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I know a lot of us with lowered roadsters have problems with the frame rails taking a pounding.
I haven't come across any DIY fixes yet so here is a pretty simple way to improve the condition of your rails. Hopefully this will be of some help to you with average rails who want to restore a bit of rigidity (unfortunately I'm sure some of you guys have rails damaged beyond this method).
It's something I had to do to get a warrant of fitness here in New Zealand on my NA, I imagine an NB setup is similar. It can be done on either rail.
What you need is:
-sockets to remove seats and seatbelt
-some wood for hammering on
-10mm drill bit (or bigger)
-long m10 bolt
-large hammer
-sealant
-phillips screwdriver for removing trim and sliding wood in the rail
1. Remove the seat and fold the carpet over.
2. Remove the siliconed in plates from the floor. You can see I have taken the right plate in this picture off.
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3. Cut a piece of wood to fit in the hole. As wide and long as you can get to fit is ideal. You might need a fairly thin bit if your rails are bend up a lot. It might take a bit of banging to get the wood in the first time, make sure you can get it out again.
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4. Drill holes above the locations where the rails are damaged. You might need a bunch of holes along the length. I found my spacing in the first picture was just adequate.
5. Smash the wood via the bolt through the holes you have drilled to beat the rail back down into place.
![]()
6. Slide the wood along the rail using screw drivers to pry it along through the holes in the rail and the holes you have drilled or push it through the end openings. Repeat the beating.
![]()
7. Remove the wood, silicon the plates back on and silicon over the holes you drilled.
![]()
Unfortunately I didn't take any before shots but it was a lot worse than the final result:
![]()
I haven't come across any DIY fixes yet so here is a pretty simple way to improve the condition of your rails. Hopefully this will be of some help to you with average rails who want to restore a bit of rigidity (unfortunately I'm sure some of you guys have rails damaged beyond this method).
It's something I had to do to get a warrant of fitness here in New Zealand on my NA, I imagine an NB setup is similar. It can be done on either rail.
What you need is:
-sockets to remove seats and seatbelt
-some wood for hammering on
-10mm drill bit (or bigger)
-long m10 bolt
-large hammer
-sealant
-phillips screwdriver for removing trim and sliding wood in the rail
1. Remove the seat and fold the carpet over.
2. Remove the siliconed in plates from the floor. You can see I have taken the right plate in this picture off.
3. Cut a piece of wood to fit in the hole. As wide and long as you can get to fit is ideal. You might need a fairly thin bit if your rails are bend up a lot. It might take a bit of banging to get the wood in the first time, make sure you can get it out again.
4. Drill holes above the locations where the rails are damaged. You might need a bunch of holes along the length. I found my spacing in the first picture was just adequate.
5. Smash the wood via the bolt through the holes you have drilled to beat the rail back down into place.
6. Slide the wood along the rail using screw drivers to pry it along through the holes in the rail and the holes you have drilled or push it through the end openings. Repeat the beating.
7. Remove the wood, silicon the plates back on and silicon over the holes you drilled.
Unfortunately I didn't take any before shots but it was a lot worse than the final result:
