There’s an old military saying that goes something like, “No plan survives the first contact with the enemy.” Our initial plan was to replace the right rear quarter on our ’68 and just massage the rear frame rail back into shape. Unfortunately that went out the window once we started removing the quarter panel and saw how messed up the frame and floor of our Camaro really was. With a lot of sweat we could have made what we had work, but we decided that it would be easier to remove the offending rail and replace it with a new piece from National Parts Depot.
On a scale from one to ten, with ten being really difficult, replacing a rear frame rail is about a seven. While it’s not an aesthetic part that will be seen by the world, like a quarter panel, it’s a key component to the structural rigidity and geometry of the car. Having a rear frame rail installed incorrectly will make bolting on rear components, such as suspension and a differential, very difficult. If it’s off enough, alignment will be a major Excedrin headache if possible at all. This is especially true if the car gets a relatively non-adjustable rear suspension such as leaf springs. In short, it doesn’t need to go in pretty, but it’s critical that it goes in right.
For some time now NPD has offered rear frame rail repair sections in 36- and 46-inch lengths, but recently they released just what we needed: a 68-inch-long full frame rail. So follow along as we take a detour from our quarter panel replacement to square up our battered Camaro and graft in one of these new rails from NPD.
After removing the right quarter-panel...
After removing the right quarter-panel we noticed that the damage to the rear framerail was worse than we thought. It was deformed in several places and, if left unchecked, would play havoc with the geometry of the car.
Before we started cutting...
Before we started cutting away parts off the old frame we tacked in some braces to keep the rear of the car from sagging.
More evidence of the trauma...
More evidence of the trauma inflicted on our ’68 was this compression bulge in the trans tunnel. Obviously the hit to the back of the car was severe enough to buckle the floor and was never properly fixed the first time.
Given that the back of the...
Given that the back of the car was only pushed in around an inch, we decided to try to pull out the damage ourselves. Dick Kvamme of Best Of Show Coach Works (BOS) started by cutting a hole in the old framerail with his trusty Miller plasma cutter.
With the hole cut, he then...
With the hole cut, he then mounted an eyelet. This will give us a good leverage point to try and fix the car’s off-kilter geometry.
To make pulling the floor...
To make pulling the floor easier, we cut away several sections of the old frame. Hey, we’re going to eventually remove it anyways. If we wanted to pull the floor without weakening the framerail we would need better equipment, like a full-on frame rack.
Dick continued to remove large...
Dick continued to remove large sections of framerail with the Miller plasma cutter. For now we just concentrated on getting rid of the big areas. We will trim off the flanges later when we’re ready to put in the new rail.
Using a combination of a...
Using a combination of a hydraulic ram and a BFH (big freakin’ hammer) we carefully worked the front section to remove most of the bulge in the trans tunnel. During this procedure we stopped several times to take measurements and check our progress.
Once we had the front where...
Once we had the front where we wanted it, we flipped the ram around to work on the back half. The front of the ram is braced on the same eyelet we added earlier and the rear is up against the last small section of framerail we left in place. With the frame cut away, this area was fairly easy to “adjust.” Again, we stopped several times to check and measure our progress. After all, if we went too far that would just create more work.