Paint and Body How do my torque boxes look?

[AnthonyA1234]

Getting ready to take the car to get the rust work done. I want to know if I need to mention the torque boxes to them to get them fixed or reinforced. I’ll attach some pics below. Drivers sides has a few small cracks on the bottom and passenger side looks pretty good to me. I don’t know much about these torque boxes so if anyone could let me know how good or bad they are and what would have to be done to them it’d be greatly appreciated.

If my pictures aren’t at the right angle please let me know.

Drivers side

Passenger side

 

[rednotch]

Drivers side is rough for a car with stock control arms, poly bushing arms are hardest on them IMHO, and most damage like that is from when it starts to wheel hop to create tears like that, shows there flexing. Passenger side needs better pics showing the full box not just the area the arm bolts too.

Seen plenty of low hp stick cars tear them like yours but they where beaten on.. Might want to inspect the uppers. You can welded them up and plate them but these days I'd rather cut them out and do new adjustable boxes like team z, merillat etc but that's over kill for most, its a much better design then sandwiching the stock sheet metal with the old wildrides style reinforcements though, and once there welded up they become that much more of a pita to remove.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Thanks for the help man. Here’s some more pics of the passenger side.

So how would I explain to the metal shop guy I want it fixed? Can he just weld some new metal plates over the cracks or do I have to buy one of those reinforcement kits to have him install?

 

[AeroCoupe]

Weld up the cracks and then plate them up. Here is a good thread on what to weld up but I am not a fan of bolt in stiffeners so I plated mine after I welded them up.

Torque box reinforcement and welding,,,pics.

Installed the upper and lower battle boxes and welded up the torque boxes. Battle box kits. I hated drilling holes in my cobra.:shrug: Lowers were very easy to install,,,,but more drilling. Then I removed them so I could weld up the boxes. First I sanded the paint...

www.svtperformance.com

If you are not sure what plates to make for the reinforcement these are pretty good from what I have heard:

Ford Fox Body Mustang Torque Box Reinforcement Kit

Ford Fox Body Mustang Torque Box Reinforcement Kit - Are the control arm mounts on your 78-93 Mustang/Capri collapsing, rusted through or needing reinforcement from all of those hard launches? Cut out hours of fabrication and get right to the installation with our Reinforcement kit. Building a...

www.izzyscustomcages.com

Summit has these but the Izzy kit has more parts so its going to be better in the long run but it costs more...go figure.

Again, I do not believe in bolt parts to make something more rigid. Welding is the best way to do this.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Weld up the cracks and then plate them up. Here is a good thread on what to weld up but I am not a fan of bolt in stiffeners so I plated mine after I welded them up.

Torque box reinforcement and welding,,,pics.

Installed the upper and lower battle boxes and welded up the torque boxes. Battle box kits. I hated drilling holes in my cobra.:shrug: Lowers were very easy to install,,,,but more drilling. Then I removed them so I could weld up the boxes. First I sanded the paint...

www.svtperformance.com

If you are not sure what plates to make for the reinforcement these are pretty good from what I have heard:

Ford Fox Body Mustang Torque Box Reinforcement Kit

Ford Fox Body Mustang Torque Box Reinforcement Kit - Are the control arm mounts on your 78-93 Mustang/Capri collapsing, rusted through or needing reinforcement from all of those hard launches? Cut out hours of fabrication and get right to the installation with our Reinforcement kit. Building a...

www.izzyscustomcages.com

Summit has these but the Izzy kit has more parts so its going to be better in the long run but it costs more...go figure.

Again, I do not believe in bolt parts to make something more rigid. Welding is the best way to do this.

Nice, i don’t mind paying the 90 dollars if it means I’m going to have strong torque boxes. Seems worth it. Looks like that kit only has for the lower boxes. Are the uppers worth reinforcing or am I ok with just fixing the lowers? I’d rather just do them to be honest.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Just weld the uppers up. You will have to pull the back seat and remove any insulation, seam sealer, etc as it will catch on fire. I just used an old towel and soaked it with water and laid it over the area in the car where I was welding under the car.

If any of the spot welds have pulled on the inside of the car I would weld them up from the inside.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Ok sounds good. Would you happen to know if anyone sells metal repair kits like that for the door Jambs? Mine are rusted.

 

[AeroCoupe]

No sir. I would start another thread with that question.

 

[Cheapskate207]

I was under the impression cracks like that happened from somebody jacking the car up by the torque boxes? You can clearly see evidence of that. Is that just coincidence?

 

[Mstng93SSP]

Ok sounds good. Would you happen to know if anyone sells metal repair kits like that for the door Jambs? Mine are rusted.

You will need to find a parts car that is rust free and cut out the door jambs and have them welded in. If the jambs are rusted, I suggest pulling the fenders and check the cowl area....the rust in the jamb usually goes hand in hand with the cowl in areas you can't see.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Just ordered the Izzy’s torque box reinforcements and these door jambs I found on eBay. I’ll be taking the car to a metal shop soon to get everything welded in.

 

[rednotch]

That doesn't look rotted to the point it needs cut out. See what the shop recommends before buying a replacement.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

That doesn't look rotted to the point it needs cut out. See what the shop recommends before buying a replacement.

No that’s the new piece I bought to replace mine with. It’s clean just some surface rust you can see where the door hinge went.
This is mine.

 

[General karthief]

Yeah, yours are wasted, check the windshield and cowel area too.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

So I got the Izzy’s torque box plate kit and I have a few questions. It came with a couple pieces to put on the inside however I really don’t want to cut open my torque box as it only has a couple small cracks. So I’m going to just weld up the small cracks and then weld on the main plate piece that goes over the outside of the torque box (facing the floor). Is that ok?

Other question, the plate piece that I plan on welding as mentioned above has a cutout that goes right where my subframe connecter goes. I’ll have to just cut this piece off so it can fit. Is that an essential piece for this reinforcement kit to actually reinforce anything or is it ok without it?

In the pictures below you can see I circled the plates I will not be using because they require cutting the torque box along with the piece I will have to cut because that is where my subframe connector goes.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Anything is going to be better than what you currently have. Completely understand not wanting to cut the factory boxes apart with as little damage as yours have.

Hammer the metal around the cracks to get the best alignment you can get and weld them up. I would then stitch weld all the torque box seams outside and inside the boxes. Weld up any pulled spot welds and then fit the one piece from Izzy’s as best you can which would include grinding any of the stitch welds flat. Hit all of it with weldable primer before you weld that piece on. When you get done clean those welds up, prime it, and paint them up.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Anything is going to be better than what you currently have. Completely understand not wanting to cut the factory boxes apart with as little damage as yours have.

Hammer the metal around the cracks to get the best alignment you can get and weld them up. I would then stitch weld all the torque box seams outside and inside the boxes. Weld up any pulled spot welds and then fit the one piece from Izzy’s as best you can which would include grinding any of the stitch welds flat. Hit all of it with weldable primer before you weld that piece on. When you get done clean those welds up, prime it, and paint them up.

Perfect! Thanks a lot man.
By the seams, what do you mean exactly? Are you talking about the edges of the torque box where it isn’t connected, along with the seams between the torque box and the floor pan?

Also just out of curiosity if anyone knows the answer to this. The kit came with a little oval piece that just welds on top of the main plate. I’m not sure why that is needed but I’m sure there must be some reason. Anyone know why that’s included? I’ve circled what I’m talking about. That’s a separate oval piece that gets welded on top.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Yes, weld where the torque box overlaps on the floor pans and subframes. I removed the LCA’s and UCA’s and stitch welded everything. You 100% need to pull the back seat and use wet towels when welding on the floor boards. This helps a lot and stiffens up these areas.

I would just call Izzy’s tomorrow because that plate with the slot in it makes no sense to me. You know there is a reason but I have no clue.

 

[AnthonyA1234]

Yes, weld where the torque box overlaps on the floor pans and subframes. I removed the LCA’s and UCA’s and stitch welded everything. You 100% need to pull the back seat and use wet towels when welding on the floor boards. This helps a lot and stiffens up these areas.

I would just call Izzy’s tomorrow because that plate with the slot in it makes no sense to me. You know there is a reason but I have no clue.

Emailed Izzy, the ring is a reinforcement for guys that trailer their car alot and put the hook style strap in there to hold down the car.

 

[AeroCoupe]

I just use axle straps with rachet straps and cross them front and back so that would be useless to me.