second pic is the driver's side tow hook mount. the whole bottom two bolts have broken away from the weld and are loose inside the frame. i'm re-thinking building another traction bar using the stock crossmember mount locations as the only mounting points. i would strongly advise against using the tow hook locations for your traction bar mounting points, even if you do use the stock crossmember location as a support. the tow hook locations aren't meant to take a beating, only to pull the load of the car on occasion. glad i decided to pull my motor this winter!

 

looks like the car had front end damage and got fixed. also lots of rust that could have contribuited to the weekness of the frame tubes.

 

looks kinda like a subframe tear from a big sway bar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by weiRtech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i would strongly advise against using the tow hook locations for your traction bar mounting points, even if you do use the stock crossmember location as a support. the tow hook locations aren't meant to take a beating, only to pull the load of the car on occasion. glad i decided to pull my motor this winter!
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I don't know if I agree. The thickness of the frame at both the stock crossmember and tow hook points is the same. Tieing into both points should be plenty strong. It definitely looks like this car had been repared before, I can't image how the frame would just crack and not tear, unless that peice had previously been welded in or corrosion had eaten the ish out of that area.

 

its kinda known to NOT use JUST the towhook areas on EF's for traction bars as its very weak. its not like the EG's the EG's dont rely on the traction bar in order to keep the wheel geometry and suspension stable.

on the EF. the whole suspension relies on the bar. so you gotta tie it in with the stock mounting location.

 

it was, just not both holes.



the car has never been in an accident.

 

Hit that up with some Rust-Oleum after you weld up the fractures

 

i don't think i'll be using them again so i'll probably just paint them and leave them as is. i've been thinking about doing some further strengthening of the front end, or doing a firewall forward tubeframe but haven't found much useful info yet.

 

SWEEET!

 

what happened? is that from just driving around??