# 67 Frame on Undercarriage restoration



## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

I'm telling this story for a few different reasons, the first couple are light hearted the third is a must read if you ever plan to swap out your gas tank. My 67 was restored in 2001 and the paint and interior are a 9 out of 10 both still in very good shape. The bumpers and undercarriage on the other hand were never touched during the restoration and it shows. 
Some friends and I were walking through a swap meet on Saturday when we ran across a booth with restored bumpers. He had two bumpers for my 67, and he would swap for mine. I went home that evening and pulled my bumpers and returned the next morning. He pulled two out of his stock and removed the paper to show me the chrome. It was the worst thing I have seen in a while, the chrome was fine but the bumper looked like the rust had been removed with a grinder, and the grind marks were still under the fresh chrome. Beware of traveling chrome guys! I decided to keep mine and take them to a local chrome shop like I should have done in the first place. I had the GTO on a four post lift, which made it very easy to see all the surface rust on my undercarriage. I figured I had 3 to 4 weeks waiting on bumpers so now was the time to freshen up the undercarriage. As you can see from the pictures there is a lot of surface rust.


























This next step would be close to impossible to do this without a lift. I put the frame on jack stands and I removed the trailing arms first. Taking pictures as I went along to make sure I new how they went back in.









































Then I got a couple of buddies to help remove the rear end. The hardest part of the project.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

I sand blasted the trailing arms, and pressure washed the rear end. I was very surprised by how clean I got the rear end by just pressure washing.


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

Looking good.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

Thanks...Once I had the rear end and trailing arms ready for paint I took them to a local painter, I wanted to use a DTM paint that once mixed with a hardener would be very durable. I use a satin finish.


































I installed new bushings in the trailing arms.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Nice...also a good time to add the chassis braces while everything is apart...will help with wheel hop and handling. Eric


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Nice work. I did pretty much exactly the same thing with my '67 about 3 years ago when I swapped in a different rear end. Now the rear suspension looks great. I did the front suspension and frame when I had the engine out last year for a reseal. Now the underhood and front chassis looks great. The middle of the undercarriage still looks like yours did before you started, and it's staying that way, probably. My car was Ziebarted when new, and I haven't the heart (or stomach) to remove it, as it's still doing its job and my floors are ok. Good luck with the rest of it!! There's satisfaction in having "clean" mechanical components on the car!!!


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

Next I removed the transmission cross member, the exhaust pipes, and the gas tank. Removing all this gave me better access to the floor pans. 
Now its miserable sanding and cleaning with a degreaser. As you can see from the pictures the fame is in good shape just a lot of surface rust and 45 years of dirt.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

I sanded as much as I could between the body and frame, not a lot of room. The frame had only surface rust and sanded pretty quick. The floor pans were pretty bad, I thought they were going to be difficult to do but turned out that all I needed was a very good degreaser,a scrub brush, and someone to run the brush.

































Its amazing the difference between the before and after on the floor pans. I am really happy with how they turned out.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

Once the floorpans and frame were sanded and cleaned for painting, we taped plastic around the GTO, it actually makes for a nice paint booth.










We painted all the floor pans first, I use a very low gloss on the pans.
I used spray cans for the floor pans, and I mixed paint and used a cup sprayer for the frame.
I wanted a contrast between the pans and frame, so I used a flat, and a satin.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

After spraying the floor pans I covered them with paper. I also taped the brake line the best I could without getting to carried away.:willy:


































I also sandblasted all the hardware and painted them.
I replaced as many body mounts as I could get to.


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## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

Looking great! I wish my frame had been that clean to start with!


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

FlambeauHO said:


> Looking great! I wish my frame had been that clean to start with!


Thanks,, I agree the frame was in great shape when I started.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

It was a little bit of a pain painting around all of the obstructions but with two people it made it doable.


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## Joe'sToy (Mar 9, 2012)

look's great. in for more pic's.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

I think the two colors came out very nice, a little more work but worth it.


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## Icefan71 (Apr 7, 2011)

Looks awesome. All the pics are a great reference.


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## Joe'sToy (Mar 9, 2012)

^^^^ Agree, very nice, looks great.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

When I started the project I wasn't sure where I was going to leave off on the repaint. The front part of the frame (engine compartment) was going to be a lot of work. Getting to the frame up to where it turns in and then up was a good stopping point. The only thing I didn't like was how the A-frames stood out from the freshly painted frame. I decided to hand brush them, you can see a before in the previous set of pictures and a after in this set. I would have rather sprayed the A-frames but to be honest I was ready to get this over with and taping around them would have been a big job. I also hand brushed any areas I missed while it was taped up.
Next I installed the Transmission cross mount, ran the emergency brake cable, and installed the pipes.

















Then started on the rear end, it was a lot easier to install than to remove.
We set the springs in and then installed the two upper trailing arms. As we jacked up the rear end we installed the drive shaft and lower trailing arms.


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

Next I installed the new straps and gas tank. A potential mistake is installing the straps incorrectly. The original straps were installed as shown in the picture. 










We found that this in not the proper installation, and with the new weaker material (straps) being used theses days this will not be adequate. It is necessary to install a self tapping screw through the strap and gas tank bracket and shown in this picture.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Looks like a "frame off" without the frame off! Rest assured, it never looked as good as it does now when it was a new car. The factory didn't take the time with all the details like you did. Good enough for me! Excellent job.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

:agree just goes to show you don't always have to take a car completely apart to make it look factory fresh...great work...:cheers


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## OldToys (Oct 30, 2011)

Thanks for the commits.
The bumpers were ready to pick up from the chrome shop just as I was finishing up.
Three week project in all, here are the finished pictures.
arty:


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## 67 LeMans 4dr Cpe (Apr 30, 2012)

Very nice work. I'm currently working on a frame off resto for my 67 lemans and now im dipping into the body portion. Its good to see another nice GTO hittin the road. I think mine will take a few years though


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