Rotten body mount...tips on fix

meowy84 · Veteran Member

Rotten body mount...tips on fix

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

You'll never regret doing it properly but may regret a quick fix.

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

meowy84 wrote:
Soooo, to my dismay I discovered a significant amount of rot in the passenger side trunk area and unfortunately the body mount that's hiding in there is also affected so a simple welded patch won't do. Since I'm not doing a concours resto, short of doing it the 'proper' way and taking the body off frame to fix this, are there any other quick but structurally solid fix solutions you guys can think of? Since I don't even know if that section of floor (with the reinforcing channels) is made in the aftermarket I was thinking of using angle iron for strength and of course sheetmetal to reproduce the floor section and cutting out the affected areas and fabricating my own support. It won't be factory or pretty but it will be strong.

Any other ideas?

Key words are "not show car" One of our members did a similar repair He loosened the mounts (I presume the good mounts) and raised the body to give him a little room If you support it and cover it and undercoat it it will be better than new and obviously better than now good luck

meowy84 · Veteran Member

Sorry guys, that was supposed to say "driver's side trunk area" not "passenger" but that is immaterial.

Anyways, thanks for the tips. Boy, I'm dreading that repair because the access to the area is so crappy. *sigh* But yup, it's not a show car so it doesn't have to look pretty, as long as it's functional and above all strong (and also as long as it`ll pass a safety here in Ontario heh heh).

norontcan, thanks mom :o) heh heh heh just joking

-- Edited by meowy84 on Monday 16th of September 2013 10:58:13 PM

-- Edited by meowy84 on Monday 16th of September 2013 10:59:15 PM

meowy84 · Veteran Member

Hey Darryl, that's pretty nifty work with those washers. I've inspected the frame thoroughly and it's as solid as a rock, so I only have that area in the corner of the trunk and the inner floor support 'ribbing' as pictured to worry about.
Sooo, what I'm thinking of doing is like 427carl mentioned, I'll loosen the other body mounts and lift the body at the back a few inches to give me some more access and see what happens. Since the bends in the floor and otherwise are not difficult compound curves and since I have a few old heavy guage fenders laying around I'll try to fabricate some sort of 'ribbing' and/or use angle iron and somehow spread the load across the floor and then put in patches for the trunk floor. Covered by a trunk mat my repair should not be too noticeable.

-- Edited by meowy84 on Wednesday 18th of September 2013 09:48:50 PM

-- Edited by meowy84 on Wednesday 18th of September 2013 09:49:48 PM

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Chris, is the mounting point on the frame also rusted out?

If it is, you will need to get a 1/8" thick washer with the right size diameter hole so the metal "seat" for the rubber mount cushion can pass through. You will have to get it welded onto the actual frame. Remove the rusty metal in the trunk (you will anyway) to gain access to the frame for welding. Then replace the trunk metal and body mount.

Here's what I had done on my spare frame (both sides were weak):

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Hopefully you can get the body mount bolts loosened ... they can be pretty seized.

meowy84 · Veteran Member

Ya I know, I was silently dreading that part. Also the rubber will probably also disintegrate in my hands. But in that area I actually have no fear since I've done a floor replacement on a friend's daily driver '88 S-10. His body mounts and rubber was so rotten we had to be creative (and being thrifty was also another requirement) so after replacing the rotten floor pieces (fortunately we had a solid donor cab, which I don't have in my case) we used hockey pucks (a very Canadian solution eh?) drilled in the middle for the body mounts instead of rubber. In fact we retrofitted the rest of the cab with the hockey pucks and on the plus side it made the truck ride much better in our opinion (more sporty feel, more road feel). That was 3 harsh Northern Ontario winters ago and the pucks have held up great (no cracks, etc). In fact they also look almost aftermarket. So to make a long story short I'll probablyuse the same solution in my '61.

-- Edited by meowy84 on Thursday 19th of September 2013 01:20:06 PM