Took my '71 Cutlass in for safety yesterday and it failed due to rot in the front body mount section. A few of the other body mounts looked dried out. So my mechanic (not the one who did the safety) said he would fix the problem but wants to replace all body mounts. So the body has to come off the frame. Has anyone had this done to their car. If so what are some of the unexpected things that he may find. Everything else on the car passed safety no problem.

To me this sounds like a major job. My mechanic said it's more time consuming then anything.

 

Get ready for a frame off restoration.

In the US there aren't many shops that perform state mandated safety inspections that would be capable of figuring out that there's frame rot around body mounts. By the the time they did the entire car would be falling apart

The time consuming part is none of the body mount bolts are going to come out without torching them

 

Our safety standards up here in Ontario have increased. The rest of the frame underneath looks good as do the rails. The inner and outer rockers look good as well. Really hope there aren't going to be many surprises.

 

Body mount kits are readily available rubber or urethane. The body just has to be lifted up enough the replace the bushings, undo one side lift the body on that side replace the bushings then do the other side. Possible problems are that the captured nuts in the body are rusted solid and spin when you try to loosen the body bolt, the bolt can be weakened by rust and snap, lastly the frame mount can be rusted away so the bushing has nothing to sit on. Make sure to use lots of penetrating fluid and start using soon. Good luck.

 

Thanks. I've heard the bumpers and rad have to come out. Is that tru? My mechanics brother in law sells Olds parts and can get almost anything I need which will be helpful.

 

All the body mount bolts, steering box disconnected, bumpers removed, core support bolts removed, emergency brake cable disconnected.

I doubt it's just the body mounts. The area of the frame where the bolts pass through the frame get particularly rusted in the front mount area but all can be suspect. They generally weld a new washer over the old mount washer in the frame at all the bad locations

 

Yes, he said at the front he was going to have to weld a washer over the hole and then put in a new body mount. He said the best way would be to lift the car off the frame and do all of them at once.

 

which would then lead to the dreaded maws. might as well do,new brake lines and fuel lines while they can be accessed,gee, itd be a good time to clean the frame up,and then its on to,hey now would be the time to do that suspension upgrade,and it goes on and on and on and on......lol

 

Uh oh lol..........I ordered the body mount kitt from Summit yesterday. As you said there will probably be a few more things I need to replace.