How important are the "frame rails" on s13's?

[mike13]

Whats up everyone.

I've recently acquired an s13 to use as a winter car. I'm going to put my s14 away to avoid having snow and road salt all over my brand new paint and aero.

I picked up the car for $500 knowing that the frame rails and floor board had serious rust problems. The car wasnt starting either, but my brother had it running within 15 minutes of pulling it into the shop.

The rust is indeed very bad. The drivers side frame rail is basically deteriorated to the point of my being able to tear chunks of it off with my hand. Whatever structural support this piece provided is now gone.

My question is this. Instead of attempting to recreate the frame rail with sheet metal, what if I just cut that part off and reinforce / repair the sheet metal underneath? Are these flimsy things actually critcal? You can see in the pics which part im talking about. Its where the frame rail bends up to meet the front frame section of the body.

I dont care what it takes to fix, this car is going to get thrashed beyond belief, as a winter car and weekend drifter. I just need to get rid of all this dangerous looking, rusted to shit metal underneath so i can pass safety inspection.

My brother is using this as a project to improve his welding skills, and I am funding the repairs, so please dont tell me that its a waste of time. We'll rebuild the entire undercarraige out of plate steel if need be.

Cliffnotes: im going to sawzall off my frame rails. how important are they to the structure of the car?

http://users.adelphia.net/~mrosswog/s13/1.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~mrosswog/s13/2.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~mrosswog/s13/3.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~mrosswog/s13/4.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~mrosswog/s13/5.jpg

[HyperTek]

geez whered u got this? out of the atlantic ocean?? hehe jk... you east coast guys get no love..

maybe you guys can replace it with a makeshift tube frame set up? If it was of any real support, im sure nissan would have built it with thicker metal, I know that area dents up pretty easily.

Or maybe build plates around it and fill it with foam...

[PinkPanther]

Oh god, seeing those pictures makes me hate those fucking salt laying assholes even more. Great, now i'm going to keep my 240 inside all winter.

That rust basically renders that entire section of the subframe useless. I wouldn't recommend driving or placing any kind of weight on that car untill you remove that section and replace it with steel tubing or a junkyard subframe.

[MakotoS13]

take that sucker to a frame builder with a tetnis shot and pray to whatever god you think cares that he wants to see her rockin the roads again.

[TiNMAN]

that's horrible man, i thought it was bent up or something not eaten up!

[mike13]

that's horrible man, i thought it was bent up or something not eaten up!
It's bad, but in the end its just a big piece of metal. nothing that cant be fixed.

unfortunately i need transportation and I have to make this work. In fact i want to make it work. And i'm not upset because I could part this car out tomorrow and get my $500 back easily.

If worse comes to worse, thats exactly what I'll do.

[JaeTea]

that's horrible man, i thought it was bent up or something not eaten up!

Yeah I was expecting to see like a bent frame rail from a jackstand or running up a curb or something..but that..

:eek2:


My 240sx came from New Hampshire and its NO WHERE near that bad. I'm thinking the guy NEVER washed it and just let the salt sit on there and decay it.

[nightwalker]

I'd be scared to drive that car

[s13Dr1ft]

holy shit...Thats bad. Find a good frame shop and have them do some magic. How is everything else on/in the car? the exterior doesnt seem to bad.

[twitchy]

Mine started

all the 240's in my town are even worse than that cept mine cause i fixed it the minute i saw it starting to rot. I was able to find a welding shop in my town to do it for cheap ($180 CAD) to beef up both sides around it with like really thick plate steel. They did the frame rails on both sides of the car so its even. They dont remove the rust, they just fabricate over it.

Frame shop is your best bet- if your bro is a good welder than try that but i can remember my mechanic saying his "run of the mill" welder would never melt into that thicker steel under the car

good luck

and throw some strut tower braces on there for good luck.

[Yoshi]

why?
why Why WHY would you use a 240 for a winter car?!
I'm thoroughly confused by that, you pretty much couldn't pick something worse :/ Light, tossable, FR, + some of the worst rust I've seen on an underbody.... ???

I'm not trying to flame you man, but where I live in washington, my idea of a snow car is my 4wd Passport... and if I were on a tight budget, nothing beats winter like an old school Subaru GL :D

[mike13]

why?
why Why WHY would you use a 240 for a winter car?!
I'm thoroughly confused by that, you pretty much couldn't pick something worse :/ Light, tossable, FR, + some of the worst rust I've seen on an underbody.... ???

I'm not trying to flame you man, but where I live in washington, my idea of a snow car is my 4wd Passport... and if I were on a tight budget, nothing beats winter like an old school Subaru GL :D
two words:

snow drifting.

its fun enough that I'm willing to deal with the drawbacks of FR in the winter. Plus with dedicated snow tires, its not bad at all.

[Yoshi]

two words:

snow drifting.

its fun enough that I'm willing to deal with the drawbacks of FR in the winter. Plus with dedicated snow tires, its not bad at all.

OIC, well more power to ya man.
I wanna have a nice stable (SAFE) ride w/4WD for ice :P
When I wanna play, THEN I take out the 240 :)

[Doriftomodachi]

With the frame rails in that condition that car will seriously fall apart if you drift it much less drive it

[the head]

you just need to fab up a box area around the damage to reinforce it then connect it to the frame where there isnt any damage

[MugenHonda]

I'd still drift it in the dry. Us northern guys are used to it.

[atom]

Damn, I've seen some bad rust and this really ranks up there. I say keep the car, should be a good project for your brother.........

[S14DB]

get some square stock and cut that shit out. Weld the front and rear rails together with a long section of 2" square stock.

[ryan hagen]

my parts car was like that but it also had a hole in the floor pan on the dirver side you could throw a football through, and a basket ball size one in the passenger rear floor pan

[HaLo]

frame rails are like 35$ at the dealer..
get some and reweld them

[mr_240sx]

halo: do you drive your 240 in the winter?

[ledzeppelin240]

Wow that rust is bad. Even worse than the 240 rotting away at the auto-wreaker. Take a screw driver to the car and find out how bad the rust is all over. If its that bad there, most likely its worse in other places. Check the trunk floor area.

New frame rails are needed. Welding over those does nothing, the rust will just keep spreading. It needs to be completely removed and then a lot fabricating is needed. Good luck.

[S14DB]

I'm really suprised that car has not folded in half.

[mike13]

frame rails are like 35$ at the dealer..
get some and reweld them
do you know the part numer? or part description?
thanks

[twitchy]

i think the frame rails available at the dealer are just the segments that run along the floor, not where it bends up, and your problem seems to be where those 2 areas meet