When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Over the past 3 months I've read thousands of posts both here and on NCRS, followed the checklist, built a gallows in my residential garage, and have now hung the body. It's sitting on 4x4s now on 1 & 3 mounts with support on #0 forward and #4 back aft. Only issues were the #4 body mount bolts, which I cut, and the speedo cable, which had the garage blue for a very long time.
What I was hoping was minor rust, turned out to be a little more than I thought. The rust is clearly eaten into the cross member. I think the rest of the frame, including birdcage, is ok. No visible rust, but I thought the other area was minor, so my judgement is suspect. Here are the photos.
I appreciate all the work many have done documenting their restorations (Glenn, Railroadman, hcallaway, Elwood, ...and many others still in the archives), which gave me the courage to finally turn the first wrench. Glad I did because the damage is worse than I expected and probably unsafe. It was always in the back of my mind when I drove the car. I'll blow air to clean the inside and try to look with scope but understanding the scope picture is difficult for me.
I read the C2 frame restoration article in the May issue of Hemmings and understand anything is possible, but several have said replacing the sections around the #3 mount is very doable, so the plan becomes to strip the frame and get it to either a sandblaster or a dip. Not sure which will better reveal damage. The results will dictate if I repair it or just buy a new one.
Let the creep begin.
Driver side before cleaning pass side before cleaning Driver side pass side VIN on frame.
That frame is in need of great repair. It can be done. If you can’t do it yourself or with local talent at low cost consider a replacement, after market, frame. There are some that do not require body modification. There are some that do.
You aren’t properly repairing that without removing the body.
Birdcage - Really appreciate the photos. I need to find the right person to do the work. Those are skills I do not have. Based on previous input I've pulled the body and am now going to start pulling everything off the frame.
If you strip the frame, there will be a point of no-return from an entropy standpoint. You will need to find storage for the parts and have to remember where they all go to get it back together. The flip side is that it will make welding easier because you will be able to flip the frame upside-down and you can paint it nice. My advice is to consider not stripping the frame and repair the spots with minimal drivetrain removal. Full disclosure, I took mine apart. I am on the West coast and was tempted to purchase a complete frame from one of the vendors. There is an outfit in Michigan that has a factory jig, maybe you could send (deliver?) your frame to them and they will fix it up. I was tempted to purchase a frame form this guy, he is an 8 hour drive from me:
In the end I mail ordered a bunch of parts and did it myself but I was taught how to weld in High School. I would encourage you to consider learning how to weld. Mig welders are forging, if you put down a weld that you don't like, you can grind it off and try again. Worse thing that might happen is you mess it up and have to order more parts and do it again or get frustrated and pull the trigger on a "refurbished" frame.
Actually, I don’t think your frame is that bad. The rust seems isolated to the debris that was trapped in between the gusset and the body. A competent welder could cut and weld those sections without a jig. However, get your camera inside the frame and crossmember for a proper inspection. I’m betting the crap that held water and caused the frame to rot from the outside also prevented water from rotting it from the inside. Perhaps two 12” by 4” steel plate sections and a new gusset on each side and you are good to go. Less than a days work for a skilled welder with a plasma torch and a mig welder. The other frame posted above is ten times worse than yours.
Thanks, but learning to weld is out of the question now. My hands are not steady enough. Wish I could and would like to but just not possible. Tragedy is my brother-in-law was Lincoln Electric trained and a life long welder, but was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam and taken from us. Think of him every day.
It's not what you wanted to find, but you will have a better and safer car when it's done. Congrats on taking the plunge and getting to the stage you are now at. There are repair sections available, and as Factoid said a good knowledgeable welder could put them in without a lot of difficulty. Good luck and keep us posted.
It has taken a very long time but I've had the frame repaired, sandblasted and primed. Finding the right people to work on it is as hard as finding quality parts. The primer is a Milspec usually used on subs and other marine applications. Came out looking new.
Now the easy part - clean everything up and put it all back together. Primer; used on submarines coming off the tow Gussets repaired The rest of the frame was solid
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Body is off
