[1967390xr7]

Just brought my 67 GT home today and could not wait to get it up in the air and start tearing into it. I noticed that the front frame rails are a little beat up. I'm guessing that they came down hard on a few speed bumps. Has anyone had the pleasure of trying to straighten out frame rails and floor boards. If so what tools will I need?

 

[Bad69cat]

so it bent the floor too? Ouch. Well, your best bet might be to have a shop with a frame puller do it. Not the cheapest route but otherwise you would have to figure out a way to anchor a puller to the floor and get the right angles....to much trouble.

 

[clanceman427]

Well I'd start with taking all the frame measurements and seeing if they are in spec. My car had a big dent in the very front of the frame below the radiator plus the pass. Side floor was pushed up but surprisingly all the frame measurements were good. You might not have to endevor lots of hard work if only for cosmetics

Kevin

 

[clanceman427]

Well I'd start with taking all the frame measurements and seeing if they are in spec. My car had a big dent in the very front of the frame below the radiator plus the pass. Side floor was pushed up but surprisingly all the frame measurements were good. You might not have to endevor lots of hard work if only for cosmetics

Kevin

 

[doctordesoto]

i used the bumper alignment tool that don @ wccc talks about
doctordesoto

 

[69eliminator]

I had a badly bent RH frame rail that we cut out and replaced with new. Lots of work but worked well.

 

[cougarlover29]

I took my cougar to a bodyshop that recommended just replacing my front framerails all together. His concern was that they may be rusted on the inside and break with the stress of straightening. But when I look at them myself, there isn't any real rust to speak of on the outside. So which is better? I smacked my car on the right side into a curb and its off a couple inches. Straighten it or replace it? I'm not going concourse.

 

[1967390xr7]

The rails that are bent are the ones under the floor boards. Tonight I pulled out the carpet and seats and the floor boards are in good shape. A little pushed up in some spots but not bad. Nothing a big hammer won't fix. I'm not doing a concourse restoration but I do want it to look very nice underneath. I'm stipping it down to the bare bones and it's going on a rotisserie for a full body sand blasting. I bought the TCI rear coil over kit and I'm not sure the sub frame conectors will go over the bent up rails without squareing them back up. Has anyone replaced the short pieces of frame rail that come off the engine compartment and run back under the floor boards? It doesn't look that bad....easier said than done I'm guessing.

 

[desertdave55]

The rails that are bent are the ones under the floor boards. Tonight I pulled out the carpet and seats and the floor boards are in good shape. A little pushed up in some spots but not bad. Nothing a big hammer won't fix.

Whatever you do, don't start pounding away at the 'high spots'. You'll only do more damage that'll end up costing you more money in the end. Whether it be subframes or sheetmetal, you need to properly pull tension on the parts prior to hammering. Otherwise, you just end up stretching metal which is much more labor-intensive to rectify.