Front frame rail cosmetic improvments?

[Gdub310]

I'm in the process of smoothing out (or "shaving" as the kids now apparently call it) the inner fenders and firewall of my 72 Dart before media blasting and re-assembly.

One of the less attractive areas under the hood are the tops of the frame rails, where the seams and bent tabs are clearly visible. I searched the forum and couldn't find any discussion of this.

I'll be moving the battery to the trunk and hiding electrical and plumbing inside the fender, so the frame rails will be relatively visible when my car is done. Has anyone taken it upon themselves to clean up the appearance of the rails, e.g welding the seams shut and bending down and/or replacing the tabs with welds? Or is it conventional wisdom that one shouldn't mess around with this area of the car, and just let it be?

 

[Syleng1]

I’ve yet to seen it done on a Mopar unless a Chevy guy is trying to show off his LS motor


Give it a try. As long as you don’t hurt the structure make up of the car. It’s yours, do what you like. I’ll be interested in your progress so post pictures please.

 

[jeffnmo]

Go for it, just take lots of photos. I think it would look good all smoothed.

Jeff

 

[MoparMike1974]

I think those tabs are for alignment purposes when they put the frame together.

 

[dano]

They are more than likely tooling jig locators and datum measurement locations for when it was assembled.

Honestly I'd be welding the K-frame and adding sub-frame connectors over messing with those.

 

[Gdub310]

Honestly I'd be welding the K-frame and adding sub-frame connectors over messing with those.

Done and done. But this is a question about cosmetics, not performance enhancements.

 

[Mopar Al]

Done and done. But this is a question about cosmetics, not performance enhancements.

Did that to my 73 Swinger. No bid deal. Many Mopar owners have looked at my car. Very few even notice it

 

[jeffnmo]

Well hurry up and get on with it, I'm going to have my engine out soon and wouldn't mind cleaning up my engine compartment some. I want to see what yours looks like!

Jeff

 

[Gdub310]

Did that to my 73 Swinger. No bid deal. Many Mopar owners have looked at my car. Very few even notice it

Do you have any photos you can share?

 

[abdywgn]

have not done it but a thought would be to clamp the top and bottom rail together leaving space between the clamps to grind the lip off. then weld the pieces together. remove clamps and keep on going till all is done.