Is this missing frame connector serious?

[Five O]

Not sure what this thing is (car newb) and I thought you guys would be the ones to ask. As you can tell there's a lot of rust in this quarter panel (needs complete re-weld) but this part underneath is "broken" whatever it is. The part on the right in the pic is bolted into the frame but it seems like the metal was pretty flimsy to begin with.

Then again, I'm no expert, maybe the rust is why it feels so flimsy... Any idea what it is? I'm talking about the square-shaped end facing the camera and a longer part that seems like it connected to it.

 

[ttocs]

what quarter panel is that?

 

[Ferocious]

what quarter panel is that?

Looks like rear passenger to me. I believe that's the gas tank and filler pipe.

 

[ttocs]

I thought so too but its just hard to tell where that pic is being taken from

 

[RichV]

Holy smokes that looks serious. Any other spots from underneath that look like that?

A little more than just welding to fix that kind of rot.

 

[Five O]

What else would I need to do to fix it? The rust is all b/c of a hit the car took in the rear passenger quarter at some point (which it is, I should have explained that sorry) but it doesn't go past the wheel well... I figured if I get a new quarter panel from a roller or something I can have them cut and paste. There aren't many other spots like that but there are three-one is the torque box which they make reinforcement kits for and the other two are in the front wheel wells and go through to the engine bay (used to be a northern car). I planned on having the engine bay smoothed and new sheet metal welded in when I get that done, sometime in the future.

The bar seems to be designed to hold the back bumper on the car or something, so I'm guessing that's what it is.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

considering that you said it used to be a northern car, I would bet that you have more rust than you can see. My car was originally sold in Missouri, and stayed in Missouri or Kansas all it's life (Not considered 'Northern' by most people), but it had this amount of 'rot' on the lower quarter panel behind the rear bumper:


For replacing your quarter panel, I can speak from experience when I say that it is well worth it to do it right and drill out all the spot welds, and replace the entire panel, and not just a portion of it. I have somewhat of a rough guideline on how to do it in my build thread (link in my sig), but I referenced a really thorough step-by-step thread on I believe ModdedMustangs or AllFordMustangs I can't remember (and lost the link). Patience is key. It is time consuming to say the least.