My frame is stripped

[John L.]

Well I finished taking the last part off my 68 conv's frame. I hoped to find a frame restoration business that can clean up the frame. The problem I have is that my car is a northeastern version (rust). The rear kick-ups have rusted areas just below the trailing arm holes. I spoken to two businesses but they didn't want to give me a ballpark figure on the cost of repairing. Both asked that I bring the frame to them. I hate to have to lug a 300+ lbs frame around for nothing. Also I hate to bring the frame to a business and find that the repair work cost more than a replacement frame ($3,500 + shipping). Has anyone had the displeasure of having the above repair job done? What did it cost? Am I better off just purchasing a repro frame?

Thanks........

John..........

[Wayne C.]

Send Photos to vendors?

Wish I could help directly, but I haven't had to replace rusty frame sections. Here's some food for thought:

If you are intending to persue NCRS certifications, perhaps it would be best to purchase a better used frame (minimum of $3500 is my guess), although no doubt some vendors can probably do undetectable repairs.

Why not take some quality photos of the frame, from all angles plus closeups of the rust-damaged areas, and send them to the repair vendors to see if they can give you a reasonable estimate from the pictures?

If possible, it might be worthwhile to have the frame chemically de-rusted or sandblasted first to determine the full extent of the corrosion damage; it might cost $250 to $400 and require hauling the frame around, but would be good insurance against a gross underestimate of the needed repairs. Worst case (too expensive to repair) you could probably recover those costs by selling undamaged sections. Perhaps you could also have a collision shop make some measurements to see if the front portion of the frame is also in need of straightening, which may be one reason the repair vendors don't even want to commit to an estimate.

Lastly, if you have the time and are handy with tools, and the frame is straight, consider doing most of the work yourself. You might be able to make a sturdy wooden or metal jig of sorts to hold the frame in place at strategic points, then carefully measure and cut out the bad areas at places where you can easily replicate the measurements (all else still held tightly in place) and cut new sections (that you purchase) to fit exactly in their place. If you are not versed in welding, you can hire that work to be done by a mobile welding service to come and weld the pieces you've clamped in exact position on your jig. This requires some research and a lot of work on your part, but may keep cash outlays to a minimum. I'm enclosing the url of a website featuring extensive repairs to a 68 frame.


68 frame repairs

[John L.]

Re: Send Photos to vendors?

WayneC

Thanks for the info and especially the website!

John.........