1987 Buick Grand National Upgrades - 10-Second TR

The same process is repeated on other side where more cancerous rust has eaten at the wheelwell. Young master Cotton demonstrates the hammer fist.

The face of the framerail is cut off from the bottom first, then the top; Brian is careful to avoid the fuel line on the driver side. Once it is off, the edges are smoothed out with a grinder.

Extra scrap metal is used for reinforcing the framerails (about a 1/4-inch thick). Brian first uses cardboard to make a template before cutting...

...He then machines the piece down in a series of stages to make sure it fits snugly before MIG-welding it into place...

...and then the same process is repeated with two more plates until there is an overlap of reinforcement with the plates installed previously on the other side of the 'rail for the Wolfe sway bar.

The framerail is finally capped off with the original piece extracted with the plasma cutter and MIG-welded in place (an extra piece is also used on the far end), then painted with black undercoat.

The hardest part about notching the framerails is getting the cap to fit back on right. Brian grinds down the edges and uses a hammer to move the edges of the framerail closer to the cap before welding. On the right side, he had to cut the cap in half and weld it back together in order for it to fit correctly. When all is said and done, Frank will be able to fit 30x10.5-inch slicks back here; however, he will most likely run 28x10.5-inch drag radials for street driving with 15x10-inch wheels with a 5-inch back spacing.