Body crack near shock?

[fiat218]

They add shocks for a reason, so let's try keep the cars natural

[vandor]

LOL

[So Cal Mark]

here's what it should look like. I'm cutting this car up so if you need that piece let me know and I'll cut it out for you

[jdveterano]

So it is like Mark was reading my mind last night...

I took the car to get looked at by a commercial body work establishment. After about 10-15 minutes of looking and pondering he said that he flat out could not do it. Saying that to fab something and get it in there with a strong weld would require room to maneuver that he could not make work. He did offer to cut out the outer shell of the body right over the shock tower and make the fix from there but said the whole job would be a cool $3k. I was devastated. He is implied I'd be better off parting it out.

So I called a friend who is more car savvy than I, and he felt that an independent auto body shop would be more willing to make it work, rather than not even try (Which the commercial guy did to avoid potential liability [which I totally understand]), and if that did not work, we are going to be getting creative on our own and trying the fix ourselves.

This cap makes everything easier. I can simply ask a guy to cut the one out and put this one in and if he can't I'll do it. I won't have to part her out after all!

I'll keep everyone abreast of the updates as they come- hopefully I'll be safely driving her sooner rather than later!

[spider2081]

I am not a professional body man:

I would accept Mark's offer and get the top of the shock tower.

Leave the original piece in your car. Just dress the hole as best you can.
Cut Mark's piece so it fits up from the bottom of the shock tower into position. Shock cup fitting though the hole in the broken one.
I think a good (professional) welder could then weld the inserted piece to the remainder of the original cap.
You might have to remove the rear seat and make the cut Mark has in his photo above the seat belt attach point.
I would look for a welder first and find one that feels they can weld in the area first. Then fabricate the pieces to his liking.

[So Cal Mark]

I agree, I would insert the top of this tower into the old tower from the bottom. If there isn't enough room to work, I'd remove the seat back and cut a hole for access. Once the top is welded in, patch the seat back area and it won't show when the seat is in. That bulkhead is not a structural piece, so no problem cutting and patching. Here are views from the cockpit and trunk

[narfire]

Out of curiosity Mark, what did you use to cut the top off? Recip saw or cutting wheel. looks like a nice clean cut

[So Cal Mark]

sawzall

[baltobernie]

How about manufacturing a large Man Sausage from steel tubing and hemisphere. Outer dimensions would be just slightly smaller than the inner dimensions of the existing shock tower. Drill the correct size shock mounting hole in the tip, and some 3/8" holes in the existing tower, in the trunk where you can get to them, and likewise underneath. Insert the ... uh, you know ... then plug weld the assembly at the holes, and anywhere else you can reach. Should be strong enough.

[djape1977]

that would be only way to go without cutting the body panels

[81SPIDERMATT]

gonna throw in my 2 cents .... and sitting in a chair making suggestions when it is not your car is a lot easier than fixing a problem that is truly yours ... so take my thoughts as you will .... would be nice to use marks part ... good welder can make it happen I would think .. and it would be close to original looking ... herein is where you may be getting overwhelmed ... think more box like ... what you need is a hole in a certain spot and a certain size... ask how can I weld something that will give me that hole .... in my mind it is very box looking and therefore has several attachment points to make solid ... guess what I am saying is function before form ... got to be a way to do that without having to try and weld up inside that tube

[v6spider]

An easy fix for an experienced fabricator... do it just as butt joint weld . You'll have to open the car up as in pics...it'll work out fine.
Rob

[ride65]

A good welder could weld that without cutting anything other than the tower itself for fit up. Use a mirror, we do it all the time at work for hard to reach spots (our welds get inspected using ultrasonic testing). Find an Ironworker or pipe fitter in your area and present him(or her) with the challenge, they'll jump all over it just to prove it can be done We seem to have an ego problem when it comes to welding. I would get a donor tower cap (?), cut it to fit over the original so that there is no space between them (tight iron) and weld it in place all the way around. The thickness of the new cap shouldn't affect the ride height if you hold them tight together.
edit; it would have to be stick welded because you couldn't get the head of a MIG gun on the back side, but you can bend welding rod to reach it from the front using 7018, 3/32" rod set at 80-90 amps, depending on the welder and the machine (I like to run a little hot with the smaller rod)

[ClarkTheShark]

yeah, sure, you don't need shocks, that's just another thing that corporations invented to rob you. same as fuel pump. why would you need it when gravity fed works just fine?

I laughed out loud.