Ok, I've had my car for a while and always knew about the frame issue, at some point before I got the car it had been hit in the front passenger side.

Somebody did the repair and put a front cap from a 1980 on the car, but I noticed a while back that the front drivers wheel is centered in the wheel well and the passenger side is set back a bit.

Passenger side:





Drivers side:






Under the frame on passenger side, you can see the crumple and in the third pic down the repairs where they spliced and welded that side, that made hard to see, but the area had been welded on a bit.






I took it to a guy that retired and put his frame straightener in his back yard shop, and still does business on a part time as a hobby.

He's one of those 67 year old school guys that has a Budweiser in his hand at 8:00 in the morning.

He called me over after looking at it and said he didn't want to work on it, he said it was a mess. I'm kind of on the fence here because he was a little "lit" and slurring his speech, so I feel like because it wasn't an "easy" job and just didn't want to touch it because it wasn't something he could get through quick. He was trying to work on his garden and build another shop building at the same time.

So do you think this is repairable? My only other option is to swap frames, I found one today that the owner wants 700 for, but it had some rust holes in it so it would need to be repaired. Plus it would be a huge pain to swap everything over.

If anyone knows of a really good frame shop in the Jonesboro, AR area please let me know.

Thanks

 

Go to a reputable shop and get a second opinion. Difficult to judge the extent of damage from the pictures.

You might try a post in the regional listings, to locate local info.

 

Yeah I know the pictures are hard to see, thanks for the advice

 

I had a similar issue on my 74 that had been hit hard on the left front corner. The left front wheel was not centered in the wheel well. I took it to Carson Frame & Alignment at 620 Marshall in Memphis, phone 526-6267. My frame had not been spliced but the left front A arm had been replaced (we think) and there was some welding where the A arm bracket is welded to the frame rail, like it had been replaced too. They measured a bunch of stuff, tweaked this and that, replaced the left front A arm bushings and gave it a good 4 wheel alignment. It is not perfect but it is much better now. Go see Mr. Carson. They have been in business for a long time. They should be able to help you.

 

Thanks

 

it's been a while, lets see if anyone else has any suggestions or ideas

 

everything else from that point forward should be off also.. bumpers, brackets, radiator support?

look it over closely.. you are right, it might be easier and cheaper to just put a new frame under it

 

What is it you want from this car? Does it ride funny, wear tires, or just the look of the tires in the wheel well? Make sure that the frame is in a safe condition to drive and then check the wheel base from side to side. If the side to side measurement is good then you could just move the body around. The body will move a fair amount on the frame with all the bolts loose.

 

I'd start looking for a frame if it was my car. The late C3 frames go for reasonable money. You should be able to find a non-rusted, straight, frame for well under $1K, more like $600 or so.

 

I would get the second opinion like already mentioned, from someone who is known to be sober, before making any plan of action.

 

OK,

No matter what you do, the first thing is to take it to a 4-wheel alignment shop and find out how far it is off and what is off. Your ride height might be off, and your tracking might be off. Until you get the print out, you really don't know what else might be wrong. You need to make sure the car is safe to drive.

I don't see anything on the frame that is unrepairable. Most places are cautious, because body damage can be caused by the frame machines. They might pop the nose loose by pulling on the rails. Whoever does it, needs to be an experienced Corvette shop.

You have several options.

1. Get a new frame. This will run between $3,000 and $5,000 by the time you are done. The "while I am at it" cost is WAY more than the initial frame cost. But, when you are done, you will have one super sweet car.

2. Have your frame tweeked. This will run between $500 and $1000 as long as they don't cause any other damage while straightening the frame.

3. Sell the car. This could cost you $5,000 to $30,000 to find what you want to replace it with, and you will probably be without a car during the cruising season.

4. Drive it and don't worry about it. This will cost you nothing. I suggest you do this. If it really bugs you, just turn the wheels when you park the car, and you won't see it and nobody else will notice it either.

 

That dent in passenger side frame is from jacking the car exactly how you have it jacked up, without a support on top of the jack like a piece of wood, the frame walls are not that thick and won't support the car with small area of small jack puck.

The reason your wheels are not lining up the same has to do with something else wrong / bent up front. The frame doesn't look too bad at all to me

 

That old "lit" sumbitch probably knows more about frames than all of us do. I'd pay attention to him. No matter that you think he's lit or not. No one person has all the answers, but I pay attention to the old "lit" dudes that have been doing this stuff for longer than I've been alive.
My 2 cents

 

If you change the frame, get ready to spend a lot of money. You will find a lot of things your going to want to repair.

Trust me on that!!!!

 

Professional opinion.... Like earlier posted. How is it driving and wearing tires. If it is fine, even at high speeds. Then it is a visual issue that you want to fix. Well you are going to spend alot of $$$ on a few dents and buckles. Have the alignment checked as like earlier posted. I have seen frames in much worse shape than yours from what I could tell from your photo's and those I ahve seen were still correct in relation to having no set-back, twist, diamonding and proper ride height. The factory frames are not all that great. They have problems from the start, unlike the new frames on the 1997 to current Corvettes.
Like mentioned, your body may not be properly squared to the frame. This is easily checked by removing your door sill moldings and pull the carpet back slightly. There should be two orange plugs per side that are inserted into the door sill ledge. Pull them out and look down through them. One hole on each side allows you to insert a dowel the size of the hole you are looking through, and it should fit into the holes in the frame of the same size. When both dowels are inserted THROUGH the frame and standing straight up and down, your body is now centered to the frame as required. But in order to do this many components must be loosened. But it is an easy check, if you can see through down to the ground and the holes are in line, it is not you body to frame alignment. You will know what I am writing the second you see it. GMC "DUB"

 

I wonder how many C3's have the same 'problems' as you have? Why is it that when ever I hear of a mis-match side to side with the wheels in the fenders it always seems to be the passenger side that 'sits back' more than the driver side (mine included - only became a problem when using 18" wheels) Could it be something do do with a crappy non precision build-up from new?

 

after reading the replies perhaps a better more sensible solution is best..

it is an 80, paint looks nice... just drive it...... make sure it is safe... why spend thousands on it?

 

It's been three months. Did you have it looked at by anyone else? My recommendation remains the same as it was then. Have a reputable shop give their assessment. An alignment shop will give you the feedback you need. Their technical knowledge is geared towards visual inspect of the front end components for wear and/or deterioration as a result of material fatique or age or impact damage. Coupled with accurate measurement equipment you would be hard pressed to find better information. If you have any abnormal tire wear this should be a sign of alignment issues, as well as handling while driving.

A body shop could perform a frame measurement and determine the position of all points of the frame.

You could crawl under the vehicle and visually inspect all the bushing and mount positions of the front end suspension components. If anything really out of whack it should jump out at you. If that was the case though you probably would have noticed handling problems.

So; second opinion??

 

Go to a good frame shop and have them check it out. Skip going to a body shop unless you want it hacked some more, find a guy that specializes in frames. I dealt with one in Las Vegas with a jeep and the guy brought it in measured it all up pulled was bent straight and then did a full alignement and provided all of the specs for the alingnment so that I could see where any variations still existed (in my case it had a bent axle tube) but the frame was straight and you couldnt tell it ever had a problems.

I dont know how handy you are, because this wont neccessarly be cheap to pay someone to swap out the frame, but you could probably find a good used frame for 6-7 hundred (maybe less if you shop around) and then it would be a non issue. On top of that you could have it powder coated nice and clean and it would go well with the good looking body work. Just a thought.

 

Thanks, I'm confident I can swap frames. I know my 82 inside and out

Just finding a good 80-82 frame in my area is the problem. And if you do they want quite a bit for it.

I would rather go that route and build a good undercarrige to swap over.