shock towers

[jumpncrash]

Well I'm looking for a winter car/beater so i can work on my pro over teh winter and I've found an escort GT thats in pretty good shape with a few mods, the only problem is it has a busted shock tower.
So this brings me to my question, I ahve a parts car 93 protege DX, would it be possible to, without too much work cuz I'm no welder, swap the protege tower with the escort GT one...I don't have the protegein front of me so its kindahard tro compare, but I'll give u a pic of the scort.



so as always, any input is greatly appreciated.

Nick

[therieldeal]

ouch...

well if the strut tower is not rusted on the DX, you should in theory be able to cut out the top of it and weld it into the escort. not an easy task though... and the other strut tower on the escort is probably in pretty poor shape as well.

[jumpncrash]

man, I love this forum, its like you ppl live here

well the protege towers are in realy good shape, both of em, so worst comes to worst I do both, I just wanted to know if tehy were teh same. the rest of the car seems to be in pretty good shape, no apparent rust anywhere, at least from the pictures...btw, the guy's asking 550 canadian.

[therieldeal]

sounds like a sweet deal. the towers should work, its just gonna be interestnig cutting them out... not a lot of room under there in the protege.

[martiniac]

i would suggest taking it to a good welding shop.. dismantling your rear struts on sight... and having them weld up new towers using 3/8 steel. this is what i used to rebuild mine in my protege. i will post pics with an edit when i arrive home this evening. it takes a bit of fab knowledge and a good welder to pull it off but it can easily be completed in a day. a friend of mine who did the welding on mine said he charges around 125 to weld up a tower.. more or less depending on who preps the area (removes struts, etc.)

good luck!!

[Lex]

If you live in a rust-prone area this kind of repair is more common and cheaper than if you don't. Find a good shop with good history of rust repair and treat the area well after the repair.

[1967cutlass]

have them move the strut top inwards a little bit for some free camber while you're at it.

[martiniac]

here's the pics i promised of my strut tower:

before:







after:



of course i primed and painted everything before reassembling the suspension... wish i would have taken more pics of the result but i was worn out late in the day..

needless to say it drives like a different car and handles damn good!... especially for not having any tower bars or sway bars..

good luck!!