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Today's update.
It's a little tight in here but I think I can make this frame-off work!
I am so glad I power-washed the frame and got most of the greasy areas down to bare metal. It makes the job so much more pleasant to work on. I used foamy engine cleaner for the thick areas around the gearboxes and grease fitting areas. All the seals are shot so every single one had been leaking badly, and for a while. The grime was 3/4" deep in places. Purple power in the power washer for the rest.
So now it's time for inspection and frame disassembly begins. All of the typical frame rust spots and mount locations look very very good. Amazingly so for being 50 years old, and especially considering the disaster going on in the windshield birdcage. Good news there! Even the two driver's body bolt "studs" came out easily with vice-grips after the use of some PB blaster. I had previously cut the heads off because they wouldn't budge at all, and now they came out easily? Puzzling. Maybe it is because now I could now get the penetrating oil in there. With the body on I think those two are completely innaccessable to get oil onto the bolt & frozen nut area. They all look so good now I will probably be able to re-use all 8 nuts & body mounts and not have to replace any of them. Who knew that would happen after cutting 4 bolts off?
I feel fortunate that this car was only on the road until 94 (well that was 20 years, but not 50). It spent most of the last 25 years buried in a garage, out of the weather. The gas tank had been leaking onto the floor of the garage so it a smelled pretty bad in there. It has a new tank already. Unfortunately the guy that replaced it did not look for or keep the tank sticker.
But of course as the forensic analyzing continues a couple of things always crop up. At this point I am almost positive the car has never been apart this far. Interior yes, front clip, and engine block. That's it.
Obviously the frame did not sit on the jack stands any better than a three legged chair. So....
So I brought out my bubble levels, and an hour later I had leveled the floor, all the jack stands, and then the frame at #3 mount. Within a 1/16" it was level there.
First inspection was the 8 body mount areas and they were all within 1/8-1/4" of each other in height.. Not too bad but I expected better.
But the entire front left frame section forward of the #1 driver's mount is about 1/2" too high. Including the BB motor mount, and the front frame extension horns where swaybar & the front bumper mounts.I cannot believe even a BB could do that, so it must have been some sort of impact.
Driver's motor mount 1/2" higher than other side.
So the frame is a little twisted. It is not obviously kinked anywhere, just torqued a little bit. After seeing how easily they fixed my sons crushed unibody car at the body shop on the frame plate, this will only mean a couple hours work.Measure, heat, pull, measure, repeat. The entire front end has been replaced at some point with a one piece front end, so something happened. Bubba was at work in the right rear quarter panel & tail panel with some ugly fiberglass repairs visible only from the inside, so something happened back there as well. And that thin corner of the frame, behind the gas tank, is also 1/2" high. That makes the gas tank sit a little crooked. But surprisingly #4 body mount is pretty level, it's the area behind it, so the impact must not have been too bad. Now I know why the bumpers did not fit very well.
Then the last item for today was removing the trans. I was wondering why the trans fought me to come out so badly before. That was the reason for the 2x4 support and leaving it in the car even though the engine was out. Well now that I could "see" better with the body out of the way, I had to literally cut the trans out of the car! Bubba strikes yet again! He had managed to WELD the exhaust pipe hanger to the exhaust, and weld that to the trans mount, and then he also buggered up the retaining bolt!!!! I couldn't see the welds from under the car. GRRR.
Time for some "adult refreshment" after that. It is a journey.....
Last edited by leigh1322; May 10, 2020 at 10:39 AM.
I wonder what the original tolerances were for the frames when new? Having followed many youtube car rebuilds I expect a frame shop will have that sorted in no time.
have slowly been dismantling fuel & brake lines, driveshafts, exhaust, etc. from the bare frame. Slow but steady.
Even made a spring compressor Home Depot style to remove the front springs. Then i hit my first snag. Obstinate bolts!
The a-arm would not go down low enough (I have it on jack stands) with the inside part of the a-arm still bolted.
So plan B was I would remove all bolts on the a-arm and lower it "flat" it with my compressor.
Then I broke a front lower a-arm mounting bolt it just snapped. The other front one or the big third one in the back will not move at all!!!
First bolts I have not been able to budge besides two of body mount ones.
I was using heat and PBblaster and a 2 foot breaker bar when the 9/16" one snapped. Even the impact gun did nothing.
Suggestions? More heat? Wax?
These two front a-arm bolts won't budge. One just snapped.
I applied plenty of heat to "A" and it began to move like a mm, so I rocked it back and forth. I never applied heat to "B" and that seems to be where it's "fused"
Any other ideas????
Last edited by leigh1322; Jun 2, 2020 at 10:33 PM.
My impact gun has never seemed very "strong". I even bought one twice as strong and no change. Bigger compressor and no change. I currently suspect an issue with the hoses or fittings and will look into that.
I just got done with my own Big Block 72 rescue. This is when I first bought it. When i bought it it had a 327 auto. It now has a 502 4 speed. New paint and interior. Got rid of the side pipes. Everything is new on the car.
Last edited by 540 vette; Jun 5, 2020 at 09:44 PM.
My impact gun has never seemed very "strong". I even bought one twice as strong and no change. Bigger compressor and no change. I currently suspect an issue with the hoses or fittings and will look into that.
Any other ideas?
I fought for years with an air impact that never worked very good. Would always have to use a breaker bar to start a bolt removal. Bought one of these and have had no issues since. Probably the reason most shops you walk into no longer use air impacts.
Great project.
Good luck.
Ok Hit several spring compressor snags. One step forward two steps back. Thought I would share so someone else can benefit.
Spring compressor #1 did not work.
It went all the way thru from the bottom of the A-Arm to the shock tower bolt spot.
Pros: It worked and cranked the spring up
Cons: . I had originally planned to remove the all the bolts on the A-Arm inside & out and lower it straight down Plan "A". That may have worked well but I could not remove any of the three inner a-arm bolts. Too rusted, not big enough impact gun, etc.
So plan "B"Was to lower the A-Arm at an angle. When I removed the spindle and cranked the spring back down I could not get it off. The A-Arm bound up on the rod at a 45 degree angle.
So I ordered a new spring commercial compressor #2 below .$30
Pros: Seemed well built, forged arms etc.
Cons:Plan "C" failed. It did not work on the stock Corvette springs. I could not rotate the upper arms very far up into the frame pocket because of the progressive nature of the stock coils Basically I could not reach the top 3-4 coils. So when I assembled it the upper and lower arms were already touching each other and could not compress.
Warning: Do not order this Sugedo for stock Corvette springs!
Plan "D":
I built a hybrid version of the two compressors Spring compressor #3. My rod bottom plate was adapted to fit the other and replace one of the moveable arms. Giving me 2-3 more coils to grab. It was similar to another one I saw on online.
The pipe space was handy for a couple reasons.
Pros: I got one spring out.
Cons: I didn't like this one either. Because the a-arm was at a 45 degree angle it still had a little spring pressure and I had to kick it out by kicking the a-arm down the last half-inch. It flew around a little. Not enough to be dangerous, just enough that I won't do the other side that way. There is an online one built the same way. The upper arms still do not work well with the progressive spring.
Here you can see how the Surgedo compressor "Arms" could not reach up into the pocket and could not reach the top 5 coils, because they were almost touching, it wouldn't fit. That caused me to do all the compressing on only 3 coils, and I had to kick it out. Not cool!
This is the only shot I got of the coil loose but under tension. Note how the 1/2" thick home depot steel bars at the end are bending. Double 1/4" pieces.
One 1/4" piece would never work! Don't try that either.
So I am determined more than ever to go back to Plan "A" and the original spring compressor design because it contains the spring in the frame pocket, and is a hundred times safer.
So to do that I have to be able to remove all the inner bolts on the A-Arms to lower the whole thing straight down.
Step one I bought some High Flow fittings for my 30 gallon air compressor.
These are just Lowes brand but you can see the huge opening. They are rated to 74 CFM. My impact gun definately "hit" harder and I was able to remove one of the 5/8" front bolts that had previously resisted me. Progress!
But the 13/16" rear one did not budge even with heat an an impact. Or a 2.5 foot breaker bar either. I figure that was close to 500 ftlbs.
So tomorrow I may be in the market for something bigger than my old Craftsman 300 ft lb impact gun. What are we at now, Plan "E"?
This 1/2" Harbor Freight gun is only $90 and goes to 800 lbs. I'd hate to spend more for as little as I will use it. Do I really need a 1200 lb one? https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...nch-68424.html
Suggestions?
