Am I royally screwed?

[Roadracer350]

It's at the second frame shop to be checked. The first shop didn't want to mess with it due to the cage and extensive welding. I have already decided if its jacked I am going to salvage as much from the tub as I can and then trash it. I have an 06 gt sitting in the drive way. I will strip it down to the tub and make a clone.

 

[irishpwr46]

With extensive welding, you may have pulled the frame out of line. Did you put excessive weld metal over any place that may have contracted?

 

[Roadracer350]

It was already done when I purchased it. The cage is the stock FR500S but it was also completely seam welded also.

 

[Roadracer350]

Well....... Looks like i'm FUBAR. 4 frame shops and no one wants to touch it and the one that did put it on their machine said it was bananaed slightly to the right from the rear but said they didn't think they could fix it due to the cage and seam welding. Guess I am going to look for another vehicle and then strip the 2006 in the driveway and make a clone but it wont be the same... Im so pissed right now I may say screw it and sell it all....

 

[Sky Render]

Dang, that sucks. I guess the moral of the story is to check the trueness of the frame before you seam-weld and cage it...

 

[2008 V6]

Well....... Looks like i'm FUBAR. 4 frame shops and no one wants to touch it and the one that did put it on their machine said it was bananaed slightly to the right from the rear but said they didn't think they could fix it due to the cage and seam welding. Guess I am going to look for another vehicle and then strip the 2006 in the driveway and make a clone but it wont be the same... Im so pissed right now I may say screw it and sell it all....

Major PIA – Mostly for time & continued lost sleep – Stile a good learning curve.
With a proper cage, I think seam welding is not necessary for a S197. It just depends on how far you want to go.
Take a breather & chill for a while. It would be a shame to scrap everything & give up now. Money & time, probably a wise decision but if it were I & this was my hearts desire, I would finish it. If you don’t, you will look back for many years to come & be*&^%&*/< that you didn’t complete it.
String your new chassis – Now that you know how – before you do any welding. Make sure it is straight. Box mounting joints to the chassis first & then tack your cage to them. Tie the window pillars to your front down tubes. Get rid of the complete dash assembly & make your own off the new cage. Remember – you will probably be cutting holes to gain access to all of the joints to weld completely. Many people don’t & have a joint that is 70% welded. When you are done, string it again. If it pulled, have it straightened before going any farther. What ever you make can only be as good as it’s basic substructure.
My friend just stripped a complete 2008 S197 for parts for his customer’s car. (EVERY frigin nut & bolt to see how the car was assembled) Nice crush zones but HEAVY & over designed everything. The dash with its steel reinforcements & brackets must weigh at least 70 LBS. I picked it up but didn’t weigh it. I am very surprised at just how heavy these cars are.
I, for one, hope you finish & not liquidate your project.

 

[fdjizm]

do you HAVE to fix the frame? what bad things are happening besides the door gap?

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Ask the one cooperating shop if they'd give the pull a shot if you ground off the welds on the rear frame connections on the cage. Worst case, if you can't grind all the way around the welds at the rear pads, you have to cut the back half off the cage, but that is VERY low-order fabrication to replace, as they're all straight tubes, with a simple fishmouth and baloney cuts. No bends, or anything else to worry about. MAYBE $150 in materials...

When the frame shop did the measurments, was it ONLY the rear that was out, or was there front-end stuff going on as well?

 

[Roadracer350]

No they measured the whole thing. I'm going to talke to the one shop Monday and see if I cut all the legs and supports connected to the frame if they think they can fix it. The cage is the stock FR500S from ford and someone else did the seam welding befor I got it.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Talk to them again, it may not be necessary to cut the cage out... If it's a stock FR500S, then the cage was certainly in before the chassis was bent, so the cage should actually help with the pull, as it's in tension right now. The real wildcard is the seam welding. If they seam-welded after the crash, then you'll have to grind off ALL of it to make it pullable, at least in the affected areas. If you think it was seam-welded pre-crash, ask them if they'd be willing to do a pull on it if you waive guarantee of successful completion. I would also ask to be there when they do the pull, so you can see what's binding if there's drama.

Worst case, you cut the roof off both cars, cut the FR500S cage out, and do a transplant.. Not fun, not ideal, but doable.

 

[Roadracer350]

Yea if I have to scrap the tub then I will take all measurements from the cage and transfer it to the 06 tub and just rebuild from the ground up. It will set me back a year I'm thinking but like the post above said if I don't finish this I will kick myself later.

 

[46Tbird]

It's at the second frame shop to be checked. The first shop didn't want to mess with it due to the cage and extensive welding. I have already decided if its jacked I am going to salvage as much from the tub as I can and then trash it. I have an 06 gt sitting in the drive way. I will strip it down to the tub and make a clone.

That's the dumbest thing you could do. It's a FR500S, you don't junk that. You sell it to someone that will fix it. They only built 77 of them!

How many people are kicking themselves because they parted and junked original GT350s when they got a little dinged up? Don't be that guy.

If you were smart, you'd truck that thing over to a close relative's barn, put a tarp over it, and don't look at it again until you need to put your kids through college.

 

[fdjizm]

You're really about to throw your car out because you have a gap in the door?

 

[DRock]

That's the dumbest thing you could do. It's a FR500S, you don't junk that. You sell it to someone that will fix it. They only built 77 of them!

How many people are kicking themselves because they parted and junked original GT350s when they got a little dinged up? Don't be that guy.

If you were smart, you'd truck that thing over to a close relative's barn, put a tarp over it, and don't look at it again until you need to put your kids through college.

This!

 

[Roadracer350]

Trust me I don't want to throw this out at all! The shop is looking at it again today. The mgr said that the tub may be able to be put back in shape but he does not know if the machine he uses will have enough ass to do it with the cage and seam welding. I am going to do EVERYTHING i can to fix it short of cutting the car up and re welding. Worst case scenario i will have to grind all the seams and cut the cage out and re weld it. If that happens and they still cant fix it i'm not sure what to do at that point... And when I say scrap it i don't mean throw the tub away. I just mean scrap building that tub. I will still keep it I will just mirror image everything to the 06 in the driveway down to the wiring and cage install. Like my buddy said and people on this thread has said I have already came to far and spent to much money on this project to quit now!

 

[2008 V6]

Trust me I don't want to throw this out at all! The shop is looking at it again today. The mgr said that the tub may be able to be put back in shape but he does not know if the machine he uses will have enough ass to do it with the cage and seam welding. I am going to do EVERYTHING i can to fix it short of cutting the car up and re welding. Worst case scenario i will have to grind all the seams and cut the cage out and re weld it. If that happens and they still cant fix it i'm not sure what to do at that point... And when I say scrap it i don't mean throw the tub away. I just mean scrap building that tub. I will still keep it I will just mirror image everything to the 06 in the driveway down to the wiring and cage install. Like my buddy said and people on this thread has said I have already came to far and spent to much money on this project to quit now!

Glad your going to follow though with this - Best advise so far has been from Sound Guy Dave in his prior post.

 

[Roadracer350]

Well keep your fingers crossed they are going to try and pull her today!

 

[Roadracer350]

Well they have pulled it twice and she is still out..
They are going to give it another try Monday. Its closer than it was tho!

 

[FR500GT]

PM sent

 

[Roadracer350]

Well looks like I am going to be cutting the cage out, grinding all the seam welds out... 3 frame places and no luck. Well for now I guess I am going to put it in storage and build the 06.