When I bought my roadster in the late 70's, I had a choice of a very rust pitted frame or a relatively rust free frame that had been under a drag car and had a bent rail on the pass. side. I chose the bent frame. I took the frame to a frame alignment shop and to get the rail straightened. I had read articles in the rod mags that said never use a torch on a 32 Ford frame if possible. I happened to stop at the alignment shop just as the mechanic was lighting up the torch. I stopped him, paid him and took my frame home. I built a flat steel table in my garage and tweaked the frame till it matched most of the spec's on the Westcott blueprint. Due to a lot of life stuff it sat on that table until I retired last year. My question is for you guys that have prepped an original frame. I have beat myself to death trying to raise the low spots in the top flange (bottom flange is fairly straight) with out lighting up my torch. I really don't see why I can't heat and work (2 lb. hammer and dolly) a small spot at a time. skipping from rail to rail. The other question that I have is concerning a dimension that I am having trouble achieving. It is the dim. from the flat of the bottom rail to the top of the rail at the centerline of the front cross member. It is suppose to be 71/2",I got mine to 73/4" on both rails. It seems like this dim. will affect hood alignment. I am having trouble attaining this dim. as the bot. flange starts to buckle under the door area if I apply more pressure. Any help will be appreciated.
I would have heated the thing 40 years ago . Henry steel is some of the best. Your frame may have a bit of sag or sway back and bottom has stretched. Pulling it down makes the stretched material bunch up on the bottom. Shrinking it with heat would be the easiest. Running it thru a mechanical shrinker would be the next, however the big ones needed aren't everywhere and the frame would need to be split apart down to rails. Lots and lots and lots of frames have been heated, welded, modified and several times over.
Heat it! The steel doesn't know it's in a 32 ford frame and will respond like anything else.It is thin though so be a little careful and work slow.
I heated my 32 driver front rail a lot in many spots. It was swaybacked long ago, and someone way back when, boxed the fronts without fixing it. I cut the box plate out, then ran a H beam on the floor with chains,jack, and heat. Had to keep flipping the frame upside down and back, as it's sway was a long run, and needed bending in both directions I lost track of how many 2" wide spots got heated and jacked to the beam/chains. Came out really well, which was . I do recall heating the spots to have them shaped like a long triangle, to get the stretch to work better.... hard to explain, but I bet you get it.
Heat is no problem, it's how we pinch rails on deuce frames, and kicks and get rid of dents... should be fine, good luck!
Heat it or make a flange straightener to keep the metal in perfect alignment. I milled an 1/8" slot in a piece of 1/2" x 18" bar stock and it worked perfectly. If you don't want to use heat you can bend it cold. You can also use two pieces of flat bar stock and a pair of pipe wrenches to straighten the rails. Not rocket science!
This posting on Ford Barn by a pro restorer has some useful perspectives: A frame straightening tech for basically stock frame: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26355&highlight=frame+heat&showall=1 look at post 21 for starters
I actually have a tool much like you describe and it was good for moving the whole flange up or down, but I have a lot of places that look like a cupped area (high all around and low in center). Have always wondered what caused those places.
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