SLO Subframe/Body Damage w/pics

[byersmith]

So I was working on a customers 96' SLO Today and I am prepping the subframe to be dropped for transmission removal and I come across this.
Now I could post this on TCCA but I am a active SHOForum member and I trust your guys' word. Now these pics are taken from my cell phone so quality is a little shabby.

The first pic is of the passenger side. The SFB wouldnt even come out so I went to drop the drivers side which you can see in pic 2 & 3 the bolt came out like normal and when i finally got the bolt all of the way out the entire rear of the subframe dropped a few inches and I look on the passenger side it dropped bolt and all and had a piece of the body attached threads and all. Now heres my question, Do any of you have any repair recommendations or am I going to have to tell this customer his car has the Taurai cancer that is going to result in total loss? (from being a NE Michigan car)

Byersmith

 

[jmpSHO]

I would say that it looks like it's not worth fixing. A 96 slo can't be worth too much and I'm assuming you're a mechanic and it can't be cheap to remove a tranny from that thing.

 

[Racer X]

That sir is a total loss.

Definitely sucks for that owner.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

Wholy shit! That's the floor pan material around the right-rear subframe mounting location?

If so, you need to tell that person they've "used" eight of their nine-lives already . . . .

I've seen a lot of bad floor pans/subframe mounts, but that's the worse I think I've ever seen.

My recommendation? Forward those images (actually, better ones if you can) to Ford and ask for "their" recommendation. It would be interesting to hear/see their response . . . .

So I was working on a customers 96' SLO Today and I am prepping the subframe to be dropped for transmission removal and I come across this.

Now I could post this on TCCA but I am a active SHOForum member and I trust your guys' word. Now these pics are taken from my cell phone so quality is a little shabby.

The first pic is of the passenger side. The SFB wouldnt even come out so I went to drop the drivers side which you can see in pic 2 & 3 the bolt came out like normal and when i finally got the bolt all of the way out the entire rear of the subframe dropped a few inches and I look on the passenger side it dropped bolt and all and had a piece of the body attached threads and all. Now heres my question, Do any of you have any repair recommendations or am I going to have to tell this customer his car has the Taurai cancer that is going to result in total loss? (from being a NE Michigan car)

Byersmith

 

[byersmith]

Wholy shit! That's the floor pan material around the right-rear subframe mounting location?

If so, you need to tell that person they've "used" eight of their nine-lives already . . . .

I've seen a lot of bad floor pans/subframe mounts, but that's the worse I think I've ever seen.

My recommendation? Forward those images (actually, better ones if you can) to Ford and ask for "their" recommendation. It would be interesting to hear/see their response . . . .

Ya thats a good size chunk of the floor pan.
I was thinking the same thing though, Ford probably wouldnt be to shocked to see the cancer, but their recommendation would be interesting to say the least. I have to call the customer tommorow morning and shoot him the bad news. I honestly dont think its worth it since its a 96 with 190,*** and its in for trans rebuild .

Byersmith

 

[byersmith]

New Pic

Heres another decent pic of the passenger rear

 

[whiteman_01]

I had this problem with my 92, but not quite as bad. However, it did drop a corner of the subframe. I took it to a frame shop and he welded in a piece of steel that came from a little farther back on the body, and went 90 degrees, then up the firewall a bit.

The fix worked well, and i got to drive the car for a couple years still. But then i had it on a lift and saw that the other side was soon to do the same thing. I just scrapped the car at that point.

 

[gmorrell]

My recommendation? Forward those images (actually, better ones if you can) to Ford and ask for "their" recommendation. It would be interesting to hear/see their response . . .

I think it would be interesting if Ford would even respond to you about this at all, being that it's a 13 year old rust belt car. I don't recall what the body corrosion warranties were in '96, but anything more than 10 years would surprise me.

Stick a fork in it, that car is done.

 

[Bob Gervais]

I was thinking the same thing Gary.

 

[byersmith]

I gots parts for sale! Mint interior! Anyone want anything I have many other Gen 3 SLO/Sable parts laying around? Guy sold me the car today for 50 bucks.

Byersmith

 

[Storm-Chaser]

You might actually get a reply . . . .

Last year while trying to source Gen III head bolts, I had a parts manager I know ask "Ford" about the lack of availability (ie. obsolete). Their reply was ". . . we no longer carry that part, we know of no third-party source for that part, and we don't really care that there are no parts to repair your customer's vehicle . . . ."

I'm curious as to whether Ford is still taking the "go **** yourself" approach to their vehicles that are 10 years past model-year production . . . .

I think it would be interesting if Ford would even respond to you about this at all, being that it's a 13 year old rust belt car. I don't recall what the body corrosion warranties were in '96, but anything more than 10 years would surprise me.

Stick a fork in it, that car is done.

Wholy shit! That's the floor pan material around the right-rear subframe mounting location?

If so, you need to tell that person they've "used" eight of their nine-lives already . . . .

I've seen a lot of bad floor pans/subframe mounts, but that's the worse I think I've ever seen.

My recommendation? Forward those images (actually, better ones if you can) to Ford and ask for "their" recommendation. It would be interesting to hear/see their response . . . .

 

[byersmith]

You might actually get a reply . . . .

Last year while trying to source Gen III head bolts, I had a parts manager I know ask "Ford" about the lack of availability (ie. obsolete). Their reply was ". . . we no longer carry that part, we know of no third-party source for that part, and we don't really care that there are no parts to repair your customer's vehicle . . . ."

I'm curious as to whether Ford is still taking the "go **** yourself" approach to their vehicles that are 10 years past model-year production . . . .

I am going to call this in now that this thread has some attention
Lets see what they come up with...
answers to follow soon

Byersmith

 

[St Louis SHO]

You: Blah, blah blah, rusty POS, blah blah blah

Ford: You should have washed your car once in a while

You: I did!

Ford: Look at it, its a turd

You: But, but but, blah blah blah

Ford: Thats what we thought. Go away now.

 

[Bob Gervais]

You: Blah, blah blah, rusty POS, blah blah blah

Ford: You should have washed your car once in a while

You: I did!

Ford: Look at it, its a turd

You: But, but but, blah blah blah

Ford: Thats what we thought. Go away now.

:laugh_ti:

And if there was a roflcopter I'd have added that too.

 

[byersmith]

:laugh_ti:

And if there was a roflcopter I'd have added that too.

You: Blah, blah blah, rusty POS, blah blah blah

Ford: You should have washed your car once in a while

You: I did!

Ford: Look at it, its a turd

You: But, but but, blah blah blah

Ford: Thats what we thought. Go away now.

1: if you Actually read and not jump to conclusions, it WAS a customers car!!
B: personally i think you are both douches. Oh wait there is two of you, I believe its a "DOUCH CANOE"(listed in prior thread) that you guys are in,
Mods ban/close whatever, but these guys are basically internet "bullying" people (Some all over this open forum) and its BS. IMO this is a good write-up and its one of my first on SHO forum, EVEN if its not SHO related ,IIRC THEY SHARE THE SAME SUBFRAMES!! so you guys dont like it BOO WHHOOO Dont flame me and FTFO:thankyou:

 

[Bob Gervais]

1: if you Actually read and not jump to conclusions, it WAS a customers car!!
B: personally i think you are both douches. Oh wait there is two of you, I believe its a "DOUCH CANOE"(listed in prior thread) that you guys are in,
Mods ban/close whatever, but these guys are basically internet "bullying" people (Some all over this open forum) and its BS. IMO this is a good write-up and its one of my first on SHO forum, EVEN if its not SHO related ,IIRC THEY SHARE THE SAME SUBFRAMES!! so you guys dont like it BOO WHHOOO Dont flame me and FTFO:thankyou:

Wow. Internet bullying? James is very helpful in on topic posts. In off topic stuff, I could totally see where you would get the impression that we are e-thugs, but most of the time we're joking around with people we know.

We'd also be the first to step up to the plate if you were in the middle of a shit storm and needed it. And, a bunch of other people on here that may appear as ********** are the same exact way.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether it's SHO, SLO, whatever. They're all the same pile of shit, some just have a faster engine. It's amazing how many regular Taurus guys have this preconceived (look it up) notion that anyone who owns an SHO must automatically think they're better than a guy that owns a regular Taurus. For the most part, such is not the case.

Now, in regards to what you've posted about the car.

It's a 13 year old car with what, 200k on it? Personally, I wouldn't waste my time calling Ford about it. They're going to do something similar to what James described. Sure, they may play all nice on the phone with you, but rest assured once they get off the phone they're not going to give two *****. Just like they didn't give two ***** about the V8 cam problem when the cars were only a couple of years old. There's much more productive things I could find to do with my time.

It's unfortunate (maybe) that this happened to this car, but honestly at 13 years old and 200k, maybe it's not a bad thing. The trans rebuild exceeds that car's value twofold.

 

[byersmith]

Wow. Internet bullying? James is very helpful in on topic posts. In off topic stuff, I could totally see where you would get the impression that we are e-thugs, but most of the time we're joking around with people we know.

We'd also be the first to step up to the plate if you were in the middle of a shit storm and needed it. And, a bunch of other people on here that may appear as ********** are the same exact way.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether it's SHO, SLO, whatever. They're all the same pile of shit, some just have a faster engine. It's amazing how many regular Taurus guys have this preconceived (look it up) notion that anyone who owns an SHO must automatically think they're better than a guy that owns a regular Taurus. For the most part, such is not the case.

Now, in regards to what you've posted about the car.

It's a 13 year old car with what, 200k on it? Personally, I wouldn't waste my time calling Ford about it. They're going to do something similar to what James described. Sure, they may play all nice on the phone with you, but rest assured once they get off the phone they're not going to give two *****. Just like they didn't give two ***** about the V8 cam problem when the cars were only a couple of years old. There's much more productive things I could find to do with my time.

It's unfortunate (maybe) that this happened to this car, but honestly at 13 years old and 200k, maybe it's not a bad thing. The trans rebuild exceeds that car's value twofold.

Well thank you for a more positive response man. I know Ford probably wont give 2 ***** like you all have said, but the response might still be funny/shocking to say the least. Now on to the SHO/SLO Owner egos, def not what I think as I am both a SHO/SLO owner lol. Thank you Bob for the clarification of this thread.

Byersmith