Anyone ever replace a torque box on the front lower cowl ??
see this link http://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/imag...os/BP2968Z.jpg

What would be the best way to remove without damaging the body to replace ? thanks

 

Don't make us guess what you are working on, and maybe a pic of what it looks like!!!

 

Looks like for a early 70s Cutlass and a real bear to replace.
The name is odd - torque box?
How did it collapse?

 

Looks like the piece on the front lower corners of the body at the firewall where the frame mount is. I think they are machine welded on in several places. Without looking at it I would suggest drilling out the welds or possibly air hammer it off although that may not be the preferred method. I'm sure some body guys will respond soon enough.

 

We've replaced both of them on a '70, but the body was off the frame while we did it and that of course means nothing was in our way. I don't know how you plan to do it but you will need the clearance.

I recommend determining a reference point so the new box will will line up with the frame correctly when its welded on.

Once you clear the area of carpet and sound deadener, you'll need to drill out the spot welds or mill them with a handy dandy spot weld remover. The rest we used a cutting disc to remove. The firewall was also rusted in this area so we removed that as well and replaced with fabricated steel. Then we welded on the box.

Since this was a Pro street car, we migged it in instead of immitating the factory spot welds.

I hope I was of some help.

Big job so good luck!090711_0753[00].jpg

 

I don't care what the vendor may call them, these are NOT torque boxes. These are the two front body mount boxes at the base of the firewall. A torque box is a fabricated box section that typically runs front to back on a unibody car and carries torque loads into the structure (hence the term...). My unibody 1962 F-85 has torque boxes that are welded to the bottom of the floor pan to stiffen the structure. They are typical on Mustangs and Camaros also.

 

x2 on what Joe said, body mount...also what mfgusa and Trip D. said, spot welded. My passenger side was rusted here's what I did removed the nut, lifted the body slightly and blocked it between the frame and floor pan removed the bolt and rubber bushing, removed the gas line(it runs right through there) carpet etc. I had the fender off when I did it but I think you can get to it by removeing the wheel well. most of the spot welds can be reached from the front easily, there were two on the bottom that required a chisel to remove. Next I lined up the body mount hole with the bushing and bolt, and fit the mount to the firewall and rewelded the new mount in place. It wasn't too bad to do, just tedious. Good luck with it.

 

The body mount boxes are heavier gauge steel than the firewall/floor pan. Yes they were spot welded together at the factory when everything was clean and new. If yours are bad, check for floor rust before killing yourself trying to weld new boxes to nearly rusted out firewall/floor sheet metal. Oh, and you have to get them aligned dead on so the body mounts will fit and work correctly.

 

Dave, please keep us up to date on how you get this done.

 

I will , thiis is the bad one....