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June 27-29, 2004
6.0 hours
One Year Ago Today

Frame Clean-Up

Since none of this is particularly interesting, I thought I'd roll up three days' worth of work into one entry. Basically, we just scraped the frame and then I power washed it this evening to get it ready to go to the powdercoater, who will sandblast it and coat it in semi-gloss black.

The frame was seriously dirty, caked with 60 years worth of grease, dirt, asphalt and even some concrete. I also found a wheat penny and a plastic army man embedded in the crud, which was more than an inch deep on everything forward of the front shock mounts. It was pretty gross, but not particularly difficult to remove with a stiff scraper and a screwdriver for the tight places. The upside is that the frame is perfectly preserved underneath the crud without a trace of even surface rust. I guess a leaking front seal is a good thing after all...

Julia, being the good sport she is, tried her hand at
removing crud. You can see her reaction to it here.
She went back to gardening shortly after that.

Once I'd scraped away as much crud as I could reasonably reach, I pressure washed the entire frame. I first soaked it with a solution of Simple Green and Dawn dishwashing detergent, which I've found to be an effective degreaser on mild stuff like this. After soaking for 15 minutes or so, I fired up the washer and cleaned it up as best as I could. Amazing amounts of ancient mud bubbled out of all the cracks and holes in the frame as I shoved the nozzle into enclosed areas. I'd estimate there was at least 10 pounds of crud stuck to the frame--I kid you not.

The interesting thing is how much a clean frame revealed. Most interesting were the markings on the side of the main channels:

Markings on the side of the frame.

Obviously, the BU-41-60/70 indicates BUICK-1941-60 or 70 series. The odd thing is that it appears to originally have said 60, but at some later time, someone overwrote the 6 with a 7, as it is clearly newer paint. I can't imagine why, unless this car has an entirely new frame on it, perhaps scavenged from a swap meet or junk yard (unlikely). It doesn't really matter, though, since the 60 and 70 series cars used identical chassis. Regardless, these are markings I plan to duplicate on the restored chassis, hand-written and all. If anyone has any additional information on these marks, I'd love to hear about it. E-mail me.

Before sending the frame off to the powdercoater, however, there is some damage that needs to be repaired. Most obvious is the rear crossmember, which is bent outwards, contrary to what you would think would happen in a rear-end collision. Perhaps the car was hit from the side in the back right at the axle. That would certainly explain the replacement rear axle, the repairs in the driver's side trunk, as well as the different window riser mechanism in the left rear quarter window. Once I get the paint off that area on the body, I'll know for sure. But that's how it is looking to me right now. Isn't archeology fun?

I'll use a tie-down strap to pull it back into position, then straighten the flanges using a hammer and dolly. That should be sufficient--I want to avoid using heat to prevent damaging the metal, which, on frames, is heat treated and should not be torched. Why, I don't really know, but if that's what the manual says, then that's what I'll do.

Arrow points to bent frame crossmember.

The second bit of damage is a bit harder to explain. Up front, on the driver's side near the emergency brake cable and pedal assembly, one of the holes in the side of the frame looks like it was torn by something. What could possibly tear this thick steel in such a way, however, is anybody's guess. I haven't decided how I'm going to fix this, if at all. I could probably heat it and hammer it down, but like I said above, if I can limit the amount of heat I'm putting into the frame, I think that's for the better.

How the heck could this have happened? And how do I fix it?

I am thinking about welding some of the riveted pieces together, just to add some solidity to the frame. After 60+ years, some of those rivets may have become loose or elongated their holes. A few short welds here and there should keep this frame straight and solid for at least another 60 years.

If I'm lucky, we'll start repairing that crossmember tomorrow night.

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E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net

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Last modified on 02/06/2005

Thanks, Fidget!