doctahouse

Jimbo1367

Very nice work. Just the time and effort it took to build the frame jig would detour most people from trying to do this themselves. Gotta love hydraulics.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Bloody hell, that sucks. We have a frame guy here named Leroy who does frames for us all the time. I have never had a problem taking him a bare frame or a rolling chassis. The guy has a body shop with an old school frame machine and specs for all the old cars which is all we customize. Sometimes he will heat the frame a bit to get it to move like he wants but they are always straight when he's done.

Nice job on the jig, sorry you had to build it but at least things are going to be straight when you are finished.

doctahouse

Thanks Jimbo. The hydraulics sure beats the hell out of using a telephone poll and tractor!!

doctahouse

Seems as though if something is custom, shops don't want anything to do with it. Exhaust, frame, paint/body etc. Thinking outside the box is against the norm. The custom scene up here is small. Only a select few shops do any kind of custom work. That also comes at a hefty price tag. And really in the end, it was just the excuse I needed to do the work myself!!

The jig took 6hrs to make and another 4hrs to set the frame. I think the pull time will take another 3hrs as I going to wrap it so it cools slowly.

doctahouse

Tools of the trade.... Rose bud, fire blanket, and tiger torch.





Ready to start heating




Wifey screwing around with the camera settings. Pulling out all the blue.




Wrapped for a slow cooling. It took about 2hrs to fully cool.

doctahouse

All said and done. Pretty damn good I must say.

doctahouse

On to the front. The horns need to spread a bit. This should be a pretty easy task. Roughly 1/4".

79LS1FOX

iTrader: (11)

Hey Docta if I was you I'd go down to the frame shop and drag his sorry *** up to your place and show him what you wanted! You are doing one hell of a job man keep at it, I cant wait to see it done.

doctahouse

Thanks man, it's coming together one piece at a time.

Lol. I should drop some pictures and tell this is how you get a job done right!

doctahouse

There is three main gauge holes that you should keep open (which I didn't). Both F's and Q. (S) is easy to see and can be figured out by look in the tunnel.

What I need to do now is check on the Q measurement. I ground the frame flush and covered the holes.






Spare frame to get the gauge holes from.





Gauge hole. Very important.



Template to find the "Q" point. I used the steering box holes for alignment. Center of "Q" was then center punched into the frame for future reference.







After checking the vertical of "Q" the left frame needs to drop 8mm or 5/16". Once the drivers horn is set in place, I can match the passenger sides height.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Blast! I just filled some of those gauge holes about three days ago on a friends frame before sending him off to our frame guy. He's done enough of these for us it probably won't be an issue but I wish I had paid attention to why they were there first. The frame looks a lot better without them and he wanted under hood to be smooth and pretty.

Glad you kept the spare parts around. The template was smart thinking.

doctahouse

Sounds like you have a good shop to go to anyways. Not his first pinic by any means

Seems as though I have too many spare parts kicking around!! Never know when you might need one or two.

Jimbo1367

Doctahouse,
Where did you get the specs/sheet?
thanks,
Jim

doctahouse

It's in the factory shop manual. I think the 1961. 62, 63, 64 are supplements.

I was too lazy to look so I googled it instead.

Stormed_Norm

iTrader: (10)

I stole that spec sheet from you,didn't have one in my shop manual. Thanks for that. Does a regular chassis from a 65 Chev fit under a x-body ? I was always wondering about that. In post 104 where it shows the underneath of the body/floot pans, your missing a brace that goes under where your feet rest. If you look on the pans the is a strip about 1 inch wide, there's a brace that goes ther to keep the floor pans from oil canning/popping. I'm in the process of changing my floor pans on the 62 Biscayne and had to use a spot weld cutter to take mine off to put them on the new pans. Keep up the great work. I think I would have given up on that car if it was mine. You have way more patience than I do.

doctahouse

Thanks for the compliments!

I'm sure if you want 65 chassis to fit, I guess you can make it work. Not really sure why you would want to though. I'll post some chassis ideas and you can work from there.



About the braces, I have a few left to install. I ordered a pile of sheet metal parts ($3500) from RPS (Restoration Part Source) in Califorina which turned out to be a mistake. Make a long story short, I spend all this money with him and he refused to ship a back ordered floor pan brace up and will not issue a refund. After trying to contact him through numerous emails, I gave up and cut my loss on a $40 brace. His loss really, I will never recommend his business. There are many middle men out there that will glady take my money and offer great customer service.

The seat brace and the others will be installed once I get the frame finished. and out of the way.




Here is some X frames ideas:

doctahouse

Ok, done with the heating and pulling. The frame is within 2mm of spec. I left the factory convertible mounts and the rear mounts tacked only. I'll weld those in place once the body has been test fitted.

This was to lift the right frame horn up. Chain come-a-long to prevent the frame from lifting. Not shown was the porta power pushing the right frame horn outward.






Left frame horn need to be pulled down and outward. This is after cooling.

doctahouse

I picked up a set of Global West upper and lower A arms. These are badass to say the least. I really wanted them to copy the cross shafts for mine, but I think I'll use the whole setup instead and sell mine.

doctahouse

Linear actuators for the trunk. I wonder if I can rig a set for the convertible top??