Frame Problems

bedwyrbannog · Post by **bedwyrbannog** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 7:54 pm

I just started tearing it to the 66 that I just got, got the seats out and pulled the carpet up and started to pull up the old heat shielding on the floor boards. Well most of the floor board came up with that....I was expecting that but after cleaning up I noticed that you can see the inside of the frame. I knew it needed the frame repaired, my 69 did you know the places..., but this looks really serious. So my question is how much rust damage is too much?

TR · Post by TR » Wed Oct 01, 2003 10:13 pm

I've never seen a frame that had rusted through, I have seen a lot of bodies that are rusty beyond belief...

The body is mainly cosmetic and keeps the elements out. It also holds the doors and windshield, etc. in place. The frame is the structural element that holds the engine and wheels, etc. in the proper locations. If the body is rusted, the car can be driven as repairs are being made. If the frame is rusted through (or anything worse than surface rust), I would pull the body off of the frame, clean it and repair any areas showing distress before driving the car...IMHO...TR

bedwyrbannog · Post by **bedwyrbannog** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 11:01 pm

Ok I uploaded some pics.....Note these are not for the faint of heart.

None of the spots that I've found are completly rusted through, but as you can see in the last image it's close.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid2859952

She was bought as a parts car but I was thinking of restoring her. It had sat outside under a tarp for 10 years.

TR · Post by TR » Wed Oct 01, 2003 11:08 pm

OK, that is truly scary. Even with the warning, I was shocked...

If you try to take the body off of the frame, make sure you support many points of contact so that the body does not twist or tweak.

It will take a lot of work, but the frame can be patched. I have seen frames in excellent shape sell for a couple hundred dollars on eBay. The materials to fix that frame may cost more than that...Good luck and have fun on whatever path you choose! TR

Minh · Post by **Minh** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 11:40 pm

I have not looked at the pictures yet, but I can suggest to get a donor frame off a later model Roadster and slap your 66 on it.

You have the best of both worlds...

TR · Post by TR » Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:28 am

That is true, somewhere in mid 69 the steering boxes were improved from worm to ball screw and in mid 67 the torque strut was added. Not necessary items but definately improvements. The worm sterring boxes work fine till they wear, then they are horrible. The ball screw ones work forever? if properly maintained. The torque strut keeps the rear wheels in the right location and reduces wheel hop under hard accel or decel. TR

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 11:45 am

I have a 68 2000 frame that needs to go someplace. Its in San Luis Obispo Ca. Its straight and in good shape. If your intewrested, let me know.

Will

kogi · Post by **kogi** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 11:52 am

by swapping the frame...
how will that effect the registration with dmv???...
since the frame has serial number... does that mean that your 66 is now 68-69???

Post by **S Allen** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 2:32 pm

I would venture to say none of the DMV's know sqaut about the VIN number stamped on the frame. They all go off of the VIN plate affixed right in front of the cowl. There was a recent submission to the registry where the guy has a highwindshield '68 or '69. I cannot recall the year exactly. It is registered as a 1966 because someone in their infinite wisdom put the VIN plate from a '66 on the car. They were probably missing the original plate and happened to have that one lying around.

Steve

Post by **spl310** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 2:50 pm

That is some pretty heavy duty rust. It looks like a lot of Roadsters that I have seen over here on the east coast. Sigh......

I had one that was worse - I loaded it up on a trailer and dumped it at the junk yard this past weekend. I did not even want the hassle of saving the front end parts....

bedwyrbannog · Post by **bedwyrbannog** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:34 pm

After tearing into it some more this evening it gets worse a section of the frame is almost rusted through, I updated the photos. So until I find a frame close to Ky it has become a parts car...

As for the DMV when I transfered the 69 2000 from St Louis the inspection went like this... the officer looked at the VIN on the dash, signed the paperwork and told me to have a nice day, I asked if he was going to check the frame VIN and he said that they can't keep up with every cars Frame VIN and don't even bother to look for them. So switching out the frames is no problem.

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Frame Problems

Frame Problems

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RE:Frame & Registration