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General Site Info => Welcome => Topic started by: trucknoob on October 29, 2011, 02:56:28 am

Title: Hello All
Post by: trucknoob on October 29, 2011, 02:56:28 am

Hello,
There is alot of great information on this site so I'll jump right in.
I want to have a solid foundation for this truck I'm about to rebuild. The only thing is the front frame horns where the bumper bolts on is smashed where someone hit something. Im afraid that the holes where the radiator support mounts too are not where they should be. Therefore the front sheetmetal will never be straight.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: zieg85 on October 29, 2011, 07:10:38 am

Welcome from NW Indiana.  Frame doesn't look that bad actually.  I am not an expert by any means but someone here will chime in.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Irish_Alley on October 29, 2011, 08:53:41 am

welcome from maryland. frame is good. if it was bent it would be bent on all sides not just the top

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: bake74 on October 29, 2011, 09:27:56 am

     Welcome from California, I don't know guys, I just picked my frame up from the powder coater yesterday, and I gotta say my frame does not have those bends in it.  The two pics are different in the bends so I am guessing someone did hit something.  Though it is not hard to fix that or replace the horns.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: trucknoob on October 29, 2011, 10:59:42 am

The kid that had it said he hit a tree while off roading with it. The bumper was definatley smashed in which buckled the horns. I guess what I am wondering is will it need a frameshop fix or can you beat it into submission with a hammer?

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Captkaos on October 29, 2011, 07:06:15 pm

Was the sheetmetal not aligned before you pulled it off?  They are defintely bent though.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: big bear on October 29, 2011, 07:12:57 pm

welcome from northeast ohio

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: trucknoob on October 29, 2011, 09:49:13 pm

Heres a few pics before and during its disassembly. The front clip came apart with no problems. Maybe its all good and it just looks worse than it is. It will have to be fixed for the bumper to be straight though. I wonder about heating it up with a torch and pounding it back straight. Any thoughts ? Does it weaken the metal ?

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Irish_Alley on October 29, 2011, 11:59:36 pm

I would like to retract my previous statement lmao yeah the top view is a killer. you can heat it up, to me the front clip shouldn’t be affected by it since the damage looks to be before the mounts. could be wrong

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: 69byrd on October 30, 2011, 09:15:05 am

Welcome aboard.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: trucknoob on October 30, 2011, 10:59:00 am

Thanks for all the looks and welcomes. My truck came from NC and its a 79 chevy with a transplanted 350. I'm planning on doing a frame off and building a hotrod out of it. I was also wondering about putting the 78 style trim on the front. The 79 starts the different lower piece of grille trim. If I want the 78 style (all of it). Does the lower piece of trim just have different mounts on the same valance?  I'm guessing it does because its the same valance panel for 73 to 80.
 I sure hope its called a valance. Lol.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Custom_10 on October 30, 2011, 11:46:13 am

Welcome Trucknoob, have a '79 myself and personally I like the under grille trim on the '79-80 models. It's a matter of preference and if your hot rodding it, the '78 style front is a good looker.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Jason S on October 30, 2011, 04:39:54 pm

Howdy.

Is your passenger side frame rail bent out toward the passenger side? 

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: trucknoob on October 30, 2011, 05:01:45 pm

Jason,
Did you see the picture of the passenger frame horn in post 4 ? It shows the damaged framehorn.

Title: Re: Hello All
Post by: Jason S on November 06, 2011, 03:11:01 pm

I guess I overlooked the photo looking down...

It will take some work, but I don't see a reason why it can't be brought back into shape.