Is this a support rail

[azopelnut]

I am working on my 73 Ascona 4-door which lived its formative years in the rust belt so I am learning to weld and form some replacement panels. I took off the fender to access the back side of the inner fender and noticed what appears to be a support channel ???? I then looked at my relatively rust free 75 Sportwagon to see what was missing on the 73. I plan to bend some metal and cap weld it over the remaining piece. Any thoughts? Is this a support? Is it essential?

[heimue]

It is a part on your unibody sheet metal.

Dieter

[baz]

very essential bit
it is the strengthening for the inner fender on that side of the car

it brings the stresses up from the chassis rail to dissipate them into the body kind of thingy ( tech term )

a fully welded patch should fix it up fine

hth

[markandson]

By its design it looks to be a stiffener that runs from the firewall out toward the fender to maintain stiffness so the fender doesn't flex too much. When replacing the missing material make sure you get a good structural weld, not just a patch to cover the hole, otherwise it will look good but will not perform its original function.

[hrcollinsjr]

Because of its' shape and its' location my best guess would be that it is important in bearing part of the load for the front suspension. Like Jeff said make sure it is a good structural repair not just a patch. At least it's hidden and doesn't have to be pretty, just pretty good!

Harold

[RallyBob]

It is actually a designed-in part of the forward crush zone.

If you end up needing one for the passenger side, I actually have a VGC used one I removed from the 'Turd', as I ended up welding up my own custom reinforcements for that car.

[hrcollinsjr]

Bob,

Why did you paint the suspension that funny shade of brown?

Harold

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr Bob, Why did you paint the suspension that funny shade of brown? Harold

Hey, be nice now! That's naturally occuring iron oxide, it protects the metal from paint adhesion....