Got a '65 that needs a lot of body work. I am not exactly sure where to start on this project.... removing the body, doing all the body work first including a new truck body mount brace? Here's what I've got...

From underneath the car:

Frame needs repairs where the body mounts (bushing holes) to the frame. Other than that, it appears fine. I took preliminary measurements best I could with the body on, frame appears straight. Of course I can't be 100% sure until I remove the body and take some better measurements.

From rear view of car:

The car sags in the driver rear. Appears body mount/bushing problem. The bushing is still on the frame actually, appears to have separated from the trunk brace.

The left lower side of trunk lid doesn't line up with the left quarter section. It's off by quite a bit, like 1/2"-3/4". Maybe because the sag on that side? Right side of truck lower lines up fine.

Trunk doesn't look like it needs any work. I've not ripped out the interior yet to see the floor pans. But from underneath there are no holes at all that I could find. Some kind of rust protector is coated underneath the car.

Lots of rust in left and right rear window 'rims', lower where it meets that rear deck piece.

Both driver and passenger doors all rusty at the bottom. Both doors loaded with bondo

I would like to eventually get down to the frame to do a POR coat job on it. Everything I have read says do body work first, but with that sagging driver rear, I am not sure if this should still be the approach or not.

Not sure where to start and what the order should be. Any suggestions appreciated.

J

my suggestion would be do to all the body work you can with the car on the frame now and after you do that take the body of the frame redo the frame and fix the few issues with that apply some coating to the frame and then drop the body back on after its prepped. so that way you are not doing body work on a good looking frame (vice versa, taking body off doing frame work then putting body on frame and doing bodywork)

You can find rust free doors and fenders if you look hard enough. replace the trunk and floors while on the frame. If frame is rusty and needs alot of repair I would try to find one. I have seen a couple on ebay. I may have one for sale in about 6 months or so if you are interested. I have two cars that I am going to be making into one and I think the frames are good on both. jk

Where are you? I have a fairly solid '65 frame you could start with if distance isn't an issue.

If it were me, I'd get the frame squared away first then build the body on the frame. If the frame is tweaked and you do the body first on a tweaked frame the body too will be all skewed. Start with a sound foundation and build from there. From the sounds of your description something is tweaked quite a bit be it the frame, the body or both so you need to create a sound reference point first (the frame).

I am just North of Chicago, Vernon Hills. Not sure why my sig isn't showing that.

I starting pulling up the interior. Floor pans look really good. Some kind of chunky undercoating on them.

So basically, the two doors need new skins or replacing and then the frame bushing mount points need work.

Other than the bushing mounts the rest of the frame appears to be in pretty good shape.

I think I am gonna try to remove the body to get to the frame. I like the idea of starting at the frame and moving up.

I live in southern Illinois near St. Louis and if you are looking for a frame I will probably have one available in the next couple of weeks if you are interested. I am moving the car to the shop this weekend and plan on striping it down. I can try and take a good look at the frame and see about getting some pictures to you if you are interested.

jeff kaiser

From your description it sounds like the failed mounts are indeed skewing the body. I would recomend that you sort out the frame 1st so that you do the body work on a sound base. Get as much off the body as you can and be sure to provide lot's of support under the shell when you lift it up off the frame. Lift the body slowly, alternating one side to the other till you get it up in the air.

*NOTE* If the car is currently still moveable go and get the undersides steam cleaned as best as possible, if not driveable, get a good pressure washer and try to blast off as much of the dirt & grime as you can. This is a very messy step but it will reward you ten fold!

Hope it helps.

The car is drivable. So I should go get it steam cleaned? You mean actual steam not just a pressure wash right? I am not sure who does that around here.

I started pulling out the interior. The floor pans are not as good as I first thought. Well, they are actually except in what appears to be, guess what, the body mount points. They are rusted thought to where I can see the ground from inside the car.

I don't think these area warrant an entire new floor pan, they appear to be in specific areas. The other pieces of the pans are very solid.

I'll post some pics later today once I get the rest ripped out. Thanks a lot everyone, I wanted a project, guess I got one.

jhilb,sounds like were working on the same car.I have removed my trunk pan to replace and the mounts under the trunk were gone.It seems that where the frame mounts are the holes (on the frame)have disintegrated that is what is causing the sagging and misalinement. I'm going through the same problems.I have also found that good used body parts are not so easy to find.I was going to pull the body first but have re-thought that and I'm going to do the body work first.