Uuugggghhhhhh!!!

[sgo70]

Well I was out in the garage today finishing up my firewall and I was looking at my frame. When I built it I made sure everything was perfect before I welded, I clamped everything to the extreme so as not to move when it got hot. When I got it done it was level and square to within 1/8" corner to corner. Now lately I keep noticing things in pictures that something was a little cockeyed. The one side always seemed to be a little higher in the front, the engine seemed to be crooked and so on, I just figured it was the picture.

Well I measured it out again and it seems that when I welded the gussets on I didn't think it would need clamped since it also had the fishplates on and it shouldn't move. Wrong!! It came up about 1/4" on the left side. You can see it in the pictures.

So now that I thought my frame was done and ready to paint I'm gonna have to cut one side and reweld it, I just hope I can bend it back into shape.

Sean

 

[Gastrick]

Heat does funny things to metal. You can fix it. Before you decide that's it's really off though, make sure that's it's supported on a level surface and the frames just not flexing a little bit, conforming to an unlevel surface, or jackstands.

 

[sgo70]

Yea it's just the bare frame sitting on my floor now and it's off. My garage floor is surprisingly perfectly level, I've layed a long level down in all different directions and different spots and it's bang on. I still put it up on 2x4" steel tubing just in case there is any dips or rises.

I'm thinking if I cut the front upper section of the Z from the bottom and leave just the top I should be able to bend it down enough. I'll take a couple of passes with the welder on beveled edges of course and grind it down and I think it should be strong. It's 3/16" tubing with 1/8th" plates and a 1/4" gusset.

Sean

 

[Bonehead]

I have fixed alot of things cold without cutting. Using chains, and hydraulic jacks, and blocks of wood. It is not an exact science, and takes an experianced eye to get it right. There are dangers of making things worse. Doesn't sound like too hard of a fix.
Take your time and you can fix it.

 

[roddguy]

You definately don't need to cut it. When I was building my frame I wanted to taper the front of the rails down from 5" at the firewall down to 4" at the front crossmember. So I trimed out a wedge and welded the top back down. It was clamped to a steel bench the whole time but still managed to pull a curve into the rail. This is cause each weld shrinks the metal around it. So I heated the offending side of the rail to cherry red, not glowing red. Then clamped it back down to the bench and let it cool down. Tada..... fixed. You could do something similar. I'm thinking you could clamp your rail down to another rail you know is staight with and 1/8 inch shim under the offending area. Then heat the rail in the area above the shim while the ends of your rail are clamped down. Allow it to cool and you sould be good. You may need to do it a few times heating a small area at first to see what it does and gauge from there if you need to heat a bigger area to get it to pull back into shape. Working as a collision mechanic and frame specialist this stuff kinda comes as second nature to me. If you would like me to explain the process in more detail I would be happy to help.

 

[T2T]

roddguy has the right idea.............Sometimes all you need to do is lay a few welds, the welds will pull the metal. Weld a little and measure, weld and measure, grind the welds and you are golden.

 

[Willowbilly3]

No help for you but I weld very slowly and measure a lot. I agree that you should be able to pull it back with some jacking, or a frame machine.
And if you think it has to be exact, go to a new car dealership (like chevy pickups) and measure one side against the other, your car is probably closer than some of them.

 

[sgo70]

This sounds better than cutting it, I'll give it a try just need to borrow a torch or go buy one. I'm sure I could use it other places.

I won't be able to do it for a week or so but I'll keep updating.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[sgo70]

Well it worked!!. I heated up the gusset that I figure bent it and put some water on it. Took two tries and it moved a bit each time got it to within 1/16th of an inch and figured I'd better stop or it might go too far. Thanks for the suggestions I would have cut it without them, this way took me 15 minutes. I can't believe 3/16" steel with 1/8th inch fishplates, and 1/4" gessets would bend that easy.

Sean