MikeC

My mom went out for dinner with a guy she knows and they started talking about me and my car and what I wanted to do with it. He said a he and a friend got a mid 70's vette and took a bunch of parts off of it and all that is left is the frame and some extra parts.

Hopefully the frame is good, maybe it will even come with a good bird cage!!

The wife says my limit for the frame is a $1000CA as this is all we can afford right now. I'll hopefully be able to get it cheaper so the process is sped up a little.

bence13_33

Mike, why do you need another frame? BTW, what is a bird cage(I'm sorry for my ignorance)?

Dalannex

A frame for a 78 is the same as the one for my 81'. The first one of them I bought I paid $500 for from a carvette salvage yard. After I bought that one I bought 2 more from a guy for $200 each and sold them for $300. You should be able to get the frame for under $1000 pretty easy. I bought a rust free 68' convertible frame for well under $1000. Good luck. :D

MikeC

The rest of the back half of the frame is not quite as bad, but bad condition none the less. I temporarily fixed these spots, but the other side is going bad too, the metal around these spots is paper thin, half the time when I was welding it up, I would burn through the old metal.

I figure start with a good frame, restore it. Then remove parts from the old frame, restore them and put the on the new one. I figure this will shorten up the time the vette is down. Plus once it is started, the wife can't stop me....... 6 speed, supercharged smallblock here I come! In all honesty, I need a new clutch and rad to have the car out this summer($1000CA) I am having my first child in May so I won't have a lot of time to drive it, but I can probably find a lot of five minute perods that I can do some work on the car. It needs it, I have owned the car for 11 years, 11very hard years, Its time to give her e rest for a year or two.

I have always refered tothe firewall and windshield frame as a birdcage, I don't know where I picked it up, but it just stuck.


[Modified by MikeC, 6:42 PM 1/24/2002]

paso

yep you need a new frame mike :D

MikeC

I hope you are right Dalannex because I have been quoted some pretty ridiculous prices($1700US-- for a burnt up frame)
There are a couple on Ebay for reasonable prices, but the shipping is $850 and its too far for me to go pick up.

I'm just starting to look anyways, I'm sure something will come up.

bence13_33

Ahh, now I see :) Good luck, I hope you get a good deal on that frame

paso

Mike I bought a frame out of Florida and had it trucked to Saskatoon for $400.00 and I had the weight wrong. So to Your place should be less. I think I had it estimate on the web site http://www.shippingfreight.com (I think that's right I'm going from memory if it's wrong let me know I'll look it up. :)

blue72

I got my frame from America's Finest Corvettes. The guy has tons of frames ready to go. You can either get it bare, or he'll clean it up for you. He's a great guy to work with, too. I forget what I paid, though...
-Jason

Paul L

Mike,
That frame has definitely seen salt. Most C3s left in Canada are off the road long before the salt hits the asphalt.

Dalannex

Oh, you're in Ontario. I suppose if you buy a frame in the states you have to pay duty on the value of the frame, correct? That makes it a little more expensive if that's the case. If that is the way it is, it may make more sense to buy in Canada. If not, Denny's Corvettes in Sioux Falls, SD should be able to get you a frame for $500. He has a few 78-82 frames, it's the older ones that he doesn't have much of.

paso

Justin where were you when I needed you.:) Darn I would have picked a frame up for the 76 If I knew there was a good one in South Dakota. Next time maybe. :D I also could of stopped by checked out your progress :jester

BeachinVette

Mike
drop this guy a email or call him. I purchased a frame from him 3 months ago. $350.00 Shipping was $82.00 from Virginia Beach to Central Florida. I picked it up at the dock. Tom is his name. email vettemasterstom@aol.com Phone is 1-757-575-8715. I highly recommend this guy. Hope this helps you.

Bob

MikeC

Bob, thanks for the name and number.

I'll give him a call.

compuvette

I got a frame for my '71 for $600 complete. It was from a trashed '79, but the frame was not rusted and was straight. My brother-in-law is a body man at a Ford dealership, so we put it on their frame machine and it checked out. It took me about 6 months to find a good one around here.

MikeC

Wow once you put the word out that you want a frame, people come out of the wood work.

I have mentioned to what I am doing and now I have two more frames(one whole 76 parts car) to look at. Hopefully they'll be good. I know the guy with 76 doesn't really want to get rid of it but my friend says his situation may call for him to sell the car cheap. Well I'm going out tonight, maybe I'll spread the word some more, you never know what will come up.

Dalannex

Paso, doesn't it seem that these deals are never around when a guy needs them to be. :D Gotta be in the right place at the right time. If you're ever around again, drop me a note, we'll get together and I'll show you my corvette progress scrap book. And the vette too, of course. :yesnod: