Strut tower repair

94Ford'stang · Dec 6, 2020

Just bought a 1990 mustang gt and it will need some strut tower repairs, curious if anyone knows anyone that can do the work in the Louisville ky area that is reasonable and knows what their doing? Any help will be appreciated

HemiRick · Dec 6, 2020

Someone has obviously tried to hide this w bondo, etc. remove the brake prop. valve and sand, grind the bondo away so we can see how bad the rot really is. The body man that fixes this will have to do the same so your just saving yourself some $$.

94Ford'stang · Dec 6, 2020

Just picked car up Saturday night so really haven't dove into taking all of the bondo off yet really wasn't expecting to find all that after looking car over way more thoroughly Sunday morning but it is what it is

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2020

Wow, that repair is...interesting.

When I was looking into fixing my tower, I found strut repair prices were all over the place. Some folks will want $400 to do it in their garage with some patch panels, and some shops will want $2-3K to do it with replacement donor panels or a whole clip. I ended up fixing mine myself using a donor frame rail/tower section.

You're going to need to strip all that bondo out of there so a shop can get a good estimate going. But looking at the pics, I've seen worse.

94Ford'stang · Dec 7, 2020

That will be the plan this week not sure I can take the whole front end apart as I don't have a garage to do work but should be able to get all that off it and see the real damage

Mstng93SSP · Dec 7, 2020

I agree with Mike, I have seen much worse. The repair...not sure I would call it a repair as much as I would call it an attempt to hide a problem.

91TwighlightGT · Dec 7, 2020

Kind of off topic, but does anyone have any pictures of a car where the tower actually failed? I have to assume that at some point the subframe actually disconnects from the car body?

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2020

91TwighlightGT said:
Kind of off topic, but does anyone have any pictures of a car where the tower actually failed? I have to assume that at some point the subframe actually disconnects from the car body?

No, and I've looked. I've seen some REALLY bad condition cars still running and driving up here in the northeast. Holes in the rail/tower that you could pass a hand through and grab a header.

I've wondered how these cars haven't simply collapsed and looked to find examples of it, but haven't found much. I've never seem then rot out back at the firewall though. It always seems to be from the rear tower fold forward that rots out. I imagine a gross failure would be one where the strut tower migrates up and fails sending a camber plate into the hood (with a portion of the tower attached). I've seen this happen during road racing when hitting a curb, but not from rust.

My thinking is that the K-member, and the edges of the tower are what is preventing collapse. When you hit a bump, all that force goes up to the top of the tower. Something needs to prevent it from going upwards and I think most of the strength is in the shape of the tower and how it joins with the rest of the fender. I believe these spot welds along the sides are the most critical, including at the bottom where they connect into the frame rail. Most frame rail rot happens on the front but I think most of the stress is on the edges. Often times these area are somewhat intact, where they connect to the rail near the bottom.

I also think the lower K-member nut plate is taking the brunt of the work in holding the K-member in place (along with gravity) as I've seen a few cars where the 4 main bolts holding the K-member in place were corroded to the point they looked like tooth-pics.

Obviously those cars shouldn't be driven, but i'd seen them registered and inspected and for sale up here. Run away.

At least...that's my theory. I've seen enough badly rusted cars to wonder the same thing. How are they still rolling?

91TwighlightGT · Dec 7, 2020

Thanks, that is an interesting analysis. I always figured as these cars aged that people would start posting about how their front ends just fell off while they were driving down the highway. Assuming they survived to tell the tale, of course

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2020

Maybe they do, but people are too embarrassed to admit what happened?

But how does something like this not collapse? That rear nut plate looks like it's the only thing holding the K-member in place. But what takes the load when this car hits a big bump at 70MPH?

But another thing that baffles me is when people cut off the front end of their car and tube frame it. You basically cut it off at the front of the tower so you lose part of that structure that takes the load. I just assume Ford overdesigned these towers.....massively.

94Ford'stang · Dec 7, 2020

Mustang5L5 said:
Maybe they do, but people are too embarrassed to admit what happened?

But how does something like this not collapse?

I just wonder also if you got in a decent front end collision with this kind of rust how bad the front end would just fold up and collapse

91TwighlightGT · Dec 7, 2020

I haven't taken my subframe off - do we have bushings that isolate the subframe vibrations from the body? Maybe the load is distributed through the bushing and enough to keep it together? It seems like they would fail over time, though.

@94Ford'stang - Based on how well these cars crashed when they were new, I imagine they fold up like a cheap suit!

Gravydog · Dec 7, 2020

This is what mine looked like, the guy I got the car from drove it quite a bit, I couldn't bring my self to

This is what happened when I unbolted the K-member

I don't think it would have held up well in a crash.

91TwighlightGT · Dec 7, 2020

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2020

91TwighlightGT said:
I haven't taken my subframe off - do we have bushings that isolate the subframe vibrations from the body? Maybe the load is distributed through the bushing and enough to keep it together? It seems like they would fail over time, though.

@94Ford'stang - Based on how well these cars crashed when they were new, I imagine they fold up like a cheap suit!

Nope. It’s metal on metal

94Ford'stang · Dec 7, 2020

Jeez I hope to the car gods after I take the ton of bondo off mine its not that bad I'm a 100% newby to body or frame work plus welding so hoping for the best

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2020

I keep my old rail as a momento

94Ford'stang · Dec 7, 2020

Mustang5L5 said:
I keep my old rail as a momento

Always good as to remember what was

elarm1 · Dec 8, 2020

Wow, this all scares me.... my car is a georgia car but this still makes me want to prod and poke.

Gs1987GT · Dec 9, 2020

elarm1 said:
Wow, this all scares me.... my car is a georgia car but this still makes me want to prod and poke.

Better that you do, so if something is brewing you can address it sooner than later.

I checked my 87 real good. Just had some surface rust, (confirmed with a screwdriver! ) so I wore wheeled, sanded and painted my strut towers (and the rest of the undercarriage) real good. But I'll still check it from time to time.

Strut tower repair

94Ford'stang

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HemiRick

I'd be looking at jacking under the house

94Ford'stang

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Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

94Ford'stang

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Mstng93SSP

You have a nice rear end there Dave.

91TwighlightGT

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

91TwighlightGT

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

94Ford'stang

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91TwighlightGT

Gravydog

dripping from every hole

91TwighlightGT

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

94Ford'stang

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That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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Strut tower repair

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I'd be looking at jacking under the house

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You have a nice rear end there Dave.

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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dripping from every hole

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