Ok, so I started stripping the trim off of my 67' Skylark 4 door that I have had for 4-5 years now. I drove it around with the stock 340 before that blew on the highway on me. I am currently building a 455 to put in its place. My question is this, I was peeling back trim today and found some rust. That reminded me of how rusty my frame was. I crawled under the car and had another look. The rails look decent from the outside, but if i stick my finger into them through the machined holes I can feel chunks of rusted metal that have fallen off of the inside of the rails. There are no holes yet through the frame. And I went around banging on the frame with a hammer to see if anything was rediculously weak. It seemed solid enough. I'll take pictures soon... but I was just wondering how much I should be worrying with a Big Block on the way. It wont be insane but maybe up to 400 horse. Any opinions would be great. Keep in mind that I'm in between highschool and college right now.. working as a bartender to make money.. and I am not loaded. So... theres no way that a frame off restoration is in the works.
If there are no holes it should be OK. You got a open or box frame? How are the body braces/mounts behind the rear wheelwells? Ray
frame rust Jared-I have a couple Buicks like this. I think you need to at least do the work to stop the rust from advancing. My approach was to knock loose anything that would come off-and the hammer can be good for that. Also some good hosing and when dry I use POR-15 or, better on a frame, the spray can Eastwood rust encapsulator type product to get inside and seal it. One Wildcat I have needed some 3"x3" angle iron welded in along the rails to back it up as there were some holes-with your added power coming, if you think you are getting thin, you may want to do that. Good luck-
frame rust The tree huggers will freak out at this advice but; Make any repairs that has to be done. paint all the areas that you can get to. spray motor oil inside the frame where you can. The oil will stop further rusting, its cheap and it works.
Great advice guys. Thanks a ton. That really gives me a bunch of confidence. The car was my granpas before mine and he was a farm boy so he took care to constantly oil spray underneath as that was normally done for farm equipment. I think he just forgot about the fact that salt could get inside the frame to. Thanks a ton guys and hopefully within a few months my car will at least be moving under its own power again.
Try this. FLUID FILM In areas where you can't apply POR-15, de-flake what you can, and blow out the area then use FLUID FILM. This stuff is awsome. It comes in spray cans to 55 gal. drums. When applied to metal, it seals moisture and air out. Merchant ships pour this oil into the ballast tanks to keep the salty sea water from rusting through the steel tanks and it works! Engine oil cannot seal out moisture and will turn a milky brown color as well as evaporate somewhat over time. FLUID FILM is waxy and gets thicker with age but still seals efficiently. I sprayed a circle around each piston in a short block 430 Buick engine and left out uncovered all winter. The pistons had gold colored water standing on top of them and water filled the block from the oil pan to the top of the block. Gary Steele, one of our members on this board, needed the rods from this old 430. I gave it to him and later asked if the rings were stuck to the cylinders. He said they all tapped right out of the block without any problem. You can find 1000 other uses too. I have it in the trunk, garage, friends houses, at work.... use on locks,hinges,chains,tools,mowers,body crevices,etc. It will stop rust inside your frame. Buy it at some oil companies and John Deer dealears.
wow awesome sounding stuff. Sounds like a plan for a my old Buick. Right now I'm doing a bit of body work. Fixing some old dings and welding in a bit of sheetmetal on the passenger side front fender where it hit a tree stump back in the 70's and therefore eventually rusted. I'm considering the possibility of dropping in a runnning 430 instead of the 455 that I really don't think I have the money to build right now.
Fluid Film Just type in FLUID FILM on the search engine and you will see Eureka Fluid Film and read more. It is environmentaly safe and works wonders. I did a backyard overhaul on a 430 with a kit that cost $100 back in 1976 and the engine ran great for 5 years until I replaced it with a 455. It was still like new when I removed it. I used cheap iron rings and dingleberried the bore and put the orig pistons back in. I did include a valve job and seals on the heads to get good power back in it. I also bored the oil pickup hole out to 9/16 dia as recomended on 430's and installed a 5/8 pickup tube/screen for oil flow. Then I took a 1/2" long machine allen bolt and shoved it into the oil pump spring to tighten it up for a little more pressure. A cam and lifters would help but I saved the orig lifters and put them back in the same exact holes on the same lobes and ran them with no problem with 5000 RPM shifts. Good luck, and Happy Hollidays, Gary Bohannon
