Found a very interesting article regarding GM's X-Frames.

[Guest Rob J]

Automotive History: An X-Ray Look At GM’s X Frame (1957 – 1970)

What do you guys think?

[trimacar]

Interesting article. I believe it was a mistake to include the picture and comments about the 1959 Chevy car crash test, the comments then degenerated into discussion about that instead of X-frame.

There was a forum member not long ago seeking information on X frames, is this article by him?

[1965rivgs]

The point regarding rocker panel reinforcement is most relevant to us today, after the cars have been in service for decades. If one were to take a cross section of a Riviera rocker panel one would see what appears to be a double rocker box with a heavy common steel "wall" in the middle. When the car rusts the inner steel wall deteriorates before the outer skin because the outer skin most visible from the perimeter of the car is galvanized. The structural integrity of the car is heavily compromised by this rocker panel deterioration, so much so, that a heavily rusted car often displays a crack right thru the center of the windshield top to bottom. This is because the glass is glued into the body as a structural member starting in `63 and when the support designed into the rocker panels fails the glass carries the load.

I know these things from personal experience as I drove first gen cars as regular drivers for years and experienced an accident with heavy side impact. I have been preaching the caveats of attempting to fix a rusty X frame car in person to newbies and on the forums for years. Unless one is willing to weld in COMPLETE new rocker panels and floor supports including body mounts it is impossible to properly "fix" a rusty X frame car from a safety perspective. At that point, why not find a relatively rust free car? Good article, thanks for sharing,

Tom Mooney

Edited July 11, 2012 by 1965rivgs (see edit history)

[JZRIV]

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for posting. Always wondered what the motivation was for the X frame. As noted one reason was to provide more headroom in the lower profile bodies of the day.

[John]

Makes me wonder what would have happened to the Riviera if Nader had focused on the X-frame issue instead of the Corvair!

[Guest Kingoftheroad]

The point regarding rocker panel reinforcement is most relevant to us today, after the cars have been in service for decades. If one were to take a cross section of a Riviera rocker panel one would see what appears to be a double rocker box with a heavy common steel "wall" in the middle. When the car rusts the inner steel wall deteriorates before the outer skin because the outer skin most visible from the perimeter of the car is galvanized. The structural integrity of the car is heavily compromised by this rocker panel deterioration, so much so, that a heavily rusted car often displays a crack right thru the center of the windshield top to bottom. This is because the glass is glued into the body as a structural member starting in `63 and when the support designed into the rocker panels fails the glass carries the load.

I know these things from personal experience as I drove first gen cars as regular drivers for years and experienced an accident with heavy side impact. I have been preaching the caveats of attempting to fix a rusty X frame car in person to newbies and on the forums for years. Unless one is willing to weld in COMPLETE new rocker panels and floor supports including body mounts it is impossible to properly "fix" an X frame car from a safety perspective. At that point, why not find a relatively rust free car? Good article, thanks for sharing,

Tom Mooney

Thanks for the info, Tom..

Edited July 11, 2012 by Kingoftheroad (see edit history)

[Sweepspear]

There was a forum member not long ago seeking information on X frames, is this article by him?

I am almost certain it is.

Here is the thread he posted asking for information on the subject.

http://forums.aaca.org/f169/x-frame-history-help-320406.html

[RivNut]

Great timing.

I'm off today to talk to the body shop about replacing my floor pans with the pans from the donor car from which I got my seats. (1996 Cadillac Eldo Touring.) I'll make sure that he understands how important the pans are to the rigidity of the body. Hopefully the new pans, coming from an unibody car, will have the rigidity needed. I'll see what he might recommend as far as sill reinforcement goes.

I can relate to what Tom says about the glass being a structural part of the body. Many years ago, I had a new muffler installed by Midas. One of their dumb a$$ed monkeys lifted my car by the pinch welds at the bottom of the body rather than using the frame. The seal on the back window popped and I developed a bad leak. Way too long after the date to get them to do anything about it though. I had them get it dow as soon as I noticed it, but by then the damage had been done.

Ed

Edited July 12, 2012 by RivNut (see edit history)

[whitewatersky]

...... lifted my car by the pinch welds at the bottom of the body rather than using the frame. The seal on the back window popped and I developed a bad leak.

Ed

OUCH ! ! ! :eek::eek::eek::mad: