silverslashstreak

I thought I would share this process with who ever is interested that might be looking for a alternative to buying a new 5000.00 replacement frame. This is my first time to do this, so feel free to chime in with info.

1. Step one I purchased a good roller for 1200.00, complete with suspension, brakes and rear end, straight and rust free. I could part out the components for about 500 or 600 bucks getting the base cost down around 700.00.

2. I built a jig out of angle iron for the body mounts on the 63 frame so when it came time to weld them on the 76 frame they would be in the correct place and height.

[IMG]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f282/sliverslashstreak/2007Easterandframeconversion043.jpg[

3.I then cut the main body mounts off the 63 and cleaned and prepared them. I then located the rear mount, and welded it and attached the jig and bolted the front 2 mounts to the jig and welded them into place.



The mounts welded into place (I tacked them and trial fit the body before welding them solid) and they fit very well.



The next steps will be to add the rear section from the 63 frame to the 76 frame. I will try to post it tonight.

Hope this is of interest Jeff

achapman

Looks like you plan is coming together....

I'll stay tuned....

Ron Miller

Great service you're doing for the guys on the forum. I don't think I'll ever need a frame for mine during my lifetime, but I know they're folks out there who need a cheaper alternative than a new frame. This'll be a big help to them, I'm sure!!

al329

Tks for the post....look forward to seeing the finished frame!

Al

glenn64vette

CrCrzy

I am in the planning stages myself on a similar conversion except mine is with a 77 frame. Should be pretty much the same. For some reason, your pictures are showing up as little red x's so you may be answering some of my questions in your pictures but I can't tell. Are you going to cut the rear legs off of your 63 frame to mate to the 76? Or are you going to try and cut off the back end of the 76, behind the crossmember supporting the rear end, and weld on the back section from the 63 to support the bumpers and fuel tank? If you go this route which is how I plan on going, you will find that the two halves will be of different cross sectional area. The 63 rear legs do not step in to allow room for disc brakes. I was lucky enough to find a conversion section that someone else had on their car which I plan to use. Interested to see how you go with yours. I have yet to even start mine. I have just been restoring components that will go on the frame. What do you plan to do with the front frame horns where they mount to the core support. I found replacement sections of the inner frame horn which I plan on welding in first and then using as a guide to form the outer part of the horn.

silverslashstreak

The body mounts were the easy part, now we will tackle the rear frame section containing the body and bumper mounts. My goal was to attach the rear piece of frame and make it look as close to correct as possible and not cut into any frame structure.

After much measuring, I found that the inside sections of the 76 frame and the inside section of the 63 frame are on the same plane. Also the height of the frame rails is the same on both. The major differences are in the width of the frame rails after the kick ups.

The rear piece of frame on my 63 was in good shape, which I would bet most of them are, so I will be attaching it to the 76 frame.

As you can see in the pics, I carefully cut the top half of the 76 frame rail out and cut the lower part of the 63 rear frame section out.





There are tabs inside on the lower part of the frame that which the upper frame rail rest on that helps hold the new piece to the correct depth in the lower frame rail.



After I had the rear section roughly fit as in the above pic I tacked it in place. I then lowered the body on the the frame and bolted it into place. Then using the body as a reverse jig I bolted the new 63 rear frame section into place and welded it solid enough to remove the body and do the finish welding.



Not exactly rocket science, but care needs to be taken in measuring and cutting out the two pieces of frame were they meet.

silverslashstreak

Jupiter, I hope the current pics are showing up,they are on my computer. I cut behind the cross member because I did not want to cut or weld on the main frame rails or kickups.

The cross section of the 63 frame is wider, so what I did is after I welded in the areas that matched up, I heated the outside top rail of the 63 frame piece and bent it in to meet the lower frame rail and welded it.

I also left a small tab extension on the front of the 63 frame piece so I could bend it in and weld it to the 76 frame to.

silverslashstreak

I have a little time this morning so I'll try to finish up. The next issue is the front frame horns. They are shorter and don't have the bumper bracket holes in the same place. My suggestion would be to buy the inner frame horn (which I found out later to be available for around 100.00) cut the 76 one out and weld the new one in.

This is how I approached it. I cut a piece about half inch off of the front of the76 frame horn. Then I made a piece of angle to weld on to the 76 frame horn for the core support. Again I dropped the body on and bolted everything up and then tacked the front angles pieces on to make sure they fit correctly before welding.





The next issue was the front bumper brackets. Again I put the body in place and bolted it down. Then I put the front bumpers and brackets together and clamped them all in the correct place. With everything lined up and in place I drilled the necessary holes in the frame horn and under the cross member to bolt the brackets in place.







I wanted to try to retain the cross bracing on the rear kickups but I did not want to cut the tool box areas behind the seats so I had to cut the cross braces out.

You also need to fit the battery box tray and drill and tap mounting holes. I located it one of the times the body was on to make sure it fit correctly.



You can also see in the battery tray pic that I used the 73 up body mount system to make the ride better and isolate road vibration.

This is also the time to transfer the emergency brake system brackets from whatever year car you are converting. I also decide to weld all the seems on the frame that the factory did not weld. I think it will make a difference in ride and handling.

Here a couple pics of the frame before I have it powder coated.





I hope this is of some help to some of you who have a bad or weak frame and have been wondering if it is worth while to convert a late model frame or not. If I was not a pack rat I think I could sell all the unused parts and the front of the 63 frame and have 0 to a couple hundred bucks in the complete conversion.

Jeff

Vogie

The quality of the craftsmanship found among the members here is amazing.

Great work. Great information.

silverslashstreak

Thanks Vogie, and I agree, I have learned so much from this forum and everyone is so helpful and good about taking time to share their knowledge and experience.

AColbe01

PLEASE! Keep us updated.


Andy

CrCrzy

For some reason I cannot see the pictures again. But from the description, it sounds very similar to how I will attack the frame. I also am going to cut right behind the rear differential cross member so I do not have to worry about anything strucutrual as well. We have a template that fits along the top of the rear legs to help us line up the original profile of the midyear frame legs. This was made out of plywood and runs from the crossmember that the legs attach to all the way back to the end of the frame. This helps us locate where the bumper brackets are going to be as well as correct location for the rear crossmember and gas tank placement. When we cut the donor rear leg section and crossmember, we cut as one piece. The inside dimension between the two years are the same, like you noticed, it is the cross sections that do not match up. I also am planning on fully welding my frame. I am glad to hear that you did it successfully, now I need to go ahead and get started. All of my peripheral pieces are complete, just need to finally attack the conversion. Is there any other way to view your pictures? I am very interested to see you your frame came out.

PatsLs1vette

Very nice work,ive always wondered how close they are,ive been contemplating finding a c2 body to work with to mate on my newer frame.Great work.

rene-paul

Excellent work! I am interested in a little more info on your body mount system. The 63 used shims only and the body mounts on the frame sit higher than on the 64 and up. How did you retain body to frame height with the new rubber mounts? I considered a similar body mount sys on my 63 and bought the later gm mounts but the height change concerned me. Thanks for your excellent write up and pictorial!
brgds
rene

CrCrzy

From frames that I have looked at, the 1963 mount bends into a 90 degree at the bottom where it welds into the frame, the 1964 to 1967 are cut flat at the bottom where it welds to the frame. I want to say that the rear mount at the kickup is lower on the 1963 vs the 1964, however I do not know this for sure. Also, I have thought about installing rubber mounts on the 1963 and about the height difference. One way around that if you want the rubber mount would probably be to use the 1973 up style frame mount, they are lower to the frame than the 1963 and would make up the height difference with the rubber mount. I do not know this for sure, I was only thinking about going that route if I was going to use the rubber body mount. I doubt I will use the rubber mount. In my opinion, once I finish this restoration I do not want to pick the body up again and would not want to replace rubber mounts after they deteriorate. I do not think that there is that much benefit to gain by going to rubber. Just my opinion. How do I view the pictures, they are still showing up as a red -x-

al329

I can see the pics fine. Do you have a firewall blocking the photobucket.com site? I know at work I cannot view photobucket pics...they get blocked. At home no problem.

bigearl56

Thanks for sharing your skills. W/O this forum how would we learn so much?

Earl

silverslashstreak

Juptier if you want send me your email address and I will try to send you some pics of the rear section, it might be of some help.

RenePaul you are right it is going to make the body sit up about 3/4 of a inch higher on the frame. I like that because I will probably put some kind of overdrive trans in and it will give me a little more tunnel clearance.

I put home made rubber body mounts on my swc 30 years ago and then I lowered the suspension to make it look right plus I think that the c2 c3 chassis handles better lowered about a inch or so.

To install the newer sandwich type mount I had to enlarge the front and rear mounts on the frame so the would accept the new mount. Then the hardest part was to enlarge the hole in the rear mount of the birdcage.
I made a jig out of wood that fit up into the channel of the birdcage that would guide the hole saw so it would not walk around in the channel.

It may be a waste of time putting rubber mounts on a convertible body but It really made a huge difference in sound and vibration isolation in my coupe.

62Jeff

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