They are both from the factory, rite down to the piece of mig wire still hanging on. Your rite about them figuring most people will never see them. Even if you see a stripped down frame its usually dirty, rusty, or both and that hides a lot of it. Auto manufacturers make alot of money by pumping out cars very fast. This is the result of assembly line welding going balls to the wall.The first one dosent look factory but I wasnt alive back then so cant be sure haha. I just got done my frame off resoration and noticed the same thing as you, very lazy welding but they probably figured who will ever see them. I ended up grinding each weld down and rewelding it so it was smooth and clean looking. Alot of work but when I was done it looked amazing!!! So if this isnt going to be a race car I suggest you do the same.
charlief1 said:When I started on my frame I was shocked how bad QC was on the frame. Here's an example of one spot I welded and you can see the track where the welding robot missed an entire 8" section. I went over my entire frame and did a ton of welding and it made a huge difference in stiffness.
Do yourself a favor and reweld all the seams. Once it's blasted you'll know how bad the welds really are.I've heard of spots being completely missed, so far I havent seen that. Im sending mine out for sandblasting next week. when I get it back i'll check it closer.
thats what the l.owrider crowd is doing, except they box the whole section inOne of the best mods you can do is weld a tube at the top of the rear crossmember. That's 1 of the weakest spots on the frame and has been known to crack. Pardon the welds but the MIG was having some issues. I got good penatration but it looked like crap.
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