Roadster vs 4x4 on fwy

Though hard to tell apart from 1/8 in, that looks to be about 10 gage (0.1345 in) to me which is standard for '32 frame rails. For instance American Stamping makes them like that and it is probably who most people buy from. But American stamping rails are channeled, only the inside is boxed.

A beefy design would be 1/4 inch rails or reinforcement per Pat above. But hey, this frame (uh, the whole car) is just not designed to withstand 4x4 encounters. But then neither are NASCAR's ............

Kitz

kitz look at the photos you can see were the side of the rail peeled up and you can see powder coat was and no welding to the top of the rail ? still if the hit should of bent the steel and rip it but no cracks or missing parts crack and gone from what happen you just can not mount a shock to thin plate and not think it will not crack out and fail .i am not trying to be a pain in the ass .i just want to make sure STEVE has seen what i see ? what i think is going on with your frame and after all this it gets fixed better then it was:D

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Originally Posted by IC2

I have a TCI frame for my 'A' but would not have considered one for a '32. I ( my opinion!! ) don't like the 4 piece welded up design they sell. There is just too much chance of what you experienced and the fact that the heat affected zone from welding (MIG=higher heat then TIG) goes all the way around. ASC with the stamped 'C' shape plus boxing seem to be a lot more desirable(to me, anyhow) and you only have the heat zone in two places. Regardless, you have the TCI frame, it is a reasonable quality and it needs to be fixed. There are ways to go about that successfully and I, for one, would appreciate it if you keep us updated on both the repair and Grundy.

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I'm with you, Dave.... I've put together a bunch of Deuce frames, every one of them from ASC rails!!!!! They are strong, and when reinforced and boxed properly will take a heck of a pounding....one of mine was thoroughly crash tested when rearended by a (what else) drunk driver.... They hold up well.
Also built a fast one for a guy, low 10's with no twist or flex, good stuff!!!

Deuce

The show must go on, good out look after such a bad accident and no one got hurt. You may have to shed a few tears later but deal with that when that time comes. Got to give you an A+ for attitude.

Richard

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Originally Posted by Steves32

Is this post serious? My comment about the trailer was to try & lighten up a dreary day. I had 2 pieces of wood that came at me. The 1st one bounced in front of the car & buzzed right over my head- inches above my baseball cap. The second piece was hit by another car in another lane & shot right in front of me. There was absolutely no time to react.
Guess I should have not bothered posting but I thought others might be interested in how & if Grundy handles a claim.

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I Sorry! I read that totally wrong!

Pat

No sweat Pat :D


I appreciate everyone's input on this disaster of mine. I think it makes it a little easier when you have some car buddies to share with. Several of you have had accidents in your cars as well.
For me- shit happens & you move forward. I try & think about how lucky I was to not be hurt! That 1st board could have hit the windshield & then me!

I'm about 99% positive I'm going to send the car over to Pete at So Cal Speed.
One stop shopping, they can handle the whole package from repairs to paint.
At 1st, I thought of sending it over to my friend Earle Williams (Williams Classic Chassis Works) to have him do his Tig magic & plating on it but then I'd be shipping the car all over town to complete the car. Not in the mood to do all the leg work.
So- I spent some time on the phone w/ Ryan at So Cal Speed (shop manager) & he says he's seen this failure several times. According to him- these mounts are welded to side of frame right where crossmember is notched into frame. If you look down a TCI frame- you can see the buldge from welding it in (probably from the heat as mentioned above). So- what happens is the guy goes after it w/ a grinder to clean it up for powdercoat & gets that edge very thin. Also- that threaded insert is only 3/4" deep! It's not attached to opposite side of frame. He says what they do is cut the side of frame open outside the X member & weld in a thick plate inside the X member. Then they use a long threaded coupler welded to the plate & then to the new piece on the outside of frame. He says they have done several of these like this & they turned out nice & are much stronger.
He says I'd probably like this approach better than a shock tower welded to the frame which may detract from the period look of the car. But he says he'll leave that call up to me.

Now if I was building this car from the ground up- I would have used another frame. Read too many negatives on TCI's frames. But that's what I have under the car & I'll have to work with it. I doub't Grundy would spring for another brand frame just because I'm not happy with this one. If it can be made stronger than it was- and safe- I'll be happy.

I'd think the perfect rail would be 1 piece mandrel bent w/ the correct reveal on side of the frame but I don't think anyone offers that.

i would have them weld the drilled and tap some solid round stock to the inside of the rail and bolt the shock towers back in .i think they looks good that way . sounds like they have been there done it that is good they know how to make it better

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Originally Posted by Steves32

I'd think the perfect rail would be 1 piece mandrel bent w/ the correct reveal on side of the frame but I don't think anyone offers that.

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That's the ASC frame rails (American Stamping Company). The rails alone are, according to last years catalog, $695 plus the boxing plates and what ever cross members you use. Another forum has a current build up thread. If you want to look at it, PM me and I give you the link:D

SoCal will fix it right and you will not have to worry about anything once they make the repairs. Let us know how well Grundy covers everything.

Whew! Dats ugly! It's hard to believe that anyone would put a shock mount bung on one side of the rail, but then it is Total Cost Involved.

Here's a couple pictures of how I prefer it. These are ASC rails, so you can see the formed outer C channel (if you look closely you can see the die marks on the top side). Just a note; in addition to ASC the Dearborn Deuce folks make a stamped rail as well, both 10 gauge, I believe that TCI is using 11 gauge for their welded up rails. This is a mock up setup so ignore the overly long hardware. If you look at the inner and outer rail faces you can see where there is a tube welded in the box section clear through. This spreads the loading on the shock tower to both the inner and outer rail sides. The setup you've had puts a lot of leverage on just the one surface and you've seen the results. While a welded bracket would spread the load over a broader surface, it's still working on just the one side. Done right, there's nothing wrong with a bolt on bracket like these, and as you mentioned it does have more of a period look. I suppose the insert tube could be threaded to allow the fastener to only show on the outside and be capped and ground smooth on the inside (for appearance sake), but then you'd be missing the benefit of spreading the load as equally.

Bob
I find your picture w/ the through frame mounts very interesting. Both of yours are behind the X member. Mine are at the X member, so there's no access to the other side like yours.


Well- I know who's frame I'll use if I ever snag that 32 3 window project I've been lusting over for years!

Well, you are taking it to people who have a rep for knowing what to do. Just a commentary for general discussion. The bottom of the front crossember is open, so there is limited access. From your description they must have a plan to get in behind there to add the "plate". Depending on how much space needs to be allowed for spring travel, they may or may not have room to put a piece in there to act much as the inner boxing plate does. I'm not as familiar with the TCI method, but there's another variation on '32 front cross menber mounting that is done frequently. In mine the cross member spans full width within the rails before boxing which allows for more welding surface area. Some companies will box the rails then face weld the front cross member to the boxing plates. There are probably thousands of rods out there with it done that way and their front ends aren't falling off, and with good welds it's probably "okay", but I prefer the interlocking method with extra welding. If TCI does the face welding method you may already have an inner wall under that cross member (?).

Agent contacted me at 11am this morning & gave me the claim number & said an adjuster will be out within 48 hours.

TCI may not have even installed the So-Cal type shock mounts. They usually use a weld-on type mount or leave them off so the owner can install whatever type they want. I would be suprised if TCI would just weld the little bungs to the outside of the rails.
Tim

That's a valid point, maybe we are jumping to conclusions w/ TCI. On their site- they show a tower welded to the frame on all their 32 offerings I saw.
Maybe it was cut off & the bungs welded in by the hot rod shop that built the car? Car was built by Strickers Rod Shop in Laguna Beach.

BTW- this is the only car I've ever owned that I didn't build.