Rear shock mount on Passenger side

[73pony]

I am finally getting around to swapping out the crappy KYB rear shocks. I pulled the old shock last night and noticed some metal fatigue on the passenger side upper shock mount. As far as I am aware this car has never had air shocks. See pic. Solutions? Suggestions. I was thinking about getting large fender washers and sandwich the area when installing the new shocks to beef this up and distribute the load more evenly. What have others done. I included a pic of drivers side which looks near perfect.

 

[giantpune]

Judging from the silver washers and sheet metal screws, you aren't keeping this a concourse build?
If you aren't opposed to the idea of welding on the body, I would get a fat washer, drill the hole out to match whats in the body, and weld it to the bottom of the floor where the shock mounts.

You could also just repair that section of the floor with a classic sheet metal stuff. Hammer, holley, welder, grinder, and a drill. That would leave it looking factory. I think welding in a washer would leave it stronger than factory and be easier.

 

[rcadd1ct]

Assuming this isn’t a concourse build, I would try to flatten it out at best as you could.

Make a cardboard template top and bottom

Get some 20ga metal from Home Depot and copy your templates and cut the metal.

Black silicone the painted metal

Drill two holes outboard of the main hole ang use stainless steel pop rivets to go through the two pieces you made sandwiched around the stock floor to keep them from moving/rattling.

The shock hardware will keep it captured.

 

[73pony]

Thanks guys. I was able to get the girlfriend to help out last night and was able to hammer and dolly it back pretty straight. Got the little air belt sander out cleaned it all up and welded the cracks and smoothed it back out. I will be making templates and welding them into place. I will be doing this on drivers side as well just as a precaution. This is by no means a concourse resto. Thanks for the advice. And yes I will spray with weld-thru primer before any welding to prevent and future rust.

 

[Otto]

I had some cracking as well after I used gas charged shocks many years ago. I ended up buying washers with matching inner diameter to the mounting hole. I had to flatten one side of the washers on the grinder to get it fitting snuggly in the shock mounting area. I made sure the holes were aligned and the washers were tacked on four sides. In my opinion, they don't need to be welded completely as long as the washer sits flat on the shock mounting surface, which will distribute the forces evenly. I did this to both sides.