Frame straightening with or without engine?

[Sascha P.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

Here is an update for anyone who is interested:
I spoke to Corvette Specialties and they have asked me to bring in the frame including installed control arms. That combination is good enough for them to measure the frame. That will happen in about two weeks.
I will let you know how that worked out.

[Sascha P.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

I have now updated my website with a few pictures of the frame. It has quite a few dents and cracks and it looks like it has been hit quite hard years ago. I am now wondering if I should take it to the corvette shop at all. Or if I should look for a refurbished one from corvetteusa.com or so.
Anyhow, here are the pictures for anyone who is interested:

http://preibisch.eu/Corvette/frameIssues.html

[Patrick N.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

Sascha, if you haven't already, perhaps you should have the corvette shop look at your pics of the various issues / crack you mentioned initially and get an estimate (which will typically increase once they get the frame). This can at least give you general baseline of the repair cost and you can weight the cost to repair vs. the cost to replace and make a call. However, it would be nice to keep the original frame with the body.

My frame needed some work and I opted to repair since it was original to body, I had County Corvette in PA do the work and I'm very satisfied and happy i did.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

I suspect that the repair cost of the frame may end up being similar to or more than the cost of a replacement, new or used.
If you have a repair facility you trust then I would have them take a look at it. However, you might also look into the cost of a new or used replacement. I believe that the cost of a new frame is not much different than a refurbished used one. Shipping it could be a challenge, though.

[Dan P.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

One of the frame companies years ago gave measurements with engine in and engine out. The engine is mounted in rubber . So it will have no effect when straightening the frame other than the front of the frame will be a little lower when the motor is still in the frame . Looking at your pictures. The frame has been straighten before . Some of the damage is from chains wrapped around the frame to pull it back in place.They had to enlarge one of the body mount holes to get it to line up. These car are hard enough to fit with a straight frame.Yours has been welded locking it in . So now your would have to cut all the welds and start over . I have been in the collision repair industry a long time . When a frame or uni body car has been hit that hard you can get it pretty close to original and even if it does measure out there always seams to be something that just does not fit .I would find a good used frame . There are plenty out there. So when your trying to fit any of the body panels you can rule out the frame .

[Sascha P.]

Re: Frame straightening with or without engine?

Hi! It is a while ago and I wanted to complete my story. As it turned out the frame could not be fixed. I have replaced it with a 1974 frame which was in perfect condition. I replaced the rear crossmember which I took of the 1973 and I replaced the body mounts #4 and #8 that were rusted away. New gas and break lines, now I am working on the engine, transmission and body.
Thanks for all ideas and thoughts.