I was installing my bumper this week and notice that most of my body bushings nuts and bolts are either stripped or missing. Wow. Since I know this has to be done, I have researched this problem and I have a few questions:

1. For the people who has performed this task, was it really a PITA to do?? Should you have taken it to a professional??

2. I know that the welded nuts are hidden. when I cut the area to expose the nut that has broken its weld, can I just remove all hardware and use a regular nut and bolt (strong tinsel strength of course, Polyurethane bushings too) with washers instead of welding another nut onto the body??

I really think this should be top priority fix before I proceed on the rest of the build. Please let me know how to proceed with this situation.

 

If the mounts are in good shape, you'll weaken them by opening one side - you're gonna havta re-weld any openings you create!
Hardened nuts with lock washers, should work.

 

there are no mounts at the rear of the tire and the nuts at the end are stripped. You stated that I will have to weld any holes I create on the body to access the stripped nuts?? I was trying to bypass the welding aspect of this problem because i havent welded in a long time (high school) and my recent practice welds sucked! LOL!!! I do have a 110v 80amp mig welder. would that be enough to weld the holes back?? can I use another alternative??

 

I would like to bring this topic back from last year. I will be stripping the inside of the car and installing new interior and body mounts as soon as the snow melts. I’m pretty confident about installing the interior. I’mreally worried about this body bushing issue I have. I’ve done a good visual inspection and I am in need of the trunk rear floor braces (left & right)and the rear cross member of the frame. These items are available online and Iwill purchase them since they are severely damaged. My questions are:

1. Would a 110V mig welder for this project (I think I know the answer already)??

2. Polyurethane or stock rubber bushings from Fusick??

3. Do I need to remove the front clip (please tell me no LOL!)??

4. Should this be done before the interior install??

5. I’m sure cage nuts are needed. Should I go with them or heavy duty stainless steel nuts and bolts??

6. Rear cross member is bent in the middle toward the bumper(like in a 170 degree angle) Does this mean I have frame damage??

7. Am I really over my head on trying to attempt this job?? Should I take it to a professional??


In all, my Cutlass has been a pretty good project car. I wish I would have caught the bushing issue before I purchased the vehicle! Oh well, I’m stuck with it now and it’s about time to fix the issue. Any and all thoughts on tackling this job are welcomed and appreciated.

 

If the bolts won't turn, drill holes in the floor pan, trunk floor for access and soak in rust penetrant; I like the Mopar spray can. I suggest a standard size hole cut with a hole saw such as 1" for which you can easily find rubber plugs somewhere like Steele Rubber. The mounts at the firewall can be seen through access holes in the firewall reinforcement plates.

 

Thanks for the reply! I have a couple of good friends who weld for a living and their work is very good! I will be driving my car to their shop for the major work and documenting this project along the way. I have started the gut and teardown project and uncovered a few suprises!!

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The last owner covered the hole in the drivers side floor with a thin sheet of sheet metal. I have ordered a floorpan for this side.

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All insulation scraped from the roof area.

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I have rust along the center brace. My plans are to add sheetmetal where I have rust issues.
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I have exposed 1 of the cage nuts inside the body. Wow! years of rust building up over time.

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This picture shows the body mount bolt poking out of the sheetmetal!
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0002453_zpse973411e.jpg0002241_zps75f6b929.jpgWell, 101_2554_zps9ba04fbd.jpg101_2566_zpsfe13b81b.jpg

 

The work has begun! Previous owner used fiberglass to cover the rear turnk rusted areas.
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Basically, we started at the rear and will work our way to the front. I was able to remove most of the body bushing bolts! 6 of the bolts just broke in half I had to cut thru the floor pan to get to the cage nuts. I used an air chisel to lift 1/2 of the cage to get the square nut out. then I used a torch to heat the nut and remove the broken bolt. The square nuts will be reused and the cage will be welded back to the floor. I did not expect all of this metal work! since I got the car stripped we are going to all we can. I will keep updating this thread as we make progress.

 

You've gotten some serious work done, very nice.

 

Saturday I moved to the inside of the car to address the rust holes. I pretty much cut back as much rust as I could and welded sheet metal to cover the holes. BTW, its ok to laugh at my welding! I finally have the opportunity to learn how to weld and I can really say that I dioing this by myself (of course with supervision LOL!!)





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"Previous owner used fiberglass to cover the rear turnk rusted areas."

Lol, very familiar with this. Bought a parts car years ago that was nothing but fiberglass mat and resin in the whole trunk. Looked like an ice castle in there it was so shiny.
Welcome to the jungle. Looks like you are getting it done nicely.

 

More work was done this Saturday. I made sure that there are no holes in the welds that i did along the center brace and covered 2 of the body mount cage nut access holes.

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I installed my fender scripts today.




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Much more to come!

 

Nice work !!!

 

"I made sure that there are no holes in the welds that i did along the center brace and covered 2 of the body mount cage nut access holes."
====================================
I found on the last car that though the welds looked great, there were pinholes.

A good way to spot these is to put your strongest work light under the car, in a dark garage, then you go topside and look for light leaks.

I spent half a day chasing these down, ended up sealing the last few with seam sealer goo.

 

You have accomplished a lot In a short period of time. Nice job. Are you doing this with your 80 amp mig or did you get a new welder. I don't do a lot of welding but thinking one of those China Freight mugs might be nice for the occasional times I need to weld.

 

That is exactly what I did!!! I used my L.E.D. light to expose all pin holes and I just filled them in. Yes it did take up a good portion of the day!! LOL!!!

 

Thank you sir!! All comments, advise and criticism is needed, welcomed and appreciated!!
Im using a Linclon mig Welder 110V that uses gas. Im heading back to the shop after I get off to acomplish more work. I will have the answer for the amps soon.

 

Well we were able to get more work done. We got the front end up and front bumper removed to get access to the core support bushings. I see what you guys mean when you buy a set of bushings the incorrect core support bushings are included. I have a few questions:

1. Can I cut the bushings that I have to the correct size of the original or do I really need to purchase the correct core support bushing??

2. Can I just use a nut and bolt for the front instead of the original carriage bolt??

here is a pic of the original bushing

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Cage nuts are tacked down

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Here is the welder I'm using

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Nice welder!
In my limited experience [two for different folks] the HFT welder is acceptable for limited occasional use. One lasted thru two resto's and was still going. Any CO2 bottle will make it into a MIG. I found one at the scrap yard for $5, soda machine CO2 bottle.

Beware body bolt lengths, on the '66 I worked on, the bolt by the front seat needed to be short... shorter than the one in the kit. I noticed by accident that the kit one contacted the floor pan. Ended up re-using the California originals.

Similarly for the radiator support bolts AND WASHERS. I don't think a carriage bolt is correct there, but maybe so on your car. When you get done with the body mounts' cage nuts, and before putting the bolts in, GREASE THEM BUGGERS. I'd put about 2 spray cans of white grease into the lot. Hard to die of too much grease.

 

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101_2877_zpsf9e83e20.jpgWell after about a month in the metal fabrication shop, I was able to complete the body mount and rust issues I discovered last year. This was my first attempt at doing this type of work myself. Wow! That was a really big job for me! I feel like I have done a major body on resto. I really appreciate Grand Crossing Engineering (Larry & Bill) for allowing me to use their shop, tools, materials and knowledge to learn the basics of MIG welding and body fabrication. They really helped me during this phase. Much respect to them!

We cut out and formed 18ga steel around the rear wheel area for strength. We also fabricated steel washers and welded them to the frame brackets to stabilize the new bushings because the holes were enlarged. Then,we welded the mounting brackets to the 18ga steel and slid them in place, bolted body mount to bracket and welded everything inside the trunk. The floorpan was welded and gas pedal suds installed. All rust issues were cut out and new sheet metal was welded in place. All body mounts were installed and anti-seize applied to all bolts and washers. Allpinholes in weld beads are covered and an undercoating sealant was applied. All seat belt bolt holes were tapped and cleaned. I was finally able to install the fender scripts too. I am on to the next area which is the interior. I hope my budget can handle new seat covers, carpet etc!!

 

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