We can keep this in one thread. I've had my Dart 35 years now. It was purchased from the original owner when I was in high school in S. Florida. My car had never seen winter, so the chassis was very healthy despite body rust from failing window seals, being near the water and the south florida swamp like atmosphere.
Fast forward as I've competed in track days at NJMP (both courses), Lime Rock, Pocono and Monticello as well as Run To The Shore (NJMP) and two times in Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car.
Two years ago I did a complete teardown from the firewall forward. This started as I restored my instruments and was replacing a cut dash frame and reinstalling the factory AM/FM (updated). My situation was some rust in the drivers kick panel. However, the amount of cracks all over the front sheetmetal was concening. These track events are typically four to five sessions of 20 min each. This might not seem like a long time, but at speed its pretty extreme. I founds cracks at the inner fenders, firewall and bottom of the front frame rails. Lots of cutting and welding to repair. Since seam welding is very difficult due to all the crud that builds up in seams through the years, I find it easier to add spot welds, as many as possible helps quite a bit. At XV the torsional testing proved adding reinforcements ahead of the firewall are the most effective.
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