• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Frame Rails

Share this page

S

Skip & Lynne

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
I am just getting started on restoring my parts car and I`m not so interested in "correctness" as I was with Lynnes car. I am going to replace both frame rails on this car with box tubing instead of the Killmartin rails. Does anyone know what wall thickness tubing others have used. Thanks Skip
 
Hi Skip,
I replaced the rear cross member with 2 1”x 3” 16ga. box tubes stacked together. Pretty darn rigid.
 
Hi Greg I seem to remember somewhere that folks used 3x4 16 gauge box tubing for frame rails. I was really afraid that it was going to break in half loading it on the trailer, but after a few cold ones I got it running and actually drove it around the farm before I took it apart. Lynnes car is a blood red and I want a green one soooooooooooo here I go again look out bank account.
 
One thing I should have noted was since I used 2 pieces; there is a double thick wall in the center. After stacking, I welded them together to loosely mimic the seam that ran the length of the original piece. I’m not a structural engineer, so I tend to overbuild. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif Not very pretty welds, but not many people will see them. (Except here of course)
185198-rearframe.jpg
 
Hi Skip,
I went and measured a scrap piece from the frame part I made. Looks like it’s closer to 14 gauge. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Back
Top