[Tigers] Frame Works

[Jeffrey Nichols]

I haven't seen this topic discussed lately so I thought I would bring it up.
About a year ago I had a set of Dale Ak....i springs installed on my car.
While on the lift I noticed evidence of cracks on the frame just before the
front spring eye.  The mechanic said he would try to weld the cracks which I
knew would be a temporary solution at best.  A few months ago I heard some
banging noises from the rear of the car mostly from the drivers side.
Thinking maybe the panhard rod had come loose or the spring had come unbolted,
I jacked up the car and didn't see anything loose.  Checking the frame I
noticed a rust hole in the same area where the crack occurred.  Poking around
the hole with a screw driver made it much larger.  The frame on the other side
had the same problem but to a lesser extent.  All the info I can find
indicates the driver side has the problem worse than the passenger side for
some reason.  It may be caused by  a hole punched in the outside edge of the
frame on the drivers side and it lets in water.  The passenger side lacks this
hole.  Here is an example of a catastrophic failure : (search for Sunbeam)
http://www.universitymotorsltd.com/projects_archive/2005_12_01_archive.html

This problem is not only for the rust belt cars.  It seems all cars have this
issue.  A good write up is found here :
http://66.175.58.218/tech/Rear_Spring_Mount_Tip.pdf   To fix the problem you
can buy a ready made kit from:  http://www.tigerengineering.net/    I had a
frame shop install this kit since I do not have a lift or welder.  Or you can
do it your self using a patch like this :
http://www.sunbeamtiger.co.uk/index2.htm  The last write up is borrowed from
the CAT Shop Notes.



                                                                             
                                            Jeff