major frame repair - need advice

[Soma576@xxxx]

Hey all,

my frame is in need of some serious work. as far as i can tell, a previous 
owner had the entire underside of the car coated with a black undercoating. 
well that undercoating is cracking and chipping off and i am finding rust 
underneath it. i have no idea how bad it is at this point but my assumptions 
are backed up by seeing that where i place the jack behind the crumple 
extension the frame is starting the buckle. obviously i need to do 
SOMETHING. 

my car will be paid off at the end of this year at my current pace of 
payments. so then i will be ready to consider a major expense. until then, 
i think i should bring the car to a body shop and get the frame checked out 
and have reinforement plates welded in (and probably cut that bad part out of 
the front end and welded). 

as for an ultimate solution, i feel that a frame swap is my best bet. i have 
a feeling that this frame might be a gonner, but even if it isn't, i know 
that removing a frame and restoring it is a major job (many weeks if done 
right) and i simply don't have a place to put what's left of my car while the 
frame is being serviced. so, i think i am better off purchasing a frame from 
a parts car, getting it stripped and restored, and then doing a weekend swap 
with a club in the midwest somewhere?

i have talked to a few people about this already and i have been told that 
the best thing to do is to make sure everything under your car (suspension, 
radiator, etc) is 100% before swapping frames, because you don't really want 
to put junky links and trailing arms on while you have them out. is it best 
to remove all the suspension first and have it sandblasted and powdercoated, 
and then put it back on the bad frame until the new frame is ready? that way 
all my other parts would be good and ready to go. makes sense to me. what 
is the best thing to do for restoring the suspension parts?

lastly, i am trying to decide what is best - purchasing a used frame and 
getting that restored, or purchasing a stainless steel frame. obviously if i 
had a lot of money and time the stainless frame is the way to go. however, i 
am not in a position to lay down $10K on the very best. not at this point in 
my life anyway. does anyone out there who has done this kind of thing before 
have any idea on what i can expect to pay for a pretty decent used frame and 
get it restored by a body shop or machine shop? where do i go for this kind 
of work? 

perhaps there is a list member who has a couple frames laying around and i 
could purchase a fully restored frame from him/her? 

i am open to all options but i will not be doing much until next year when 
the car is paid off. 

thanks for any input!
Andy

Soma576@xxxx
1982 DeLorean DMC-12 VIN#11596
Fargo, ND 58102


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]