Straightening Frame/Body

[gzig5]

Looks like my body/frame has become "tweaked".  I put the car up on jack stands front and rear to work on the trunk pan and exhaust.   I lifted by the center of the diff and the middle of the K-member, rear first.  Stands are under the axle in back and the frame rails just before they curve up into the engine bay.  I went to open the passenger door and it will release but not open.  Looks like the rear of the door is higher than it was when on the ground.  Driver side seems OK.  After looking around underneath, I found that there was unseen rust damage under the passenger side rear sway bar mount.  Looks like the frame buckled under the mount.  Definitely wasn't like that when on the ground.

Soooo, I need to get the body back in line so I can gusset the frame in that area. Car will have the back half re-done eventually but for now I just need to straighten it and get it reinforced.  Other than looking at the panel clearances I really have no idea where to measure to make sure it is where it needs to be.  I'd appreciate input on how to go about leveling the chassis and measuring to confirm it is is correct.

From the way is seems to be out of alignment, I'm thinking I'll be able to lift under the front spring mount area to level it out, but that is yet to be seen.  This is a real bummer, but I know it is fixable.  I just don't have the space/time to do it "right" in the near term so I need to put a band-aid on it.  I'll try to post a pic later when I'm home.

[Cuda Cody]

Big bummer man.  If the frame is bend because it's rusted then it's something that needs to have the root caused fixed.  The rusted frame should be replaced.   

[Chryco Psycho]

Lifting it where the suspension puts the load on the frame should not have changed anything but if you have evidence of weak frame rails , I agree ti should be repaired properly 

[gzig5]

No doubt it needs to be repaired properly, and it will be, but now that the body is out of alignment, what do I look at to verify it is back where it needs to be?  I can't trust any measurement I take off it now for reference, right?  When you have a stripped car on a rack what gets measured to first verify it is level and second that it is straight?


Edit.... I just found this post with diagrams.  Is this enough information to do it?
https://forum.e-bodies.org/reference-material/18/e-body-frame-diagrams/4768/

[1Burgfish]

  gzig5 loose are factory frame measurements used to make sure the frame is straight when you put the vehicle on a frame machine before you pull it after a crash.

[gzig5]

Pics.

Not a lot of evidence on the door but pretty sure the window is jammed tighter up into the top seal at the back.
The hole in the frame rail behind the bracket wasn't there when I bought it or got it home.  Knew it had issues in the rear but thought the rails were OK.
Last pic shows how the SBB has torqued on the frame rail, or vice-versa, disturbing the undercoating they put on the outside of the rail but not the inside.  Shoddy. 

[jimynick]

Man, you've got yourself a mess there. It looks like it's "hogging"- that's where it sags in the centre. The closest thing on it that'd be relatively true would now likely be the rockers. I'd try to set the pinch welds on some trued and even height supports- either stout wood or steel and use them to calculate a datum line that you can measure off of the figure where it's gone astray. If you have access to them, modern body shops now use pinch weld clamps and they'd not only hold the car up, but would aid in any pushing/pulling req'd. I don't know what your skill level is, but this isn't something casually done by amateurs and I don't mean to be rude here, either. Is there a local, skilled and willing bodyshop you could discuss this with?

[72bluNblu]

That's a mess. The frame rail at the sway bar mount looks to be paper thin. There's not going to be anything near that you can even begin to weld.

The really bad news is, that's not the only place the frame rail is going to be that thin. If the whole quarter moved the rail isn't the only thing that's bad. That means there's no easy fix for this. For the car to have moved that far, lifting it from the rear axle where the weight is spread out across all the suspension mounting points, there's a whole lot of damage. That's not a "add some gussets" type of fix. My car had a good amount of rust in the rear rails and it never flexed like that.

If it were my car, what I would do next is move the rear stands under the leaf spring hangers/front mounts. In the front you're probably good with your stand location, you're probably already behind from the firewall so you should be supporting the front corners where the frame is tied into the rockers, cowl, etc . You'll need to get more stands, because you'll want to put stands under the front ends of the rails out near the front bumper and the rear ends of the rear rails out near the shackle mounts. Otherwise you rise the car bending too far in the opposite direction. You don't want to lift from the very ends, but you don't want them to sag a long way either. You kind of set those stands in place with a gap to the ends of the rails, they're not holding the chassis up but they'll keep it from sagging too far, or tipping because your main stands are getting closer together with a lot of car hanging out past them.

Then you'll have to shim the original 4 stands until the rockers are level and square to each other. If you can get that done and it works, then you'll have to start checking your chassis' measurements compared to the factory measurements on those chassis diagrams. You'll have to establish that body "O" line and check all the points in the diagram for level and square.

If you're lucky, when you support the car by the front leaf spring mounts and under the front frame rails where they're tied into everything the body will sit back down and the doors will line up. It folded under it's own weight, so, it may straighten that way too if it's supported in the right spots. If not, I would strongly suggest taking it to a frame shop, because it's going to need to be on a frame table to get it sorted out again. There is no easy, quick, or temporary fix that is going to solve this either way.

[HP_Cuda]

Two words = frame rack

And obviously folks that are talented in metal work and frames.

[Cuda Cody]

   That's a lot of rust.  It can be fixed, but it's going to need a frame rack and new rails.  Wish I could say something that makes it better, but the only long term fix is going to be new metal. 

[Brads70]

 Wow you sure have your work cut out for you. Not impossible but it's going to take some time and money before that car safely sees the road again. 

[RUNCHARGER]

There is no way to safely crutch that I don't think. You need the Dynacorn rear rail/floor assembly and then start buying stuff and weld to it. You don't want to popcorn weld that rust and then go drive your wife and kids around in it.

[JS29]

I would hate to see (God forbid) that car getting hit from behind!!!! it would fold like an accordion.