swapping a subframe

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kungfupanda

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Just wanted to get advice on swapping an early Barracuda sub frame for a 62 Lancer. My Lancer in rusted out to the point it's on the ground. First how hard is it and is there anything special I need to know? Thanks
 
I'll start by assuming you're referring to the torsion bar/trans crossmember
part of the uni-body,based on the " on the ground" part.Well,you need a good welder,
man and machine to do a nice job.I'ts dirty,time consuming,and requires patience.Other
than that it's easy! Seriously,I'm also assuming you meant '66 and down by "early", and
would have to be as they're about 2 1/2" narrower rail to rail up frt.
There are lots of things/methods/tricks to use when fabbing & repairing
unibodies to fit and align parts,but 'til we're sure what you're fixing.........
 
At first I thought it was just a torsion bar, but a friend who helped move it saw that it was rusted out. He has a 64 Barracuda cross member with everything but the brakes to swap. I got the car for less than $200.00 and the cuda parts for free, so I can justify spending a little for an eventual daily driver.
 
The sub frame is the frame rails. The k frame is what holds the engine and fronts of the torsion bars and is held in by 4 large bolts. The torsion bar frame (welded in) holds the rear of the torsion bars and trans mount and runs from rocker panel to rocker panel under the front seats. Which one are you asking about?
 
isn't the sub frame for the 60-62 a body narrower than the 63-66 cars?????

anything SPECIAL ya need to know??????

not a job for anyone that doesn't have the proper skills and tools. makes a whole lot of difference if you are just redoing the part of subframe that holds the t bars, OR the front frame rails too!

more info would help FABO help you along.
 
Thanks guys. Btw I will not be doing the work, my body guy will. I haven't seen the area that is rusted out and am going by what my friend said, but I believe he was talking about the k frame. I'll get more accurate info about what was rusted out.
 
60-66 interchange, if the bolt on K frame is rusty then your car has big rust problems.

the frame rail replacement can be sectioned or the whole piece replaced back the the transmission crossmember.

have your body man check them out carefully-- there is a member on here that sells very nice replacement pieces from time to time & he completely removes the part at the spot welds, I cannot recall his name at the moment.

Post up some pictures & have fun, Lawrence
 
VDART said:
60-66 interchange, if the bolt on K frame is rusty then your car has big rust problems.

the frame rail replacement can be sectioned or the whole piece replaced back the the transmission crossmember.

have your body man check them out carefully-- there is a member on here that sells very nice replacement pieces from time to time & he completely removes the part at the spot welds, I cannot recall his name at the moment.

Post up some pictures & have fun, Lawrence
Click to expand...

60 and 61 have the steering box mounted differently than the rest. The frame rail on that side may interchange but the K is going to be different
 
Well, if you have a body guy,he should be able to figure it out for you.The changes
mentioned above will help him if you're working up front,but it sounds like a typical rusted
out torsion bar sub-frame at the rear,nothing new there. Only tips are take good initial
reference measurments from the side that didn't rip out,and weld the new piece in place
w/the t-bars in w/-0- tension on them.
Have fun and post some pics when you can,
:coffee2:
 
my bad, forgot about the steering box on those also the strut rods are different on 60-61-- so forget using one of them for your car--.
 
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