front frame rails

[graig692003]

Sorry Guys I haven't been on here for awhile my wife stole the computer. I have a 69 charger and to be honest both front frame rails need to be replaced. Lets just say I think I got screwed from buying the car out of Boston that is total orginal. I could go on but the more I get into it the more rust. I do have the orginial poly tires, orginial jack, owners manual, locking gas cap, and so on. But it is a 318 car. I'm going to fix it I have no choice I'm in to deep. I drove the car and all of that but I have over $8,000. in already. I checked with Year one and there front frame rails are just caps. 1St. question what do you think of that. 2nd. question do you know of any orginials out of the south that is for sale. I also need both torsion bar supports, inner floor pans and trunk floor. I also need the driver rear leaf spring shackel mount which I can buy at Year One also. Money is the biggest factor here. It's my all time dream car and it is my 6th one. I guess I'm looking for guidence. I finially have a garage and a air compressor and some help with body work. Just what do you think of the whole deal. If I can figure out I will post pic at a later day. Thanks for your help. Graig

[Troy]

Yes, the Year One pieces are caps from Auto Rust Technicians. I believe you can do full rail replacement with them but they are obviously not stock looking. The good news is that most of these cars rust out in the back so it's much easier to find good front rails than rear ones. I'd check with one of the salvage yards out west (like Texas Acres) if you're short on time OR post a wanted ad here or check eBay if you can wait a while. The easiest and best way to get one is one of the major Mopar shows but you're out of luck on that front until summer - or maybe Mopars at the Strip in Vegas but that's one heck of an expensive parts hunt! On the other hand, replacing frame rails is a big job so I guess it depends on how much help you have. Paying someone to do it would be cost prohibitive.

Same with the torsion bar cross members. I think I picked one up a while back for under $100 but the shipping for one cut with extra metal will be outrageous. Unfortunately, floor pans and trunk pans are a necessity for most of these cars. I don't think $8,000 is too far in the hole if you have a lot of usable hard-to-find parts. You probably won't find a solid project car any cheaper and it will probably need a lot of what you have. Perhaps you can find a good donor shell that has most of these parts but by then I'd just build it instead. I hate to say this but, it's not really worth "saving" a 318 car so build the best body that you can find. My 318 car happens to be the best one I own though so it's getting built.

Troy

[graig692003]

Hey Troy thanks for the advice. Yes I have everything for the car except a volt meter gage. I mean everthing, cig lighter, spring for jack, will need new cover for the orginial radio someone cut that peice.  I knew the car would have some rust but the guy I bought if from off of ebay never told me how bad and you can't tell me he didn't know of some off it when I found a bunch of freshly sprayed paint in the engine bay. I guess I'm at the point in my life I will hopefully finish this one since I haven't finished any of my other chargers. I did have a 69 r/t, 440, 4 speed. I lived in Iowa at the time and had to sell because of divorse. I know live in Myrtle Beach SC. I have a very good body man the is excellent with sheet metal and frame work. I have seen many of his projects. He is currently working on a 69 camero rs/ss conv. Yes he is a chevy man but he has checked out my charger many times and gave me good advise. He lives a mile down the road. I will tell him what you told me about the frame rails and the torsion bar supports. The rest I don't have a problem fixing it's the frame rails. I thought about patching the passenger because that just has alittle rust but it's right below the front suspension support, or where the front shock comes up threw. Also I have a 440, and a posi rear to put in the car if I wanted but I don't know about that either. Those clones go for big bucks. I just know me when I finish this car I wont sell for any amount of money. Thanks again troy and any advice is great. Ps. What's up with your 318 charger? Later, Graig