Let's hear how you you brought that rusted-through frame back from the brink...please.

I pulled out the carpet today to survey the rust holes in the floors... these were already well underway when I put the car away some years ago. The holes had not gotten much worse but I was less than thrilled to see that there are areas of the frame - drivers side front under the firewall with 2 rust holes. One on top about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and one on the outside edge of the frame rail about 3/4" wide by 5 inches long.

Is it shot? Have any of you cleaned up a convertible frame and attempted to repair it?

This could change everything...

I will post pics soon...MK



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70 Chevelle Fathom Blue
70 Malibu Convertible Midnight Regatta Blue

If you're talking about holes on flat areas of the frame then it should be easy to fix. Near the ends of one of the sections of the frame or around corners is a little harder. Using something like 11 or 12 guage steel seems to work quite well.

I also have to ask, if there are 2 holes then how's the rest of the frame. They tend to rust the worst from the rear control arm connections back. On a convertible, the frame section along the rockers usually seems fairly heavy, at least on the inside.

It also depends if you want the frame to look origional or if you don't mind welding new plates over top for that whole area.

Peter

Good luck with the repairs. The only thing that I would like to mention is that if you were to replace the frame, legally you have to use the title from the car that the frame came from. The title has to stay with the frame. Keep that in mind so that you will avoid later problems with your local DMV.

Andrew

Your frame is absolutely NOT shot, unless as someone said above, the rest of the frame has enough rust to make the job not worth it. As for the person who stated that if you change frames you have to legally register it as the car it came from, respectfully, I can only say that this is a new one to me (and I won't tell if you don't-HAH!). Anyway, then you would have to drill out the VIN from the driver's side dash of the doner car and affix it to your car. This would necessitate removing your original VIN, which is definately illegal (and a botched VIN swap is easy to spot and will definately raise suspicion). Remove your frame from your car if you really love her and have the time to do it, and take it on a flat bed to a competent welder. Have new metal grafted in, and then run it over to have it sand blasted (bead, plastic media, etc)and hit that sucker with POR-15 as fast as you can. The stuff is awesome! Good luck.