The structural advantage of chassis torque boxes is just a few welds away with these prefabbed pieces from Auto Rust Technicians. The reinforcements from Auto Rust Technicians are not designed to fool a concourse judge as an exact duplicate of the originals, but offer an economical and simple way to add the functional benefits of torque boxes to any popular Mopar. These are for an E-Body, just the ticket for our '70 'Cuda.
When Chrysler sent a car down the line to be built as a high-performance machine, there was more in store for that unit than simply bolting in the high-performance hardware. High output engines and suspension underpinnings added to the stress the unibody chassis would endure, and Chrysler was vigilant in adding beef to the basic structure. The beef in this case took the form of chassis reinforcement plates at the front and rear longitudinal (framerail) structure. The reinforcement plates were known as torque boxes, so called due to the added torque load capacity and torsional rigidity they imparted to the basic body structure. Essentially, the torque boxes were formed gussets. The front reinforcement ties the forward longitudinal rail to the rocker panel, boxing in the two main load-bearing members of the unibody structure. At the rear, the chassis longitudinal rail sprouts from the rear floorpan, just forward of the front leaf-spring mounting point. As with the front, the strategic addition of a torque-box reinforcement plate here substantially increased the structural strength of this highly loaded area. Factory torque boxes were routinely used in 440 and Hemi applications, as well as on convertibles.
Auto Rust Technicians is a company that started over 25 years ago specializing in major rust repair. With structural chassis replacement or repair members being virtually unobtainable for Mopar unibodies, Auto Rust Technicians began to manufacture and market their own repair components. Along with their Safe-T-Cap line of repair components, we were intrigued to find they also manufactured prefabbed weld-in torque boxes similar to the factory units.
In our shop is a '70 Barracuda we are building, with plans for extensive modifications for all-around street performance. Originally a 318 car, the body structure was never fitted with the heavy-duty reinforcements found on its more muscular brethren. The torque boxes from Auto Rust Technicians seemed to be the perfect upgrade to our application. We found the pieces nicely designed, and the installation to be relatively simple. Here's what it took to get them in.
