Would you guys powder coat or paint the frame? I have talked to various friends who have done both but none have done a vette.

 

What's your budget? Paint is original and cheaper.

 

After I went over all the welds, repaired the body mount brackets, and added some gusset/ etc. for extra strength, I had my frame, front frame extension, trans crossmember, fuel tank crossmember, and rad. support acid dipped and powdercoated a few years back. Cost was about $900 total.

 

I went with Eastwood chassis black on my 65. Was a really good product and was very happy with the results.

 

That turned out really nice.

 

Thanks! I figured that all the work that I put into the frame, including taking the body off and back on, the welding, etc., I didn't want to go cheap on cleaning and coating it. It was worth the money to me.

 

I used POR-15 and am well satisfied with the results.
You can do it yourself and it bonds extremely well to the metal.

Did all of this in my garage.

Donnie

 

I prefer paint...easy to touch up if need be, powdercoating is great, but it will scratch and chip, don't let anyone tell you different

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Some jobs are worth farming out. I know because I've done it before. Blasting a frame yourself is a big messy project. I paid $620 for my frame and 30 other pieces, a arms, radiator support, trailing arms, etc. all I did was drop them off and pick them up 10 days later. Blasted, powdercoated and wrapped in plastic.

 

Same here. In fact I will use it on my next Vette project too.

Terry

 

I had my frame sand blasted and painted over 20 years ago. Now that I have been driving the car a bit, I'm faced with having to do some parts over again. I wish I had it powder coated (not sure it was available at the time). I'd rather deal with chips and scratchs than having to do large areas over again. I hate doing any job more than once...

 

Hi mft,
I stripped my frame myself and then had it powder coated.
I then sanded the frame with 400 and sprayed it with Krylon #1613. That gave it a fairly original look and was/is very easy to touch-up if I need to.
It's been done about 10 years now.
Regards,
Alan

 

Had my frame dip stripped and powder coated. The frame is 100% rust free and it looks fantastic. Power coating is the only way to go.

 

Powder coating is ONE way to go...but it is the most expensive way to go, for sure. If I were doing a body-off restoration and the car was going to be for SHOW only, I would consider powder coating. Otherwise, I would just prep the frame well and use a good quality frame paint.

 

I went with powder coating. 500 bucks for blasting, coating and wrapping.

 

Powder coating will chip and rust will spread beneath it. My snow plow mounts were powder coated and there isn't a spec of it left. Once the rust got under it, the powder coating would come off in large patches. That's exposed to extreme conditions but I'm just putting that out there as an example. If your car will never see rain it will last a long, long time. If it is a daily driver it won't last forever. POR-15 claims that rust won't spread beyond the chip or scratch itself. I can't confirm or deny that claim.

 

[QUOTE=BOSTONCAMARO;1584390820]I prefer paint...easy to touch up if need be, powdercoating is great, but it will scratch and chip, don't let anyone tell you different[/QUOTE

Hate to disagree, but powdercoating when properly done is nearly impossible to chip. You can hit it with a hammer and not chip it. But, if not properly done, which includes proper preparation, will chip and scratch, but in this case, so will anything else.

The other thing is, what looks good is a matter of opinion. POR 51 may be good stuff, but it does not look anywhere near as good a proper off sheen powdercoating or paint job. I had my frame blasted and powdercoated for $600, which seemed like a great deal to me, and it looks better than most. That was after countless hours of removing the horrible weld splatter the factory leaves, re-welding the poor lap joints the factory leaves, and smoothing out everything.

 

This is a shot of the rear frame and differential. Every thing is powder coated. Pewter on the diff and half shafts, semi gloss on frame. The powder coating is extremely durable. A lot of man handling went into putting it all together. Not a chip or scratch. I won't doubt that a snow plow would be all trashed, salt, ice, extreme elements. Somehow I doubt a corvettes gonna be plowing snow too often. If it does, it won't be mine.

 

I have cars that I have done both ways would never paint a frame again! I drive my cars all the time no chips or blistering of the powder coat, proper prep is a must. My painted 66 has rust coming out of the frame seams (These are sealed by powder coat) and chips on front cross member and wheelwells. Cost to blast & coat about $500. Have Powder coated 5 frames to date all still look great.
Mark

 

Tough decision obviously everyone has strong opinions. 5-600 really isn't bad money. Although I have it body off I don't plan on doing a high end restore job. I want a driver quality job. My reason for pulling body is mainly because everything is froze from sitting. Even the shifter has rusted to only move forward and back. Lucky enough the motor is in great shape and only has 60K miles.