first3rdgen

Ok guys I need some advice here once again I discoverd today while looking for the poping noise in my front end that the cause is a crack on the outside of the frame where the steering box is. The way I understand it is this is a comon problem but the cause of mine is rust. The inside and top of that part of the frame is in good shape and I know it can be fixed but I'm wondering if it would be worth it since mine is only a v6 car and not in that fantastic of shape. I'm a certified welder fabricator by trade and I know I can fix it but I can't tell as far as how long it will take me to do it since there is to much stuff in the way to see the full problem. I can email pics to somebody if they could tell me how long they think it would take to fix it but I don't know how to upload photos using my iPhone. Honestly I want to fix it because when I found out that's what it was my heart sank and I realized how much I love my ratty old camaro but I must do what is logical here the car isn't worth all that much and I know that if I had to pay someone to fix it it would cost close to the same amount that the car is worth so any comments or advice would be apriciated it's an 89 rs that has a hard 98 k on the clock and it does have the support brackets around the box.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Cut what you need out of a car at the junkyard, fix it, you've got the ability to weld it, so you should have a pretty good idea how to go far enough for it to be done right.

ibmtech

iTrader: (1)

Once you drop the box out of the way and relocate your extra wires and hoses, it shouldn't be that bad.. I know it is kinda tight but it is doable.. IMO it is saveable

first3rdgen

Z28ricer- thanks for the advice I hadn't though of that I know a junkyard with several of them this kind of advice is why I come here and search

Ibmtech- the problem is on the outside of the frame where the fender well is joined into the frame and spears to me I have to tear it apart just to see how bad it really is rusted there and sice I drive this car daily I don't want to tear it apart and then evaluate the situation I am hoping someone has ran into this before and can let me know what I'm up against before I do it as all of the ones I've seen on here were not toted and cracked but just cracked do to stress becouse they didn't have the support brackets or a wonder bar . It appears as tho over the years salt and water have gotten between the frame and fender well and previous owners didnt know how to properly was a car that had been driven in salt but that's just what I can see I don't really know if they are separate pieces welded together or if they were one piece to begin with

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Depending on how far you are going to take things apart, and how you want to approach installing the repair panels is going to effect that quite a bit.

Everything is a bunch of pieces, unibody cars are just a lot of stamped sections spot welded together, technically to do it *right* you'll need to remove the entire front suspension and steering, fender, hood, and probably the brake setup as well as clutch master from under the hood, remove all of the spot welds in each piece until you can get out the section you need to replace, then reverse order and weld it back together.

If you do end up doing this, or something like it, look into getting a blair rotabroach, the kit should run you under $100, and it makes working with spot welds no problemo.

first3rdgen

Thanks for letting me know about that tool I'll look into it I'm used to working on stuff with a real frame old trucks and my el camino so I'm a little nervouse about it and if I have to drop out that much it's going to be the perfect time to swap in my 305 and possibly a six speed so it may be acompleatly different car when I'm done with this endeavor

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

These should give you an idea, not a thirdgen, but an example of disassembling a unibody car:

Cowl area, cut out then being disassembled.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/IMG_4969.jpg

All of the little dots along the edge are spot welds removed

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/EPSN5823.jpg

The back section removed from what was left of the A pillar / door frame area

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/EPSN5825.jpg

Firewall removed

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/EPSN5820.jpg

Replacement firewall in place

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/EPSN5867.jpg

Everything all there again

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/EPSN5913.jpg