VIN 11596 Frame Swap - a rolling frame-off restoration

[82DMC12]

Big day today!

I suppose this is the first day of my frame swap. I've been storing the frame in the warehouse at my office since spring 2021. Today a couple coworkers helped me load it up onto a rented flatbed pickup from Home Depot (the kind that you can rent for $19 the first 75 minutes) and we brought it home to my house and parked it in the garage on a furniture dolly.

The frame weighs around 240 lbs but two people can fairly easily pick it up and maneuver it. I am going to want to flip it upside down sometimes while working on it though so I'm planning to use my engine hoist and a nylon strap to assist with picking it up, flipping it over, and setting it back down again.

I also have some new parts received today - a clutch master cylinder and a clutch slave cylinder, both rebuilt by PJ Grady which I actually want to get put in this weekend. Hopefully I can also get at least one coat of the 2K Urethane brushed onto the new frame so it has plenty of time to cure before I start moving the frame around while installing new parts on it.

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[82DMC12]

Day Two of my frame swap....

Last night I started scuffing up the frame in preparation for applying the top coat. It also gave me a chance to check the work of the guy who restored the frame in great detail. I like what I see, the POR15 was sprayed on and while it sometimes transitions from a gloss finish to having a bit of a rough feel, the POR15 is very well applied and solid. The front crossmember has a stainless plate welded to the bottom and then covered in POR15 - I can only detect it by using a magnet. I like that it reinforces an area on my own frame that is in very bad shape (floor jack pushed up and broke through the middle trapezoid section). The only issues I see are a couple of extremely minor spots where the frame was probably on the floor and scratched the POR15 back to the metal, and a few drips/runs that would interfere with fitment of other parts. A wire wheel on an air powered die grinder flattens them no problem. I have a few ounces of gray POR15 remaining from last year (yes it is still liquid!) so no issues doing a bit of touch up to the base coat.

Today I was able to get some more red scotch brite pads (best to get them at auto body paint shops) and alternated between using my blue blending pad handle for large flat areas and then just free-handing a piece of pad in the corners and small areas. I tended to do a cross-hatch pattern with the handle and swirls with the free pieces. I probably went through about 20 of the large pads.

After that I assembled my 1-ton Harbor Freight shop hoist and then used that to help flip the frame over so I could scuff up the bottom. Then, I bungee-tied a furniture dolly to the rear of the frame so I could wheel it out of the garage and halfway down the driveway so I could rinse it off with the garden hose and wash mitt. Once back in the garage I did my touch-ups and then drilled out a few small holes in the frame that the paint that filled in slightly when it was done a few years ago. I also ran a 1/2" bit through the front suspension attachment points so that I'm sure there isn't any paint in the tubes. I know I'll have to run a tap through all the threaded holes as I attach parts but that was to be expected.

Tomorrow I should be able to get a coat of top coat on the bottom of the frame. I'll have to wait for it to cure before I can flip the frame over again and do the top which I'm less concerned about overall.

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[82DMC12]

Day 3 -

Today went as well as I could have hoped. My goal was to top coat the underside of the frame as well as the sides and anything else I can easily reach without flipping the frame over. The 2K Urethane is mixed 3 parts Urethane ("Part A") and 1 part Activator ("Part B"). The paint shop gave me a stack of clear paint mixing cups which I had to learn how to use by watching this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwxs_lgNGaM

They worked perfectly and I mixed up only about 2 oz of paint at a time because the pot life is not very long. I wanted to make sure I had even viscosity the whole way through so it made sense to work in small batches. The urethane brushes on very nicely and it was easy to tell what I had painted and what I had not by using a strong LED work lamp. After about three hours I had painted everything I could so after clean-up I called it a day. About six hours later I came out to check on it and the first section I did was drying nicely with only a bit of "finger drag" while touching the surface.

I only bought the 1-quart kit because the paint shop assured me I could paint the whole frame with it - I think they are right. I've only used less than half of the product but I'm probably 70% finished already. Goes to show how thin the urethane spreads when applied.

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[82DMC12]

Day 4 -

I came home from work and found the frame was dry enough to flip over so I could get on with top coating the top side of the frame. The shop hoist came in handy as a very strong third arm to lift it up, roll it, and drop it back down onto a furniture dolly (just realized I need to buy another one for rolling around my old frame at some point....). An hour later I was done brushing it on and admiring my work. I found one chip on the bottom edge that I will have to repair but that's OK because I do have a few oz of gray POR15 leftover. The trick here is to sand down the surrounding area until it is feathered out, clean it well with degreaser, brush a bit of POR 15 metal prep on it if you have any, and then once that dries, brush the POR15 over the spot. Might take two or three thin coats to build it up to the same thickness as the surrounding area.

My list for the week leading up to this weekend's frame-off party is:

1) Need QTY (2) 4"x4" x 8 ft posts which the body will rest on for the next month
2) Need QTY (40) 4x8x16 flat cinder blocks which will be slowly added as the body lifts off the frame
3) Need to do as much as possible in regards to draining all fluids and disconnecting "stuff" from the old frame. There's a great checklist here (https://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1...tion-Checklist) that I will use as a guide and I will also update it with anything I find that was missed, or any good advice I have that others can learn from. I might also make a Google Drive version of this so others can download it and print it , already formatted, in the future.

Looking at the checklist, I see no issues because I have already addressed literally every point on there at some point in the last 20 years! The only wild card will be if any of the body bolts are hung up or won't spin out.

Here's a picture of the frame as it stands last night as well as the chip that needs touch up.

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[82DMC12]

Day 5

Not much done yesterday because of work-family-car balance. I looked at my auto-to-manual adapter plate and checked to make sure the slotted holes line up. All good. I'll have to order some M6 threaded rod once I know exactly how long I want it. That's what holds the spacers and shifter to the adapter plate.

Moved the DeLorean on skates towards the center of the garage so I can start the process of draining fluids and disconnecting everything. I might have time tonight to get started on this. In the meantime, trying to follow up on parts orders that are pending so I can prioritize what gets done next week while I'm off work.

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[82DMC12]

Day 6

Only a couple more days before I have 11 days straight free to work on this thing, but only two days before the "frame out party". Might as well get started a bit early. Tonight I removed the seats and trailing arm shields. Drained out most of the gas tank using a battery-powered transfer pump (was going to put the gas in my wife's car but of course she just filled up today). I then drained a good amount of coolant out by opening the radiator petcock drain as well as removing both rubber coolant connections near the transmission. I know there is still coolant in the heater core and the engine block but we'll get to that eventually.

I also used a Motive power bleeder to drain and blow out all four brake lines.

I've started to make a list of all fasteners I will be replacing. I like to use Belmetric.com. So far they have everything I've needed and the prices and shipping is fair. McMaster Carr would be another option of course. I'll be replacing every nut, washer, and bolt that I remove from this car. I've already done this with everything suspension related (well, actually I sent a lot of those fasteners out to get cleaned and re-plated) so there isn't THAT much more that needs to be replaced in terms of the frame. I'll probably replace all the hardware that holds the transmission casing together though.

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[DMC-Ron]

Andy,
That's a heck of a beam. I assume you measured to insure you have the required clearance.

Keep up the posts. This has been fun following along.

Ron

[82DMC12]

Andy,
That's a heck of a beam. I assume you measured to insure you have the required clearance.

Keep up the posts. This has been fun following along.

Ron

Haha oh yeah. That last photo is ultra wide angle from up high so probably skews dimensions too. And the car is high up on jack stands. I estimate the body must be no higher than 32" off the ground to get the chassis out as per this video:

https://youtu.be/j-AmAyELV8s

That's only like 2.5 feet taller than the car is, anyway and I have plenty of room getting my Q5 SUV in the garage.

Will post actual measurements after this weekend, that's when stuff gets good!

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[Helirich]

This is going to be a good thread during those eleven days! Wish I was closer. Would be fun to give you a hand.

Good luck.

[82DMC12]

This is going to be a good thread during those eleven days! Wish I was closer. Would be fun to give you a hand.

Good luck.

I wish! I'm trying to include some local owners in the Frame Party. Should be a good time!