Here's What A 40-Hour DIY Frame Restoration Looks Like On A 20 Year Old SVT Lightning Pickup! 

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From what I can see, this head gasket is by far the hardest to fix compared to ANY other car or truck ever made!😅

Peter is a great addition to the channel. You guys generally seem to have a good vibe.

You're doing a really nice restoration on this Lightning - it's going to be practically a new truck when you're done. It's fun watching you live your dreams doing this stuff and getting paid!

My favourite part of this is Alex is all of us with project cars who start out with “I’m sure this is a simple fix” and end up with the drivetrain, body and chassis occupying different locations.

"While we're in here..." Underrated quote for anyone that has ever had a project car. It has caused much suffering.

Glad to see that Peter is a regular on the channel. You guys have great chemistry together.

How I look at these things is, the more I take off the vehicle, the more labor, the closer to 100% I can get, the higher my labor rate, and value upon sale.

as someone who used to use a grinder/wire wheel up to 10 hrs a day for work cleaning rusty rotary cooker machines. i salute you, Alex. that stuff is nasty!

One of my neighbors in the subdivision has an SVT and I always think about your SVT. I hope it’s up and running soon!

Out of all the excitement I get from my job, this upload was the peak of my day! I have been binge watching all "LegitStreetCars" the past few weeks and my day just got a whole lot better!

Excellent job! Remember to loosen the control arm bolts up front when you get the truck assembled, set it on the ground and then snug them up.

I love Peter's science class 👍😎👍😂

Note: don't tighten suspension bushings unless vehicle is on the ground with full body weight to prevent bushing wind-up.

The scary thing is that the explanation about sacrificial metals (anodes) is essentially correct. It was never covered that way in any of my chemistry classes. One professor did set his pants on fire demonstrating the thermite reaction. That would be really cool if you could put some fire into one of your videos.

Picasso turning in his grave, "Is this what they now remember me for? Old trucks and rusty chassis? What happened all my paintings?" 😆😆😆

Love the chrome wheels. I like old school chrome. Thumbs up!

Beautiful Alex. I gotta give Peter credit as well. Nice choice on the wheels.

I’ll tell you what, if you ever did decide to sell that truck, whoever gets it is going to get one HELL of a great truck! Huge props for doing all those PITA “While I’m in there”s. Can’t wait to see the end result!

On my way with my truck. Seeing as you guys already knows how I’ll buy lunch and some snacks and you can just do the bottom of the truck for me. Thanks guys you are toooooooo sweet 🤣

Peter is definitely a great addition to the channel. You guys click. Peter brings humor and of course knowledge. Good job Alex for that decision.

Yo that shit came out 🔥🔥🔥🔥 but I can’t even imagine the work that u had to put in lolol keep goin Alex n Peter s/o from a Bronx nyc tow truck

This Lightning ⚡ will be brand new, and drive like brand new with modifications, making it even better. This great restoration, from bare frame coated like out of the factory through suspension components, bushings, everything, and an upgraded engine. This will be sweet truck.

Hard work always pays off. That's going to be a clean lightning. Those things can only go up in value.

Great tip for bolt removal I learned from an old fabricator ... if it’s no good, just cut a # sign into the head with a thin slit disc... chisel the slots of the # and it breaks apart meaning it’s ready to punch through!

Peter is the best addition to this channel since I don't know when. I

You are kicking this Lightning's rusty butt. Excellent job, Alex and Peter.

Those wheels are going to look so good on that blue paint!

It's just so freaking impressive that someone can take a vehicle all the way apart and it's engine & be able to put it all back together. Lol

That was so satisfying to watch. I could never do any of that, which makes it even better to watch. Thanks Alex and Peter, it looks amazing! I can't wait until the video where you guys put it all back together and start it.

Bet that paint is just POR 15 by another name. For those of you short timers on the planet, POR 15 was the original metal protector of the 60’s and beyond. Good jobs guys.

Looking cool is a critical component to doing cars well. Strong work.

Next up “while you’re in there” zinc coating all the bolts

Hope Peter is here to stay, you guys work great together. Amazing work can’t wait to see that engine.

Peter needs to teach chemistry at the nearest high school. His explanation of zinc as a sacrificial metal was spot on.

I think we need to start a Peter Fan Club. He has become just as important to LegitStreetCars as Alex.

That lightening is going to be practically brand new. Pretty crazy

Definitely the "snowball effect"... happens every time I get a "new" used, old car and start doing maintenance work. Something ALWAYS leads to another thing to replace "while your in there and that part is now easier to get to..." it just goes from budget maintenance to $$$ maintenance lol. Also if you ever do decide to sell, it'll be an attractive selling point for the next buyer as they won't have to worry about the rust or even wanting/having to do the rust prevention.

Alex is the Levar Burton of auto repair. Listening to Alex, I'm constantly reminded of how Levar Burton was on the Reading Rainbow: informative, engaging, calm and kind. I really enjoy how Alex brings those same attributes to LSC.

I wish I can work on this truck with you. this is so up my alley

Lightning is my favorite build you have going on rn. Keep up the good work and creating awesome content!

Such a tease, Alex! I'm ready to see you and Peter get that thing back together and that mystery lump of metal in the crate is going to be a big piece of the Lightning puzzle!

I know a lot of people will say to drop it off at the blasters and let them take care of it but I appreciate the DIY hands on approach.

It’s going to look good. It is always so fun to watch newbie’s restore something. I’m 64 now and I have done many body off restoration’s. Something I learned a long time ago is, my time is worth money. The last vehicle I did a body off restoration and the frame was powder coated. $1,200.00 for the frame all of the cross members, the core support, inner fenders, rear end housing and a whole bunch of miscellaneous brackets. Took it in on Monday picked up on Friday and started on reassembly. What’s your time worth?

Best project you have going on, love the attention this truck is receiving, keep the videos coming.

I am glad Peter is working at your shop. You two make a wonderful team. Keep it up

Wow. Incredible work guys and yes, I watched the whole thing & loved every minute of it!!

I’m sooo glad to see you back on the Lightning!

wow Alex the result is amazing! That clean up and refresh of the frame has turned out great! Honestly, me seeing the Lightning get this kind of love makes me so happy! Such a cool vehicle, never sell it!! Keep up the great work guys!!

What's cool is when this is all done it will probably be the cleanest lightning in the country, and probably in the world!

Frame looks amazing! The lightning has always been one of my favorite trucks can’t wait to see it all back together.

Perfection Alex and Peter, nice job!! Can't wait to see it all done!

My dream pickup....one that runs. Been having way too many issues thr last couple of years. But beyond that I love the old 80's and early 90's dodge rams.

Never has not "You have to love after-market parts" never been spoken by enthusiasts. Nor, HTH did I break this bolt removing it after soaking for days.

I'm about to take my 1990 Ford F-150 4x4 with the 5.0 engine all apart and pretty much do what you're doing. My thing is I either have to find a better bed than what I have or just go ahead and fix the one that's been on the truck the whole time. What I love about my truck is that it can sit for 6 months or even more and almost 99% of the time it starts right up. For some reason the battery is weird. Sometimes it lasts 6 months sometimes 3 months I've had it tested everything's fine I guess it's the weather that affects the performance. I'm sticking with my 5.0 I have never been let down by it and I'm not trying to build a race truck. I just want what I have to be in better shape. I'm definitely using what you did for the frame. I've been on defense about it and I have even talked to the guys at Eastwood. I'm lucky a few years ago they opened up a new store a mile from my house. As always I enjoyed your video and I made sure to give it a big old thumbs up. Look forward to the next one.

If you’re going to go all in, you might as well go all the way in!!!! Looks great, you and Peter are doing an awesome job!!!!!

Really dig your channel and seriously looking forward to seeing the finished product, once it’s complete. The next video can’t come soon enough. Keep up the great work!

I love it that you show it is real work to do things right. In contrast to the many "bought a car for 500 bucks, slapped on a new fender and distribution cap and sold it for 25,000 bucks" video's.

Nice video. Peter's explanation of the sacrificial zinc was HILARIOUS! Use it again if you can, very entertaining.

Love the Lightning. The Attention to all the details excellent work guys

Should've put some gibbs oil on the frame after stripping so it wouldn't rust before coating, Alex 🤘🙌

I get it and appreciate the effort! Did it myself at home where I converted my 3rd car garage into a paint booth for my Toyota Tundra frame. I did that process and it is tedious but rewarding! Keep it up. I was already wondering about the Lightning.

McMaster Carr might have bolts that will work…. Loving this build so far, my neighbor had a Lightning till a fuel injector failed and it burned down

Wow that second step worked insanely well. Cool transformation! This truck will be better than new. Peter has to be the best ever shop buddy to work on projects with

Well what started as a head gasket problem has gone a long way from that, Alex you're going to have the best Lightning in America by the time you've finished, great work, Rj in Oz

My dad was a Mechanic, and we didn't have Slinkys, so we learned to toss suspension springs to bounce, away, over and over.

I was just going to change the shocks on my El Camino and ended up doing a complete front end rebuild, complete suspension update all around, sanding and painting all rust spots, A/C delete, heater replacement, new brakes and lines, gauge update, new seat covers and carpet, and ended up with new slotted rims and Goodyear Radial T/As...while I was in there. I stopped before I replaced all the body bushings as I was baked after doing the suspension bushings. 😂

Watching your videos makes me happy that I live in the south only working on cars from the south. There’s just simply so much more work to be done even on simple tasks.

So much love for Lightning, awesome!

Love the video brother, that lightning is going to be clean and powerful, I did this exact thing to my Buick a few years ago and It's definitely satisfying. Keep up the great work and hope to see this project take off, remember you need more space in the shop.

I came for the car content, I stayed for the Peter. You two are the best duo on RU-vid right now

You continue to be my favorite RU-vid channel, 7 odd years later, by far! Keep it up man! I’m a Merc guy but this restoration has me excited!

Big thumbs up guys! I can't wait to see how this unfolds. An amazingly aesthetic example of Detroit design is coming back to life better the second time around!

Awesome progress, excited to see the final result!

This IS my dream truck!!!!! I have an 01 XLT 4.6 4x4 with 260,000 miles and still going strong. It’s a white single cab stepside. Had it for about 3 years now and have a little over $10,000 into it fixing it up and making it pretty.

Just got my KBS coating kit delivered today! Super excited. I’ve been working on a 1977 C3 Corvette that was my wife’s dad’s car for about 19 months now. Slowly replacing everything old in the whole car including ALL of the wiring. All in my garage at home. I don’t know how I’m going to get the body off the frame yet to do a frame restoration and clean it all up, but I’m getting closer. Now I’m prepared when the time comes! Oh if you only lived here in Oklahoma instead of Chicago. Lol

The Lightning, the "wife's" turbo mustang and the fox body... that would be my perfect garage!

The surface rust conversion kit is some impressive stuff.

Wow is that looking good 👍 You’re doing a better job coating the metal then the ford factory could ever do.

KBS coatings stuff is excellent. I have used there fuel tank restoration and liner kits a few times on motorcycles, leaves a hard ceramic like liner that lasts forever

Last time I did POR15, I got covered in the stuff. I don't know about this stuff, but POR15 says right on it that it doesn't wash off skin. I had to wait for it to wear off. I had black hands for a week. Yes, I tried every solvent and a scrub brush. I bought myself 2 Tyvek suits, gloves and a faceshield for next time. Useless trivia... The term for coating a ferrous material in zinc is "galvanizing". You galvanized the frame, just like a nail. No need to coat the swaybars. You know you're gonna get some Hotchkis bars. ;)

Glad to see the Ford coming back to life. You are going to have a new truck pretty soon.

The F150 Lightning frame came out awesome!! Wow, the engine is back too!! Should be lots of fun to put it all back together!! Cheers!!

You’ve got to back-to-back these lightning videos Alex! I’m not a huge fan of these trucks, but you’ve made me a fan of this series since you refuse to actually get a tune on the CL65 and finish THAT one. Lol.

Looking good! Can also use white vinegar and water to remove surface rust. I use Ospho to remove flash rust. Also, Evaporust works well in an ultrasonic parts washer for cleaning up rusty hardware before painting or replating.

I’ll admit this lighting series is my favorite but then a little sad when you leave us hanging for more vids 🥹

Back in early 80's when I was young my friend's dad was putting texture (popcorn ceiling) on the ceiling of the garage. It was a tedious job at best doing by hand. It was so funny because you could see where he started and finished. The area where he started was neat and uniform and the area where he finished was uneven and some of it looked like stalagtites.

Man, I'm getting excited! I love the progress!

Hahah, when you said you wouldn't need to pull off any more parts, I knew you were going to have to basically take off the shocks and everything related to the wheels. Then you brought out the new tires, and my immediate thought was, "This is the moment where the while we're in there" occurs

Can't wait to see it come together, great job gentlemen!

I used to deliver all over O'Hare area. Looks like you guys are in that vicinity. Glad to see some N. Illinois car guys making it happen!!

Don’t worry, I also just bought a ford lightning a few months back, was doing a general maintenance and ended up down the same rabbit hole as you, I also have my cab and truck bed off and did a chassis restoration, so I’m loving these videos, to compare what I’m doing to what you’re doing

This trucks name should be Wyit (While-You're-in-there). Awesome job on the frame though!

I remember running my 90 IROCZ against an SVT Lightning and watched him do a 1 wheel burnout. And he ran a bone stock 12.98. I spoke to him after our run.

Once you get the lighting back together you should have a pin-striper Dona LSC Logo on the doors and tailgate. It would be the LSC Shop Truck.

Well worth the effort. Looks amazing!

Did Max know what he was signing up for when he took that job LOL

Lightnings are amazing, definitely turns my head every time I see one. Great work!

Keep lighting videos coming. Great work.

I just ordered one of those sampler kits. This looks like a great rust solution. I'm going to try it out.