What is the big benifit of a frame off resto? Turns out, my '68 that is being restored has no rust in the floors or underneath. What is the determining factor when deciding to do a frame off or not? (Note: this car will have new suspension with hotchis and Caltrak equiptment. thanks

I would say it's about how much work is needed and your intended level of involvement in the restoration.
Some restorers do it as a matter of course. It allows them to gain access to every area of the car and to detail it out correctly during their work.
If there are areas of the subframe that require repair work, like the mount pad areas, then it will be necessary to seperate the body and frame for work.
I also allows you to recoat the bottom completely with your coating of choice. This work is hard to do right with the frame and driveline parts in the way.

Sometimes the body requires extensive metal work or damage repairs. It is easier to gain access to the areas whent he car is disassembled and all that 'other-stuff' is out of the way.
I've also run into vehicles that 'looked good' but, after we got a few parts off and dug deeper into them we found they really needed more repair than first thought.

I've done cars both ways - you makes your choices and takes it from there :thumbsup:

I agree. I just decided in the last few years to do a frame off on mine. Once you get the frontend sheetmetal off it isn't that big a deal to just keep going. It really makes it a lot easier to access and clean stuff up, and many times you will find issues you didn't even know you had. As John said, it is just a matter of preference. I have seen some nice cars that were just cleaned up a little under the hood, but doing a frame off just takes things a step further.

Started my frame off of a 1969 Camaro about 3 months ago. Initialy I was only going to do a clean up of the entire car but... when you start getting into it, you start to notice things that need attention like:

Rust in places you might not have otherwise seen.
Suspension parts that are so old they are literally crumbling apart (IE body bushings)
Some components like the under dash vents have gaskets made of foam that deteriorate into powder when touched.
Not a biggy, but the material that made up the paper in my AM radio speaker was so thin you could see through it.
A real biggy was one of the front suspension tie rods was bent at one time then bent back into place (?) and was not far from total failure. Scary to think I could have been driving down the interstate when that came unglued.
All this is just a sampling of what I have seen so I decided to take it all apart. The bad news is it's a LOT of work. Take a digital picture of everything. The good news is, it's a lot of fun work (mostly) I really am enjoying doing the car right.

It's all about the detail.

You my also want to consider the labor resources involved when making the decision. If you can do it yourself or if you have friends with mechanical skills and bodywork experience, then the detail required for a full frame-off restoration can be done in a reasonable amount of time because the labor (and skill set) is readily available. Conversely, if you're not experienced, or mechanically inclined, or don't have friends with the required skills, you may not want to tackle a frame-off approach to your restoration project.

However, the beauty of it is that its all up to you and what you're comfortable with doing. :thumbsup:

Check my thread for another reason why it is beneficial to do a frame-off resto.

I drove my car home and loved it, but man did I find a whole world of suprises that needed definite attention. Glad I did.

It also depends on how far you want to take it, how solid you want it, and how long you want it to look/drive that way.

I say go for it! You aren't going to find many of these cars around to restore much longer....

With a Camaro, there are a couple of things to consider. At the very least, I would suggest removing the subframe. You probably want new bushings anyway and by removing it, you can make sure that all the mounting points are sound. If not, you could end up with a mess or even a dangerous situation later.

Now whether you strip everything else off and put the body on a rotisserie is another decision. If everything is clean and the rear frame rails are sound, it's not necessary.