[DeTomaso] Rear A-Arm connection brackets

[Dan Courtney]

You are right, Mike, this is a very early model pushbutton, and we can see three generations of welding, gusseting, etc.
The first two look like factory welds, including some mig welding. Most of these welds were poorly done, with allot of contamination, volcanoes, etc.
The third generation was done by the company that put The Beast on a rotisserie, during my initial re-building in 2000. They added some very strong steel plating but only welded about 20% of the seam area.
Now we grinding off much of the original welding and running welds along the entire length of the critical seams, and most of the seam area on the rest.
The cracks we found were located on the rear upper control arm bracket, facing towards the rear. Looks like first generation welds.
If I was more tech savvy I could post photos and links, but I'm still not there.
We are going to finish this area with yellow paint, so it will be easier to inspect for cracks. 
If I don't get photos up I'll be happy to pull the wheels and show you at Fernley.

Dan
Dan Courtney
La Jolla, CA
(858) 551-5455
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MikeLDrew at aol.com 
  To: dfcex at pacbell.net ; detomaso at realbig.com 
  Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:24 AM
  Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Rear A-Arm connection brackets


  Dan wrote:


    > The Beast has been getting it's rear suspension-frame connections cleaned
    > up & welds checked for cracks, and we found one on each side.


  >>>It's worth mentioning that you car is a pushbutton, which came from the factory with a rather weak chassis.  Ford recalled all the early cars to weld in gussets and braces all over the place (including yours, unless it was originally a Euro market car, which was allowed to fall apart!) to reinforce the suspension mounts etc.  The 1972 and later cars had a completely revised chassis which addressed the weakness issues.

  Mike