Has anyone replaced the rusted out rear brace frame support rails on their convertible

Spence340

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The rear brace (as Ford calls them) on my 2005 mustang convertible have rusted away completely. These are the two 5 foot rails or frame supports that are on convertibles only and run from the rear of the gas tank up towards the front on either side. I picked up a couple replacements in AZ when I was in Phoenix but I am wondering how much of a pain it is going to be to replace them in my driveway. Has anyone from a northern climate replaced these and how rusted in where the bolts etc.
 

MrBhp

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Wow, that is just amazing. I have a 70 convertible and that was an issue with that car, and on many of them from that era. Hard to believe this is STILL a problem. IDK how the 05 is, but on the 70 it's easy, if you weld. You have to grind out the spot welds on the old piece, clean up the area, then weld the new ones in.
 

LikeabossTM

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I removed the set from my 2011 and removed the set from my 2014 and installed those in place on the 2011.

Neither were particularly hard to get out with a breaker bar and pipe to crack them, however, one of embedded nuts in the rocker spun on the 2011. It ended up catching on something in the cavity, so the bolt came out and went back in. Just be forewarned.

In my garage on jack stands.

I sent the old set to the scrapper, even though they were fine, just a little rustier and i didn't want them laying around cluttering up my storage.
 

JeremyH

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Just remove them, they are crap anyway and dont do anything for the chassis, seem like a last minute after thought. Mine have been gone for over 10 years.
 

Ricksgarage

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Like Jeremy I removed mine when I put a BMR watts link in the car. Haven't noticed a difference. If you do a search, lots of people have removed them with no bad results.
 

LaserMan

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I found another alternative on line: https://mustangsupportbrace.com/ A little pricey ($550, including new attaching bolts), but they are really well made and solid. Not sure I can actually tell a difference after installation, but feel better having them installed.
 
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