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Those with Frame Off Builds

Do you notice a trend with frame offs? I do, which is that they are never done.:doah:

I chose not to do a frame off, mainly because I am not super worried about how glossy the paint is on the bottom side of the body tub, or how spotless the inside of my frame rails are. People DON'T see those things when they notice your restored rig sitting at a traffic light. They are too busy checking out your paint job, tires&wheels, and accessories and then the light is green and you two part ways.:whistle:

All I did was pressure/steam my frame, suspension, blah blah VERY thoroughly to make sure I got every blob of oil off, and every hiding corner full of mud, and then primed with an undercoating rust preventative treatment, and painted everything a gloss black. Next was a body work and paint on the exterior body panels, and I was done.

How many people can say they are done?:dunno:

Without doing frame off I was able to go from the 2 pics, to the 3rd and 4th pic, in just a couple months.

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FRAME OFFS!!! Don't talk about....FRAME OFFS!!! You gotta be kiddin' me....FRAME OFFS!!!

Playoffs!!!.jpeg
 
Greg72 said:
There's a huge difference between a "restoration" and a "custom build".....

If I had only wanted to "restore" a stock vehicle (or even just repair, and repaint the setup I was driving) I might be done with my project already. The nice thing with stock rebuilds is that you have a clear reference for what each part is supposed to look like. A custom build requires a lot more thought and effort and will drag your schedule on forever. :whistle:

My advice:

Stock rebuild (or rebuild what's there now). Also, get the vehicle professionally steam cleaned (high temp / low pressure) before disassembly. It will make the whole process more enjoyable and will let you more quickly assess the true condition of parts underneath....

Frame-offs require a lot of shop space. If you don't have the space to store the body (and a massive amount of "take offs") you should probably choose a more modest restoration goal.

-G
Click to expand...

what Greg says..... HUGE dif between the 2... anybody can bolt a bunch of stuff together in very little time..... heck, when I worked resto, we'd do a "perfect, every bolt" 56 Buick in a couple months... a cement mixer in a month...

interesting custom takes stupid amounts of time... and is a whole other skillset..

one of the things I've always done over the years on my stuff that I'm driving, meaning weekend projects, is to do an area....

instead of just cutting off the shackle hangar and slapping a shackle flip in, take the extra hr and strip down the surrounding area, clean up, etc, put some paint down, THEN slap the shackle flip on... :whistle:

that sh*t drives me nuts... reminds me of the clowns at Englishtown that would slam a 10 g crate motor into some slimey engine compartment.. you could have at least powerwashed it when the motor was out yacka$$... :haha:
 
I'm doing a semi frame off I guess you can say but I'm not going all out 100% spotless.

I'm interested in hearing what Teck has to say about his build.
 
So what do I use to "steam" the under carriage? Is this something like a pressure washer?

Thanks for the info, sounds like an awesome alternative.
 
mattrains said:
So what do I use to "steam" the under carriage? Is this something like a pressure washer?

Thanks for the info, sounds like an awesome alternative.
Click to expand...

Wish I could find a true steam cleaner around here....
 
mattrains said:
So what do I use to "steam" the under carriage? Is this something like a pressure washer?

Thanks for the info, sounds like an awesome alternative.
Click to expand...

Basically a hot water pressure washer, aka steam Jenny, they can be rented from most local rental companies
 
I did find a Hotsy Pressure Washer....it heats to 240 degrees and 4000 psi...the guy said it would take my grease off...but it would also remove everything and immediately start to rust when I was through...so I need a plan for dealing with it after I pressure wash it...
 
ryoken said:
one of the things I've always done over the years on my stuff that I'm driving, meaning weekend projects, is to do an area....

instead of just cutting off the shackle hangar and slapping a shackle flip in, take the extra hr and strip down the surrounding area, clean up, etc, put some paint down, THEN slap the shackle flip on... :whistle:

:haha:
Click to expand...

Exactly!!!

When doing the rear suspension, roll the axle out and you will be able to wire wheel the rear part of the frame, clean the underside, prep, prime, paint, etc....Then do the same to all the parts going in, to include the axle.

Then instead of pulling the engine normaly, Take the whole front clip off and you can "restore" the front 30% of the truck. With the tranny and case out also, you can clean and coat the underside.

Only thing left now is a small portion of frame rail and any metal work/body work on the tub.


This also allows you to enjoy the truck more as you can takle one "Area" for a week or two, then enjoy the truck for a few months then tackle something else, etc...etc.... Beats not having a truck for 1, 2, 3 or more years.
 
I once did that to a 71 Chevelle with a 283 in it... come home friday night, pull front clip, power wash, paint engine, new intake carb, headers, yada.. paint firewall, frame, wells, etc... assemble... drive to work monday morn... blow co-workers away...
 
I wanted to do mine in stages, but the rear freeze plug blew. I don't want to pull it now then pull it later down the road for the new engine and tranny.
 
scottishdave said:
Exactly!!!

you can clean and coat the underside.

Only thing left now is a small portion of frame rail and any metal work/body work on the tub.
Click to expand...
What are you using to coat the underside and how are you treating that "middle" third of the frame?
 
it's that fat teacher of yours fault! bastard... oh, wait.... :doah:

I killed it pretty good on mine for about 3 yrs, but the last 10 months or so, I've done d*ck... then again, I probably had 3000 hr's in, and that's more than most guys have in on a lifetime of vehicles... I was bound to get a little blown out on it.. soon enough...
 
ryoken said:
it's that fat teacher of yours fault! bastard... oh, wait.... :doah:

I killed it pretty good on mine for about 3 yrs, but the last 10 months or so, I've done d*ck... then again, I probably had 3000 hr's in, and that's more than most guys have in on a lifetime of vehicles... I was bound to get a little blown out on it.. soon enough...
Click to expand...

How do some guys do this turnaround in months instead of years?
 
Wow - I can't believe I was such a small minority in recommending the frame off.

Good advice from everyone though - It's a big undertaking and you do need a ton of space once you start unbolting everything.

Just remember that any custom fab work is going to take a lot of time regardless if you do it frame off or not.

For me, it's not about making my Blazer into a show truck - I don't care if anyone ever notices it or not. It's about making it last another 25 years without worrying about it rusting and rotting away. As others have said, there are ways to accomplish this without doing a total frame off, but I actually thought it was easier with everything totally exposed.

Sounds like you've decided not to pull the body off - lots of great information here no matter how you go about it.
 
I haven't done a frame to by K5, but I have done other cars and learned some valuable lessons. If you plan on doing suspension, axle, body, etc. upgrades at the same time, my advice is don't. To stop loosing motivation on my builds, I try and keep the vehicle running as much as possible. Put axles in then drive it, then put the motor you want in and drive it some more.

I would only advise pulling the body off the frame after you have done most of the fabrication work. The vehicle should have all big projects done and driven before you take on a frame off.

At least that what works best for me. Then again, some people do a frame off and all fabrication at the same time and have no issues. I wish I could do that :-)
 
Chief Brody said:
How do some guys do this turnaround in months instead of years?
Click to expand...

stock redo, I could of had done in 3 months... but then again, I did it for a living and have a pretty good tool selection..

whereas it took 3 months alone to build my front bumper.. 6 months to do the cage.... yada... :doah:
 
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