Bugeye Sprite front frame rail horn replacement

[Kurtis]

How difficult is it to cut out the old front frame rails and weld in new ones? Mine are in pretty bad shape. The bonnet lock plates were just welded in place at one point and one of them finally fell off while driving the other day.

Kurt

 

[Randyz]

I'm curious about what others will have to say about this. One of my project cars has a slightly kinked front rail. I was contemplating getting a new one welded on. I'll stay tuned...

 

[Kurtis]

I'm curious about what others will have to say about this. One of my project cars has a slightly kinked front rail. I was contemplating getting a new one welded on. I'll stay tuned...

I spoke with a local British car shop, and it sounds like it's not a huge deal. I'm planning to just take my car over there in a couple of weeks and let them have a go at it. I'll post a follow up after the work is complete.

Kurt

 

[BillyBud]

I just did this a few short months ago. My frame rail was hammered in from hitting a curb. I originally expected to have to replace the whole rail piece with one from Moss but ended up making my own and rehabilitating what I had. The trick was to drill out the spot welds on the bottom and peel up that piece which gives you access to the rest. You can cut the welds of the front of the box and remove that too. Like most of the car it's just origami sheet metal, so making replacement pieces from18 gauge is not difficult. Then just get everything aligned between the two rail ends (I had one good side) and with the same upward bend. I MIG'd most of it into place, maybe a little TIG too where there was brazing so I had to use silicon bronze which plays nice with that.. Measure, measure, measure, align, the usual drill. End result is on the last photos.
BTW, the Moss replacement piece doesn't look close to the original, it's pretty cheesy IMO, different fixtures, etc..

 

[Bayless]

Excellent

 

[BillyBud]

Here's some close ups of the Moss part. It's probably functionally the same but less so cosmetically which is why I decided to try to resurrect mine. It looked terrible but I figured there wasn't much downside in trying that. and I was happy I did
BTW I have some original frame ends I'd be willing to sell or trade should anyone need that. They've just been hanging around in my dry basement...forever probably!