s was probably about 10% of GM's (if that). But, all the hard work pays off as you will have something truly unique compared to the average collector/restorer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 I am NEVER moving east of the rockies.The most rusted car Ive owned had its fenders eaten away by road grim getting stuck to them.even still it was only the last 2" of the fenders before the tires.Underbody was clean. My offroader sat in a field for years so it has some small holes in the rails under the doors...and its an 83.The main subframes under the car are just fine. good luck fixing all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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