81vette

Here's a couple of pictures of the frame. One picture before the powdercoating and two pictures after. It was getting dark and sitting in the garage, so the pictures don't do it justice.

I had a company here in Houston called Bluebonnet Powdercoating do it, and they did an excellent job. They also welded up the seems in the frame in a few places and cleaned up the factory splatter before painting. They did a good job of getting inside the frame with the powdercoating. It's not completely painted inside, but everywhere you can see inside the frame it is painted. I'm not planning to make this a show car or anything, I just thought it would be worth the $400.

Mark

stpman

looks good :thumbs:

Steve :steering:

Nomad78SA

I like that....very much... :yesnod:
I have done a frame off and I POR-15 my frame and sprayed it chassis black. Kinda wish I had powder coated it now but that thought is a few buckets of money to late :lol:
Neil in Tenn


[Modified by Nomad78SA, 5:41 AM 8/23/2003]

MN-Brent

Thats the prettiest thing Ive seen all day :yesnod:

Reminds me of when I built models cars when I was younger, I used to paint the frames gloss red and the bodies would be black. My favorite set-up still to this day.

All I can say is awesome. I had to look at that one for a good while.

Brent...

Crash Dummy

I'm amazed at the efforts that go into restoring these C-3's. My hat is off to you "81vette" and all the others who can strip these vettes down to the bare frame and eventually put it back to probably better than factory specs. I wish I had the patience to do what you all are doing.

Kudos! :cheers:

GrandSportC3

WOW - that's a nice frame!! :cool: :cool:

81vette

Thanks guys. I'll feel a little bit better once I get the suspension back on it. At this point, all I've done is tear it a part. Putting it back together may turn out to be the tougher of the two.

Brent, here is a picture of one of the first Corvette models I put together when I was a lot younger. The pictures aren't all that great, but you can clearly see what it led to.

Mark

groovyjay

Powdercoating rules! Gotta love that red shiny frame. Are planning of using other colours in the suspension and drivetrain bits? Silver and polished SS and aluminum sure would look good with red. Did you get your cf 1/2 shafts yet? How do you like 'em? How'bout the 5link, did you get it yet? I'm staing tuned to see how this project turns out.

Well, gotta tell you that if you keep up the work like you've done the frame, you will end up having a shop stopper vette, that's for sure! :yesnod: :cheers:

Eddie 70

Looks very cool. That is gonna be nice. :thumbs:

ROD NOCK

Looks Great! First time I've seen a red frame! How did you get it stripped down so clean before coating? Maybe you were lucky enough to start with rust free frame?! :chevy

81vette

Thanks Jay,

Most of the suspension parts will be black. Some parts will be silver like the bearing assembly front and rear. The rear cross member and rear diff. are aluminum as is the rear bumper. The main colors will be red, black, and silver. The exterior will most likely be black. The engine and interior will be red. Things change though....I went through three color choices for the frame: black, silver and then finally settled on red. :crazy:

I do have the carbon fiber halfshafts here from Van Steel, and they look great. I let the 5-link go, as Guldstrand couldn't seem to get their act together on the 80-82 units. I had Van Steel rebuild everything, and will be going back with the stock setup with the best suspension parts front and rear that VBP makes for us.

I only wish I could do the aluminum work your doing there. That would be tops. :thumbs:

Mark

81vette

Rod Nock,

Bluebonnet Powdercoating did all the frame prep. I had started blasting it while the body was on it, but wasn't satisfied with what I could do. The frame was rust free, and so most of the work I've done has been fairly easy. The t-arms came out easy, and the body bolt removal was non-eventful. I think GM did a good job sealing up the later year C3's. The hardest thing I've done so far is to drill out the rivets on the front rotors. And I hope I :nono: have to do it again. :lol:

Mark

Let 'er eat!

The frame looks great! Working on cars is a step-by-step process and it's nice to see sections of it come together - it's what keeps you motivated to finish. :thumbs:

groovyjay

Sounds great. black and red is always a winner. Too bad to hear about the Guldstrand set up going sour. I actually talked to Mr. Guldstrand about their 5 link and he just said that it is still the best bolt on rear suspension mod for our cars, hopefully in my next project I will be able to use one and find out for myself.

Just let me know what you need and we'll work it out!!! :cheers:

RMVette

Wow, that looks great! You're definately going to have a RED car! :thumbs: :cool:

HDIronman

Man, that is one sweet frame...!!! :cool:

Corey_68

Sweet :cool:

Chris69

Wow! That's awesome!! I hope you come up with a solution to get the car on jackstands without damaging the paint. Maybe rubber pads on the stands?

:cool:

81vette

My brother brought over some rubber pads to place between the frame and jack stands. They're working good for now, but I'm afraid they may not be up to the task with the full weight of the suspension parts back on the frame. I need to figure out something else. I ran across some poly pads on the internet that slipped over the top of the jack stands, but I haven't been able to find the link again.

Mark


[Modified by 81vette, 11:00 PM 8/23/2003]

FASGLAS

I LIKE that. I was thinking of the POR15 gray for my frame, just to be a bit different than black.

Now, I'm not too sure I want to limit myself to grey.

Hmmmmm.