GM Welding
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
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From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
I think you are looking at a typical Corvette frame of that time period and not liking what you see. That does not mean the workmanship was crappy or that the frame is\was bad. It means you have a typical, regular production item which met GM specifications.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
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From: Brooklet Ga.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2009
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From: new iberia la
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
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From: Brooklet Ga.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
What ever happened to taking pride in your work. I have seen cars much older with better quality work on them. I can totally understand the production aspect of things but some of the welding I see on both my 72 and 73 is just shameful. It would seem the someone at GM would have sent some of these frames back to AO Smith.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2015
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From: Austin TX
If the frame met the engineering specification, why would quality send the frame back to the supplier? Actually, they couldn't even if they wanted to. Something called a contract. You can't expect AO Smith to eat the cost of a frame just because the welds don't look nice.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
That's not how business works. Components that don't pass QC always have the option of being repaired. No one would be required to dispose of a questionable frame just because it was purchased through a sales order outlining general specifications. The fact is, GM's standards in this area weren't very high......
Who do you think sets the specifications for QC? It's the design engineers job to tell QC what is acceptable. When a part doesn't meet the specifications handed down to QC by engineering (via the frames' engineering drawing), first thing QC will do before rejecting a part to the supplier is contact the design engineer for disposition of the component. It's the engineers responsibility to determine if a rework is acceptable or if the part is rejected. Design Engineering trumps QC in a factory environment.
Basically, low quality standards set by Design = QC accepting frames with less than perfect welds.
I agree the standards were not very high, but if the frame met this low standard, QC is not going to reject the frame. I am a design engineer and I know how industry works. I've personally have evaluated hundreds of parts that did not meet the specifications on the engineering drawing. It's one of the worst jobs that an engineer has to do, but it has to be done.
Last edited by Jason Staley; Dec 24, 2015 at 07:29 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Orange Park Florida
I bought my '72 vert in '95 with a supposed 130k on the clock, but it was an old show car from Maryland, south of DC...called southern Md.....
so it sat in the garage a fair amount of time......
and I have never had the body/frame apart....I suspect they have never been apart, car was repainted by p/o and so it was white from factory, but when repainted the windshield was removed and everything done right.....doubt from shape of the body/frame bolts that they ever were separated....the #4 mounts behind/up high were rusted out some years ago, so replaced.....
From what I seen over some 20 years now, the frame is fine, knock on wood, and lemme tell you the car had been over some crap roads here locally, sabotaged by the local .gov....seriously, abject stupid.....
but the car handles well, and hangs in there
so it sat in the garage a fair amount of time......
and I have never had the body/frame apart....I suspect they have never been apart, car was repainted by p/o and so it was white from factory, but when repainted the windshield was removed and everything done right.....doubt from shape of the body/frame bolts that they ever were separated....the #4 mounts behind/up high were rusted out some years ago, so replaced.....
From what I seen over some 20 years now, the frame is fine, knock on wood, and lemme tell you the car had been over some crap roads here locally, sabotaged by the local .gov....seriously, abject stupid.....
but the car handles well, and hangs in there
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 823
Likes: 57
From: Austin TX
I bought my '72 vert in '95 with a supposed 130k on the clock, but it was an old show car from Maryland, south of DC...called southern Md.....
so it sat in the garage a fair amount of time......
and I have never had the body/frame apart....I suspect they have never been apart, car was repainted by p/o and so it was white from factory, but when repainted the windshield was removed and everything done right.....doubt from shape of the body/frame bolts that they ever were separated....the #4 mounts behind/up high were rusted out some years ago, so replaced.....
From what I seen over some 20 years now, the frame is fine, knock on wood, and lemme tell you the car had been over some crap roads here locally, sabotaged by the local .gov....seriously, abject stupid.....
but the car handles well, and hangs in there
so it sat in the garage a fair amount of time......
and I have never had the body/frame apart....I suspect they have never been apart, car was repainted by p/o and so it was white from factory, but when repainted the windshield was removed and everything done right.....doubt from shape of the body/frame bolts that they ever were separated....the #4 mounts behind/up high were rusted out some years ago, so replaced.....
From what I seen over some 20 years now, the frame is fine, knock on wood, and lemme tell you the car had been over some crap roads here locally, sabotaged by the local .gov....seriously, abject stupid.....
but the car handles well, and hangs in there
Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread...
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
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Likes: 10
From: Brooklet Ga.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 914
Likes: 10
From: Brooklet Ga.
I have a 66 El Camino SS and while they are not show quality welds by any means they are a head and shoulders above my 73 Corvette. The El Camino welds are typical production line welds but the Corvette welds are just pathetic.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Woodinville WA
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2002
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From: OIB, NC
. Quality! 
:
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
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From: Forked River NJ
It is interesting comparing the welds on my 72 frame to the welds on my Factory Five Cobra frame. I know one is mass produced and the other is a little more quality controlled but the difference is huge. Now I'm not a welder by trade but I deal in The steel and fabrication industry so I have seen quite a few welds. The 72 welds looks like they were hit and miss, like they were trying to conserve welding wire. The FF welds are almost overdone if that is possible. As long as it met the specs that is all that was required. I'm sure every Vette that was raced either broke the frame or was welded up properly. Other than that it was just another street car.