AllC34Me

For the last few years I have thoroughly enjoyed repairing, rebuilding, and restoring frames that others considered a loss. There is little more I consider fun than taking a 69-72 frame and turning it into a nice 69-72 rolling chassis that is ready for service.

I have done two 1977's, one 1976, one 1974, one 1972, and I am working on two 1972's now and this will be my first 1969. It is very similar to the 1970-72, just some variation in the vapor lines, etc. When I restore them I restore them as per original, so this 1969 will be restored for use on a 1969. It would work for a 1968 or a 1970-72 as well, just have to put the stake down somewhere so I will return this one to its glory as a 1969 manual chassis.

Damage area before repair


Damage area repaired to better than new


Good bones to work with:






I have to be patient though as I have my two 72 frame projects in line before this one but I look forward to offloading it from my trailer soon and working to bring this one back to life.

Stay tuned and thanks for watching.

David

DUB

David,
It seems you like to get things right...but I have to let you know that in your fifth photo...the french locks are NOT installed correctly. The one bendable tab is not supposed to be against the wall of the U-joint flange like you have it...the french locks go around the U-joint in the U-joint flange.

This is a photo I found that is correct.
http://home.comcast.net/~chadwick.ro..._files/eO7.jpg

DUB

AllC34Me

I agree with you DUB, I like to get things correct. The pictures here are a chassis I just received, not one that I have constructed, and my next steps will be to take this one apart and restore. I will do my best to make sure that items like this are correct when I build the new one, and certainly do appreciate your attention to detail, I share that passion. Thank you, well noted.
Best regards,
David

drspencer

Before I bought my '71 convert, it was hit in the left front at some point in its life. Regardless, the car is great and tracks well.

Almost embarrassed to ask, but if I were to do a frame off, how would I tell if my frame was bent, or previously straightened/repaired?

Do I measure it myself? Do I have to bring to to someplace that has a jig?

Thanks

SB64

Hi David, I am sorry I did not get to meet you when I went to Carlisle Friday. One of my questions was going to be what is the size of the garage with the lifts that I often see in your posts.
Thank you in advance.
ZIO

AllC34Me

You don't have to be embarrassed to ask at all, I didn't know previously and that is why I sought the help of a shop. I could tell this one had been hit and repaired and the previous owner revealed the damage and the repair. I wanted to make sure that it was correct and I wanted it to look better than it looked, so I asked the body shop to put it up on their rack to measure it. They have a catalogue of frame dimensions that they use when they are measuring a frame for correctness. You have probably seen it here on the forum before, it has been shared a lot.



Using this I was able to determine initially that my frame was square (top part of the drawing) but I needed the help of the shop to determine if it had been twisted, which it had. My frame was down in the left front side about .75" (that is the first dimension on the lower part of this drawing, was closer to 13-7/8") so they straightened it on the frame rack, corrected it, and they repaired the top, front and back panels of that section, welded in a new panels, ground them smooth,
painted it to what you see here.

I now know I can use this frame in confidence and it will perform as it should.

I have been told by others from the forum that many of the frames are not square and true, even from the manufacturer originally. I just wanted to make sure the previous repair had been done correctly.

I hope that helps.

David

AllC34Me

Sorry I missed you. I was in the far North of the Fun Field. I will do a better job of telling folks what spot I am in next year, missed a few folks this year.

I have a three car attached garage to my home ZIO. It is 35 feet wide, 24 feet deep, and has a 11' 4" ceiling height. Three garage doors with extra space on the side of one of the bays. My work bench area sits in front of the first bay, our entry door to the home sits in the front of the second bay, our entry to the basement sits in front of the third bay so it is shorter. My two lifts are located in bay one and bay three. Bay two is where my wife parks her car in the winter months. Sparty sits atop the lift in bay one. Bay three lift two has the engines and transmission and parts for the three chassis builds I have going at this time.

It is a mess now or I would show some additional pictures.

Let me know if I can help further and sorry again to miss you.

Best regards,

David

SB64

Thanks David for that info. My next garage I would like to make it more the way yours is setup. Seems to work just fine for what you are doing.
ZIO

AllC34Me

If I had the space I would build a two car garage adjacent to my current garage and build it with a taller ceiling and deeper with more room for work bench to the rear of the garage. Not enough space here on my lot so won't be able to do that.

I tease my wife about it all the time. I told her our next home should be much smaller (four kids are gone now). Maybe a two bedroom, two bath with an eight car garage...
She just rolls her eyes.
David

Rowdy Rat

It's amazing what you find you need when you do a lot of work in your garage, isn't it David (nice work by the way )?

I'm on my second garage... I thought that I planned the first one that I built pretty well considering the restrictions that I had to deal with. I was certain that the second one would be darn near perfect as I had a blank sheet of paper to work with. I got most of it right, but sure enough, found some things that I would add or do differently on the next one.

The third garage is going to be killer!

We're in pretty much the same boat... Three kids all nearly finished with college... Huge house... Looking for where we want to retire. As I mentioned earlier, the next garage I build is going to be one for the books! I think that my wife is pretty much resigned to that at this point...

Regards,

Stan Falenski

SB64

I hear you David sought of like "hey honey I found a 5 bay garage with a house on it also"
ZIO

DUB

If the frame is damaged...often times it can be seen relatively easy if the impact was great enough to crease and wrinkle the metal. Sometimes....the damage is so slight that it is hard to see and may not be visually identified...but there are other indicators that will show up like paint popping off the frame, and spot welds giving way.

Depend if you are wanting it precise...it is best to use tram gauges and take it to a shop that has them. Using a
special type of tape measure will get you close...but the tram gauges are the best way to get it right.

I am always concerned that the frame is as good as it can be...but my main concern is making sure that the distance between the upper control arm mounting perches are correct. Nothing is worse than getting it all correct and still having an issue where the car goes to get aligned and the amount of upper control arm shims are really thin.

Photo of tram gauge.
http://s200.photobucket.com/user/Bas...74da9.jpg.html

Ultimately...putting the frame on a bench measuring system would let you know it is SPOT ON.

http://www.euroempire.net/upload/pro...9160024960.jpg

Although your frame and era of your car is not really requiring this... due to so many areas where the adjust-ability allows for correction on fabrication flaws. Getting your frame within 2mm of the measurements provided above is NOT required ..unlike some new cars where the tolerances are REALLY tight.

DUB

Bob K

David,

It was good to meet you at Carlisle. Sparty looked better in person!

A few years ago with the kids gone, my wonderful wife got the "time to move bug". I've agreed that a small rancher with enough property to build a garage would work fine.

She had a slightly different definition of downsizing. We ended up with a 3800sq ft house which is beautiful, but too large. The queen was very happy. The icing on the cake was the existing 44x31 garage behind the house. I'm now getting plans to add another 24-30 ft to it. Three lifts all have something on them and both bays in the attatched garage are also take by future projects.

The bottom line is you can never have too much room.

Bob K.

AllC34Me

Thank you Dub, very well said. The rack my frame went on was heavier duty looking than this one, big steel bars but it had all the detail measuring devices to determine mine was .75" low on the left front. All fixed now and happy I did it.
Thanks for the details, always appreciated.
David

AllC34Me

Thanks for the compliments Bob, it was good meeting you and sharing some stories and information. I agree there is never enough room, but sooner or later I will reach that spot where what I think I need and what I actually need are matched. Not there yet, but working on it.
Thanks again and best regards,
David

AllC34Me

I'm using my 69 rolling chassis to transport my two 72 frames on my enclosed trailer. I have moved them this way in the past and it works great.









Just need to add the straps around them and I will be ready to go.

Fun stuff.

David Howard
AllC34Me

SB64

Hi David, man you have it going on. I may have missed it but where are the frames going? You really have a great setup and we all can see that you really enjoy what you are doing. Great inspiration for me to keep on with my 69. Thanks!!
ZIO

AllC34Me

The top frame is a 72 manual frame, it has a little welding needed on the #3 mount before it can be put into service and used on the 72 coupe.

The middle frame is the 72 automatic frame that will be used with the 72 road race replica.

They are both on top of a 69 frame being used for transporting the 72 frames from my home to a local powder coater after the welding is completed.

After working with the POR 15 product and sanding, grinding, sanding, power washing, priming, and painting I am not happy with my finished products so I am taking them to Absolute Powder Coating to be media blasted and powder coated.

Once I have one of the 72 frames back to a nice rolling chassis I will strip down the 69 to bare frame, put it atop one of the 72's, and take it for the same treatment.

Each of these three frames has been measured, adjusted if needed, repaired if needed, and put back into better than original shape. I like to build cars on a solid platform so this is how I am approaching the two cars I am building at this time.

Worked great.

David

AllC34Me

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, for those who think it may be otherwise I can confirm now from personal experience that

The 1969 frame, the 1971 frame, and the 1972 frames are dimensionally and structurally the same frame. I would venture to guess that a 1970 frame is exactly the same as well. Only difference on these is one is an automatic frame which makes that front transmission cross member removable. All else is equal.

Not that I didn't believe others when they said they were interchangeable, I just wanted to measure them when I had them and I can confirm they are interchangeable if they are in good structural shape and dimensionally to specification.

Hope this helps.

David Howard
AllC34Me

c3_dk

GREAT pictures David, I've never seen pictures like this before