I have a 72' chevelle that I am doing a frame off on. I have everything seperated and The body is on my body cart and im doing work on the frame. I just went and bought a plasma cutter today and I am getting ready to do all of the modification I need. My question is, Does anyone argue with having the frame sandblasted? I know that some sheetmetal will warp when it is sand blasted but what about a really rusty frame? I am also looking to make my frame a lot stronger, I am building a street car that will have anywhere from 500/600 hp and 500-650 ft lbs of torque. I want to increase the strength of my frame. I was told that by boxing up the frame rails it would increase the strength. I know that it would help but exactly what areas can i box up? Any other advice would be greated apprieciated.

I sandblasted my frame before I started any work to it. The frame was alot more solid than I thought it would be. I would sandblast it before doing anything, just to make sure you dont have any hidden "surprises". As far as boxing goes, I used 2 1/2" round tubbing. 1/8 wall thickness. It took some time trimming the tubes to fit in nice and tight, but when its done, it will really firm the frame up. The "tube" will fit half way in the channel, and the other half out. Looks realy nice too. You will need to fab up some trans mounts. Thats where Im at now. When I get it finished, I will post some pics if you like. - Ron

hey TT402LS1 would love to see some pics of the tubing. Sounds pretty neat. Jb

First thing I did was sandblast all the welds on mine, then welded a nice bead over all the chicken-sh%& welds the factory did. I also boxed the mid section, and gusseted the front LCA mounts.

When all the welding was done, I sandblasted the whole frame and painted it.