RyanITV's 73 Build Thread... JBG/TDK Frame Arrived - 2/5

[Devin]

????

I don't get it. Why did you decide to scrap the frame again? Because the welds were ugly? Man, you should take a look at some of the "factory" welds on my frame - stuff that would make Skiddy shiver.

If you are worried about the welds, just grind them down and reweld it.

 

[RyanITV]

Devin,

I was fine with the factory welds - figured if he'd clean up the slag with a roll-loc wheel and touch up a couple of spots it'd be fine. He decided to shoot for a molded-in, seamless looking show-style frame and failed.

It's missing a bunch of material now - the bottom outside corner was welded (added material), ground down and smoothed without much consistency.

Rear Bump Stop Mount
Radius Arm Brackets
Crossmember
Bottom Edge Smoothed, Angled
Body Mount Flushed
Engine Mount

I can't weld for shit and don't have the equipment. It'd take me dozens of hours to fix the shit (if I didn't screw it up worse)... I'm further ahead to get the new frame, sell the old one (with WH hardware attached) to someone that can beef up the welds and isn't worried about what it looks like.

Ryan

 

[Devin]

I still don't see the problem, but it is your build, so have at it. I imagine you could find someone near you that is good at welding to beef it up for not much coin.

So are you ordering a used frame, or one of them fancy mandrel-bent ones from JBG?

 

[sellitall]

You could easily had someone local to you on here weld up all the seams and make it look great. The factory welds are shit to begin with. I would have swapped you my 77 frame with title for that one. The hard part is done (cleaining it). Burning some wire on the smoothed out spots is fairly straight forward. I would have used another frame as a reference.

 

[RyanITV]

I broke down and ordered one of the "fancy mandrel-bent ones" - this frame was a used one I picked up to replace my original one after I found the original had some holes, cracks, serious scaling, cuts and wasn't quite up to par. I had 20 hours in my old one before I found all the problems.

I spent decent money on this frame sight unseen (used, sandblasted, POR-15 coated), got it, found it was scaled really bad and spent 50+ hours cleaning, stripping and prepping it for POR-15 again. It looked almost perfect - just some slag I couldn't hit.

I've got an OCD-like attention to detail with this project plus I'm frustrated and tired of f**king with the frame. I don't want to risk having something stupid like a leaf spring hanger pop off when we're out playing this summer. I'm behind on other parts of the project because of the back-to-back frame problems. The new one is just the easy way out, plus my wife's sick of me grinding shit in the garage while her car is in there.

Ryan

 

[RyanITV]

New frame should be here any day as well as the new 347 stroker.

Tub was blasted, new front fenderwells, trans tunnel and passenger floor installed. Alot of the PO's repairs were iffy welding and a ton of glue/sealant. The glue stuff didn't hold up too well, so we went back and rewelded all his replacement parts as well for rigidity. The entire body was shot with an epoxy primer when the metal work was done.

The underside and inside of the tub is getting Al's Liner with some flattening agent to make it more of a satin finish. Here's some pics of underneath, done:

Ryan

 

[Salgood]

Looks good!

 

[RyanITV]

More liner pics...

Inside of the tub should be lined this weekend (weather depending); the underhood area gets sealed and painted chassis black.

Body's getting close... now if my frame would just get here.

Ryan

 

[Hawkdoc]

That looks really good. I painted my engine compartment chassis black and wish I hadn't. Made it hard to really see much unless you have a shop light handy all the time.

Hawkdoc

 

[RyanITV]

Good point, but it's about the only shade I could come up with that goes with the color scheme.

The truck itself is getting painted flat black; bumpers, roll cage, handles, emblems, etc are powder-coated gloss black. I didn't want to go straight gloss under the hood as it would look out of place. Flat black would just look dingy under there, IMHO.

Ryan

 

[sprdv1]

Nice bro.. Do you like the way the Al's liner worked out? Easy Application, what you were looking for?

 

[RyanITV]

Dave - yeah, big fan of the way it turned out. I especially liked the flattening agent; it allowed us to dial back the gloss to get it to where it is in the photos.

Ryan

 

[sprdv1]

Good to know Ryan, thank you sir.

 

[TSCoating]

That is fantastic looking! You did a really good job on that!

 

[RyanITV]

New frame arrived this afternoon! I'd have the brackets on this weekend, but we're in the path of the blizzard tonight/tomorrow - I'm guessing I won't have a chance to get the suspension stuff done till next weekend. Till then, it's staying dry and warm in my warehouse.

The nice part is I ordered it without OEM-style shock mounts and had them shift the radius arm mount back for the extended arms. Also skipped the gas tank mounts, as I'm running the BC EFI tank.

Very nice piece. I'll have to add nutserts for things like the fuel/brake lines and to duplicate OEM-style mounting provisions for the clutch, proportioning valve, etc... pretty easy.

Note the massive stack-o-parts in the background - LOL!

Ryan

 

[DonsBolt]

Looks like a awesome build, and hope you make it through the snow storm

By the way is that a GT-R I see in the backround ;D

 

[RyanITV]

Looks like a awesome build, and hope you make it through the snow storm

By the way is that a GT-R I see in the backround ;D

Yep - 2009 Super Silver Premium with a Cobb tune.

Hands down, most impressive car I've ever owned (and I've had a bunch). Usually I start looking for a new sports car after 10 months or so - this makes 16 months with the GTR, and I still love every mile in it.

Ryan

 

[Dark Knight]

That frame looks great!!!

 

[Nightmare Bronc]

Man it sure looks nice. You are doing a great job with it. Can't wait to see more pics as it comes along.

 

[wantone]

How's it going?

Hey Ryan, just checking to see if you've made any progress lately? I see you've got your frame now. Keep us posted.