Several users of this forum (e-type) have replaced their frame rails for about $2000. or so. I wonder if
there is a good way to tell if these rails are rusting beyond removing them and listening for bits of rust
tumbling down the tube as one tips it up and down.
Why not install a grease nipple and load them up with grease? That would stop the rusting at least.I'm taking the engine out to rebuild it and the rad anyway, so I guess I could replace the rails if they need it then,
but how do I tell they need it?
Dave Potter
Submitted by jason.rudd@gmail.com on Sat, 12/05/2015 - 14:30
I thought this below info would be relevant to the conversation. I remembered reading it a while back and finding it interesting. Below is just a excerpt - here is the link to the full article:
http://www.monocoque-metalworks.com/main/2012/11/frame-rail-repair-you-bet/
...If they sound especially loud, then they are no good – right? Well, not necessarily…
Frame rails are entirely brazed together. Whoever did the job originally got LOTS of practice on 72,000 E-Types, and it shows! The brazed joints are nearly works of art in themselves, and it comes from three things – skill, a good specialized brazing torch, and LOTS of flux. Did you get that last part? LOTS OF FLUX! Flux is the key to brazing, and these guys were not bashful with it, and that’s the secret.
When you pick up a frame rail that has NO pinholes anywhere, and looks great, but sounds like it is full of rocks – that’s not rust – it is big chunks of coagulated flux inside the tubes!