Shock tower rust / Replace or Repair

[76124]

I am in the process of transplanting my built 2.0 into my 76 and thought I would weld the crack from the clutch cable, pull the cross member and get it powder coated etc while the motor was out. Replace the steering box with a rebuilt model from an 84 and fix the paint paint damage from the leaking breaks from the 1st owner 25+ years ago.

I knew there was some rust on the shock towers, but after some hard looking I have some holes through them on each side of the bumper. I have not dug to deep, but a small drilled hole shows a rust steel rust and more steel trend. Not confident building for long term use. Removing the towers and replacing with a set from Ricambi doesn't seam all that painful when the motor is out etc. My biggest worry is alignment. Assuming replacements are not exact fit as the original, being from a Lada I assume, how does was ensure that the new one is the same height and distance forward and back as the original?

Is it as simple as aligning the cross member bolt, taking good measurements from the floor to the spring perch height and from some other hard point on the car to determine front and back alignment. Once the area is cleaned up for welding there wont be many marks left to go by in the inner engine bay cover.

Or is this best left to a pro and I need to find a competent body shop?

Thoughts from those who have done this with success.

[vandor]

> Assuming replacements are not exact fit as the original, being from a Lada I assume,

No, the replacements a made specifically for the Spider and they are a good fit. In 15 years of selling them not a single person has complained about the quality or them not fitting right.

[76124]

That's is good to know then. Makes me feel better about the swap.

[azruss]

If you have any shims between the crossmember and the chassis, make sure they get back in the same place. Do the same for caster and camber shims. after the car is fully ladened (i.e. everything is back on the car, including spare tire, etc). Take it to an alignment shop to set caster, camber and alignment.

[DieselSpider]

Be mindfull that laden means that besides having the spare, jack, etc in their respective storage areas in the car that the equivalent of two 150 lb adults (300 lbs) be loaded into the car plus 130 lbs of luggage in the trunk.

[76124]

Of course cross member will go back with shims as it was removed as well as the lower control arms. All that is very straight forward. New shock tower location is more my concern. Uncharted territory where the rest us not.

Thanks

[76124]

Has anyone pealed the shock tower like an onion and repaired the outer skin rust and put it back together? My rust appears to be limited to the upper section on of both sides. This seems reasonable considering this is the void where the dirt builds up behind the outer plate and creates the problem in the first place. This seems like it would be much easier than removing the entire thing.
Drivers Side -





Pas Side -

[FrankenFiat]

I have exactly the same problem; and am attempting a temporary fix - until the shock tower replacement happens, the rust will separate the spot welds and makes the whole thing worthy for recycling or wall art for the garage.

[dom]

That's not terminal rust they should be repairable

[jacek]

Hi My '68 has a rusted middle part (of the shock tower). Looks original- never repaired.
I found some repair panels that look like that middle section of the shock tower on ebay.
Anyone has experience with it? or maybe someone has some used shock towers they will part with?
Also what do I look for while inspecting? I saw on a TV program once that the lower control arm mounting studs separate (rip out) from the body- is that true?
Thank you!!!

[Odoyle]

Hi My '68 has a rusted middle part (of the shock tower). Looks original- never repaired.
I found some repair panels that look like that middle section of the shock tower o ebay.
Anyone has experience with it? or maybe someone has some used shock towers they will part with?
Also what do I look for while inspecting? I saw on a TV program once that the lower control arm mounting studs separate from the body- is that true?
Thank you!!!

You will have to post pictures for any real constructive advice to be given. Firstly, look inside the shock tower above where the rubber bump stop connects to the tower. I have found that the condition inside that section will give you an inclination as to the structural integrity of the inside of the tower. Clean dirt & debree out of that area to inspect.

Post pictures with imgur.com and resize to approx 600 x 800 pixels give or take 200 pixel.

[mohle]

There are a number of different kinds of repair panels available. Really the only ones that you want are the one that replace the entire tower. If you are going to replace it, you may as well do it all. Plus they rust from the top down on the inside. You will want the kind that comes in two pieces - upper and lower. They should look like this. Vick's Auto picture shown