Hello, I'm New...67 Polara Frame Issue

Pauly's67Polara

Pauly's67Polara

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Hello everyone,

My name is Paul...just joined after purchasing a 1967 Polara that needs quite a bit of TLC. I just discovered a rotted out portion of, what I believe is called, the torsion bar cross member (part of the frame). Does anyone know if that portion of the frame can be purchased somewhere? I guess the rotted portion would have to be cut off & a new one welded on. Thank you.

Paul
 
Welcome to the board. I am unfamiliar with the 67's but need to ask is this the "cross member" at the transmission or up under the engine?

Either way its an odd place for a surviving car to rot, even in Vermont.
 
It's the part of the frame that is connected close to the middle of front doors (4 door), so I would say slightly behind the trans. I will take pictures tomorrow when the sun is out. I'm not sure what that part of the frame is called.

I just bought the car this weekend in Minnesota & I am trying to squeeze some work in b4 the real VT winter gets here.

I bought it so my girlfriend & I can cruise the weekends & take it to one of our 2 drive-ins we have up here. I'm am a little disappointed in myself for not taking the time to look it over thorough enough...but I absolutely love the 67! I thought the guy was being honest with me & bsed me about a lot of the facts of the car, so now I'm trying to do what I can to make it that dependable driver for this spring/summer/fall.

I am originally from Elizabeth, NJ...born & raised. I moved up here 5 years ago to be w/ my girlfriend. Where is...Hi-Nella?
 
You are going to have to find a donor car and be pretty darn good at welding.
I hope the rest of the car is worth it.

2s1q79k.jpg
 
There are two good answers right there and one professionally mapped out by a teamster.




Answer:............ An hour south, between Philly and Atlantic City
 
Update 67 Polara

Hey guys...sorry for the delay in replies, but I am a warehouse manager for a chimney supply company here in Vermont & we are just getting over with our busy season. I was AVERAGING about 65 hours a week.

I have kept my Polara here at work b/c the co-owner of my company is a master welder, metal fabricator & a hell of a mechanic...as well as a good friend. He actually bought a 67 Polara sedan (I have the hardtop) in NH...I picked it up with him & we trailered it back. Very cool to see the 2 cars here at work! (below picture of the 2 cars at our shop replacing my water pump and his engine mounts Saturday).

He has proposed to help me with that rotted section (2cnd pic below) by cleaning it up and welding in new steel. If it doesn't work, I am going to pursue cbarge's friend's front sub in NY.

Thank you guys for your help I'm going to be sending some new subject threads actually...I am curious to see just how available some things are. I see a lot of stuff for muscle cars, I just hope there are solutions out there for our awesome C girls!

Pauly

1223111521.jpg


Major rotted out subframe.jpg
 
Sorry, the green one in the foreground...same as the one on the pic for my avatar sitting at the Super Dawg drive in in Chicago...P
 
Last edited:
Both are nice, but I love that green paint! Very Nice!

:sFl_america2:
 
Thanks Fratzog...My buddy felt the other way about it though. I'm just confused...LOL. I liked the sub too because I felt I could have it blasted so I could coat it & restore what I needed to in comfort. It is still not out of the question though, we're gonna try the replacement steel first & if it doesn't work, I am off to NY to get the sub.

P
 
Good stuff! Not an easy repair from underneath but definitely doable. Just make sure that you prep the parts for repair very well by getting as much of the rust from around the area off as possible. While your under there you can coat some of the rusty stuff that you're not replacing with some converters or a p.o.r. primer to keep things from getting worse or spreading. Check out the eastwood catalog, they have a number of products that I have used that are excellent for rust conversion and prevention.
 
Thank you detmatt! That's exactly my intention, but I didn't think of Eastwood, I'll check them out!...Any products that you particularly recommend?

I tried POR15 and had mixed results on different vehicles. I am also a musician and we gig with a 97 Ram 1500 Van that had a lot of under body rust. I removed as much loose rust as I could & coated the whole area with the POR15 and after 1 year found that 65-70% of it held up while the remaining areas had rust coming through.

I see now, that there are prep chemicals by that company that precede the POR15 application: [FONT=&quot]Prep & Ready, and MARINE-CLEAN. Didn't know about it...Anyone use this stuff? Does it make a difference?

I have also just recently tried Rustoleum Rust Reformer on the undercarriage of my girlfriend's 96 Land Rover back in October. I am going to get it washed & see the how it held up although I live in Vermont & the Rover is an daily driver...so I figure if it held up in this environment, it should do well on a garaged/TLC'ed Polara.! I actually used [/FONT]Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer first to convert the rust to a hard black material then hit it with the [FONT=&quot]Rustoleum Rust Reformer. I'll let you guys know the result when I check it.

I was thinking of using the Extend then the POR15. I like the durable surface POR creates, but I never felt that it really [/FONT]neutralized the rust. I know it will cover it up pretty good though...Hey, maybe I'll use the Extend then the Reformer, then the POR15...lol. Is that overkill?

Any thoughts, experiences or other products guys? I really want to take good care of my baby!
P
[FONT=&quot]
P.S. Just booked my hotel for Carlisle Mopar Nats! It will be my first time![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT]
 
Pauly's67Polara said:
Thank you detmatt! That's exactly my intention, but I didn't think of Eastwood, I'll check them out!...Any products that you particularly recommend?

I tried POR15 and had mixed results on different vehicles. I am also a musician and we gig with a 97 Ram 1500 Van that had a lot of under body rust. I removed as much loose rust as I could & coated the whole area with the POR15 and after 1 year found that 65-70% of it held up while the remaining areas had rust coming through.

I see now, that there are prep chemicals by that company that precede the POR15 application: [FONT=&quot]Prep & Ready, and MARINE-CLEAN. Didn't know about it...Anyone use this stuff? Does it make a difference?

I have also just recently tried Rustoleum Rust Reformer on the undercarriage of my girlfriend's 96 Land Rover back in October. I am going to get it washed & see the how it held up although I live in Vermont & the Rover is an daily driver...so I figure if it held up in this environment, it should do well on a garaged/TLC'ed Polara.! I actually used [/FONT]Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer first to convert the rust to a hard black material then hit it with the [FONT=&quot]Rustoleum Rust Reformer. I'll let you guys know the result when I check it.

I was thinking of using the Extend then the POR15. I like the durable surface POR creates, but I never felt that it really [/FONT]neutralized the rust. I know it will cover it up pretty good though...Hey, maybe I'll use the Extend then the Reformer, then the POR15...lol. Is that overkill?

Any thoughts, experiences or other products guys? I really want to take good care of my baby!
P
[FONT=&quot]
P.S. Just booked my hotel for Carlisle Mopar Nats! It will be my first time![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT]
Click to expand...

I use it when I need to. Absolutely use the marine clean then prep. I go over paint and all. Rust needs three things, metal, oxygen, and moisture. Remove two, no more rust.

Another alternative, a NE tradition aparently;
http://www.biodieseldiscussion.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19279
 
Rust needs three things...

Well... the metal is already gone, so that's one down. I've changed these sub-frames before, and for a living have been involved in many frame up/off rebuilds on Scouts, and I think these things have rust as part of the factory package.

I would rather replace the sub-frame... any day, and it won't come back to haunt you in the future. You are talking about patching, vs replacing the integrity of your car... Pull the radiator, hood, front clip, crossmember, engine/trans as a unit, steering column rollpin, fuel line, brake lines, roll back some carpet, etc. It sounds like a pain, but it is not bad, and it beats getting burned welding rusty spattering crap overhead. If possible get the mounts and bolts with the good sub-frame, as I'm sure yours have not faired as well.

I actually used a sub-frame from a '68 Monaco on my '39 Plymouth pickup... Worked out well.
 
For the best results you'll have to pull the stub frame and weld in new metal - I've done it several times on several cars.

Pull the clip, the block and tranny, disconnect the steering column and the emergency brake cables from the pedal and the splitter on the aft frame, support the body, pull the bolts and drop it. The first one I did was in 1978, it's easy. Make sure you keep track of the shims and their number on each side.
 
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