OK so I bought this frame - a (circa) 1940s/50s Malvern Star 5 star track/club racer frame - a classic Australian lightweight. As the frame is so old, and clearly wasn't a show piece, I didn't expect it to be in perfect condition. The paint job is amateur and needs to be re-done, which is part of the reason I got such a good deal.

in either case. It has flimsy (2-3mm thick) stamped dropouts (track ends, save the pedantics) which weren't aligned, and which are still flared and deformed from use. They're usable, but don't look the sturdiest. I wanted them replaced with a campagnolo or shimano-style modern track end - much thicker and stronger. As one framebuilder pointed out to me though, the pencil-thin seatstays may well impede any sort of dropout replacement on a frame of this age and (I suspect under that paint) corrosion. Once the existing dropout is removed, and the braze, and the rust, there might be no slot left for the new (thicker) dropout tab! Opinions? Suggestions? Pics of dropouts:





I would have the fork dropouts replaced as well - with a modern metric dropout. Another reason for the dropout replacement is because of the flotsam rattling around in both the seatstays and the fork tubes which I would really love to have removed!. I imagine it's primarily made up of rust flakes/chunks so some boeshield or similar wouldn't go astray in there I imagine. Is there any way of getting it out through the 2mm vent holes? I didn't think so...

Another issue I noticed is that the BB shell is 65, not 68mm, it still seems centred in the seattube so it has been evenly faced at least. Anyway the narrower BB shell is not the biggest problem - it's the flaring:





the non-drive side is flared so that approximately the first 4 threads don't really purchase. In my hurry to install the BB I didn't notice this and the BB cup jumped over the threads as soon as it contacted the bearing on the spindle. I was going to make a clamp out of timber to press it back into the correct-ish shape like so:



but as I have this lovely resource I may as well call upon it - any better ideas for fixing the BB shell?

Any work would be done by a proper, experienced framebuilder. While I'd love to do something like this myself, my inaugural project should probably be on something a little less...valuable.

Thanks for all your time and (in advance) for your help!

- Joel