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first new thread from me in a good while, so I'm getting back into practice. I've finally got around to where I can work on my car again and do all the things I was putting off... Didn't know those lists got bigger if the car just sits. The first thing I'm doing is straightening out the frame underneath the car. Over the years, its been jacked up on these multiple times to the point where they are mangled and pushing humps up in the floor pan. I am going to attempt to straighten these back out as best as I can and overlay some v8roadsters miata frame rails, which should fit just fine. Photos attached show the degree of frame squish. The drivers side is probably the most squished. There are smashed locations on both sides where it looks like lift arms were put to pick it up. I'm hoping once I get these straightened out that the miata rails will give a good place to jack on and prevent further damage. The pinch welds on either side aren't in great shape, so I usually jack up under the subframes or control arms. My idea to straighten these out is to make a long sliver that I can shimmy up into the frame rail with holes tapped in it. I then plan on using some aluminum channel underneath to give a reference point to draw to, and then draw the rail down with bolts threading into the sliver. It looks like there is enough room to slip a 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 4' piece of bar stock into the rail from the rear of the car. Those rails are open to the rear. This will be my sliver that I use to draw it down. I'm probably just going to have to work it in a few hole spacings at a time and work down that material from the back to the front as I go.
Have any of you had any experience trying this, or using these reinforcement rails on your cars? I'm a bit hesitant to drill holes in the floor pan to fasten the reinforcement rails. I'm concerned about rust and water ingress, as well as having little lumps in the floor. Hopefully the rails straighten up in a fairly straightforward manner. Let me know your thoughts, I welcome your input. Also, I have a few other projects lined up that I should be posting here soon that you guys might be interested in.
that ain't straight neither's this Passenger rear Passenger Front Drivers rear Drivers front v8roadsters rail reinforcements steel barstock and aluminum channel for straightening
