Hello,

I have pulled off my front Sub Frame and need to repair the mounting holes. Has anybody done this? Any tricks to align the holes up? Any suggestions? I have ordered the repair kit.

Thanks,
Joel

Do a search in the Tech Section - this has been discussed a lot here.

Some, (like me) used the convenient repair plates, others with more skill used large washers.

Some have mounted the repair plates over the holes, others have cut and mounted them flush. The guide pin holes provide a good line up point for the mid points, the rear edge of the rails for the rear holes.

they sell repair kits now...easy fix if ypu have a welder and grinder

save your money I used 1/8th inch plate steel ad made a template out of aluminum coil stock with hole center then cut out bad and butwelded. looks perfect and cost about $3 I can get a pic of it if you want to see it and the pattern I made

The body filler isnt for the repair I welded entire seam of frame on both sides and am covering every weld with filler to smooth frame. When repairing do not cut out small holes, and the white pieces are my templates I made, they slip over mount and I have a center hole marked then used a 1- 1/2" hole sawto cut hole, I think a 1-3/8" would work better

Mine were in bad shape and paper thin. Here are some photos:

This is after I cut the top layer off. I am glad I decided to replace both sections.

I weled a flat plate in place and ground the welds flush.


repeated for the top layer and ground flush

Sorry hit the sent button too soon. I decided to save the money and use steel plate for around $10 and my time with the welder grinder.

Measurements are very important since you won't know until you go to install the subframe when it's too late. I also did not have to move the small hole - that area was good.

The original holes were paper thin as you can see in the picture - I can't recall if I used 12gage up front and 14 in the rear, or 10/12. Check out hammered's site for a good write up on how to do this.

I am very happy with the result.

One PITA is that I chose to weld on both sides so that the work is not visible when viewing from the bottom. The problem was a die grinder does not fit in the tight space when you weld in the corners or close too it. I ended up using a dremel with a die grinding wheel and used much patience to grind down in that tight spot. It took a long time to get it flat

I also ground the edges down to create a V for a good weld penetration. I am not an expert welder, but I did get good welds and am happy with the result.

Hole locations should be somewhere on this site. I can see if I have them somewhere? I had a good reference before I cut the old ones out.

To Jerry's point on hole size. I ended up using a 1 5/8" hole saw. This turned out to be exact to my existing holes. The 1 1/2" was just a hair small when the blade cuts. I pre fit the new saw in the existing hole to match it before I started cutting on the new work.

I have a little movement with the 1 1/2" hole saw but bushings seem to hold in place and fit into hole with no force. The rear hole that I replaced with 1/8" plate single layer personally seemed easier than double layer with thinner material and bushings are a great fit. more than likely no 2 holesaws will be the same thickness so allow for that before drilling, I used milwaukee brand they have a fairly thick wall

Bring back an old thread here...

My subframe mounting holes look as bad as the ones pictured here. I have the patch plates and a welder, so no problem there.

Both of my subframe center mounts (at the firewall) have the front edges pushed in, pulling the top of the mount down and out of level. Has anyone seen this problem before? The mount is fairly well protected under the body, and the metal is so thick that I can only imagine that someone took a hammer to it and did it on purpose. But I have no idea why they would do that.

Any ideas on how to restraighten the mounts? My current thought is to slip a large adjustable wrench over the metal and pull it forward again.

Thanks,
Pete

Right-side mount


Left-side mount

That has to be as a result of a frontal collision. What does the front of the frame look like?

That's a good thought. The thing is, the rest of the subframe and front end looks straight, at least to my untrained eye. I did measure the distance between the front dimension holes and the width of the frame of the front and they matched the factory specs. I haven't been able to do all the measurements yet with the engine in the way.

Pete