Having an a-body straightened?

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jtolbert

jtolbert

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So, the more I dig into my '67 Valiant the more I believe the car is not straight. The main indicator now is that the door gaps on the left-side door are too big on both sides of the door, as is the gap where the rocker meets the fender on the left side. The b-pillar gap between the door frame gets wider is you get lower. There's some other signs of trouble, like the right-side package-tray brace being bent out where it meets the floorpan and being folded where it gets close to the wheelwell.

I found a body shop that will rack/straighten the car for me for just cost of labor, with a minimum of two hours to get the car on the rack, leveled, locked down, etc.

I'm not feeling very good about this. I've always heard that once a car is bent you'll always have problems with it. Is this true? What am i getting myself in to? Have any of you had cars straightened and what were your results? Were you happy with it?
 
Been doing it to cars for as long as I remember and never had an issue. New cars now recommend getting a car back within 3 mils of the factory measurements. As long as they have a good frame diagram... and a good frame tech everything will be fine... nothing is as good as new obviously... but get a great frame tech and he will have that thing back to darn near good as new.
 
It might be a good idea to then add sub-frame connectors and do some continuous bead welding on some of the spot welded seams.
 
Great. Thanks.

I'm trying to figure out what would cause all this damage, and the only thing I can think of was the car was dumped in a ditch.

The car has subframe connectors. I'm debating cutting them out, or at least cutting them off to stubs, before having it straightened. Seems reasonable to me that if the car has to be bent, removing big tubes of steel would make it easier. The welds are crap anyway; I can do better when I put new ones back in.

The body guy I talked to at the shop said to leave the connectors in while moving the car since he doesn't know how bad things are, and if they need to be cut apart they can do that pretty easily there.
 
I agree with your shop man on this. Those sub-frame connectors might have been added after the body was torqued. Talk to John Paseman at U.S. Car Tool (uscartool.com or (919) 855-8200. He has done some research regarding unibody stiffening for racers. He builds some beautiful laser-cut U-channel sub-frame connectors that match the floor contours. It ties the connector to the stub frames and the floor. He also knows other areas of body flex that might not be evident to most of us.

Just parking a unibody car on very uneven terrain for a long time will eventually put a "set" to the steel.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll leave the connectors in place and let the frame guy do his thing.

This is just a street car; I just want it to drive straight, look good and be fun. :) Going fast would be nice, and probably one of the easier parts of the equation...
 
Should be an easy fix.

And it could be worse................

oops.jpg
 
RustyDusty: no idea yet. Charging labor rate and just billing for the time it takes to get it straight. Two hours minimum to get it racked and ready, they say, and then just whatever it takes after that.
 
Great post and lots of great info from you guys. My dart has been crunched at least a couple of times that I can see. The gaps are bad in strange places and a little reinforcing in places would be good (like in the door striker pillar. It seems loose when you close the door.) I think subframe ties are the best idea after the body has been straightened and they should help keep everything aligned for a long time. Mike
 
Any good frame tech should be able to get it fixed up just fine, too bad your not closer, my dad actually does this kind of stuff(frame tech) been doing it for 30 years, owned his own shop for 20 years. Have any pics of the gaps so we can see it?

Good luck!
 
No pics...I should take some. I'll try to do that this weekend, although they probably won't be wide-angle enough to get the rocker/door gaps in the same shot.
 
Heres the thing, in My opinion. Theres nothing wrong with straightening a car on a rack. However I would try to get some opinions of local people who have delt with shops. Its just like any other job. Try to find someone who cares about the job they do.
 
So, after asking just about everyone I knew that was into cars in the area, they all said the body guy I was talking to was a top-notch guy.

I took the car over to him to look at. He spent a bit more than half an hour going over the car...Didn't even put it on the frame jig. His verdict was there's nothing structurally wrong at all with the car and all the problems I've seen were from previous-owner abuse---the bent package-tray brace is from something hitting it, the folded edge was folded with a screwdriver or pliers, probably for speaker-wire clearance, the serious panel gaps were bad adjustment, the cut in the firewall wasn't from an impact---and that the car was more solid/straight than ninety-five percent of the cars he sees from that era. He didn't even charge me for the look-over, even though I tried to give him a bit of cash for his time. He seemed happy to see someone working on bringing an old mopar back.

So, the car has never been hit, never been ditched and is a great starting point. Now the real fun can begin, since I know I've got a solid starting point.

Gratuitous pics of the car, the door/fender gap, etc. are here. Ignore the last two. :)
 
Panel fit can be the most frustrating part of reassembly. I am a Master & I-car Gold tech and worked on Uni-structure vehicles(Furds) for a long time. I always kept pencils around for panel adjustment. A paint stir stick or #2 pencil for the newer vehicles and the old fat wide contractors pencil for the older stuff. One on each end and a good friend to lend a hand! Works every time. Loose fit and start with the doors(replace weatherstrips first!) and work forward and remember, the side-to-side adjustment on the hood is in the hood latch. Done! Top of fenders may be glued down with body caulk from the factory. Sure does make a hell of a difference when the car looks smooth and straight even if it is still in "sealer". Good luck
 
CUUDAK: thanks. I'm not near reassembly yet, but I'll keep your advice in mind. The guy at the body shop said the same thing, though: start at the doors after you get new weatherstrip and work forward.
 
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