How to straighten a frame

[enjenjo]

Here's a tutorial on straightening a frame. This is the frame for the sprint car I am restoring.  From a combination of age, wrecks, and all the welding I did, it has warped pretty bad, it is nearly 6" out of square. This is how I straightened it.

This only works on a mild steel frame, not one that is high carbon, and has been heat treated. First off, you can't do a lot of welding on a heat treated frame, and any straightening has to be done cold.

Start with the worst part first. You will find that most of the warp is caused by the distortion the worst part causes. After removing the big warp in the pictures, most of the rest of the warping was gone. If I had started with the little stuff, it would have been all wrong when I took the big one out.

I work only one flange at a time, so all the pressure is appllied near that flange. After that flange is straight, you can move to the other flange. In my case, I did the bottom flange on both sides, and then moved to the top flange.

[enjenjo]

Continued....

[enjenjo]

And more...

Tomorrow I'll post how to take out a bend, where the rail is bent in.

[Charlie Chops 1940]

Nice job Frank.

Charlie

[enjenjo]

Here's how to remove a bow where the flange is stretched.

Next time I'll show how to bend a frame on purpose to make pinched rails that follow the contour of the body. Without notching the frame.