Just got my *** kicked on the HAMB for posting this by all the traditionalists. That was not my goal... just want some thoughts and even open some eyes to something new and cool.
"Let me start by stating that I am looking for feedback from guys that enjoy going "Outside the box". I would prefer positive feedback but am willing to listen to opinions from all. NOTE: this is MY car and i am going with Corvette suspension.
I am a lover of traditional rods and have built a shoebox ford to the "acceptable standards", however I'm bored with it and ready to do something different. I have a 28 A Tudor that is in great shape and is dying to be chopped and channeled. I can't bring myself to go straight axle with the technology that is out there in the way or IRS/IFS. I have both C4 ('85) and C5 ('99) units with under 60K on both units. I am beginning my chassis designs for both setups but want some feedback from the group on thoughts. Biggest negative with the c5 is the rear transmission, however it will afford me more legroom in a very small car. I'm 5'11" so I opted for a sedan to begin with. I want to drive the **** out of it in "reasonable" weather. The goal is to have performance, comfort, style and function... I don't believe anyone can argue against that goal. If you can share something useful in the thread, please do... Smitty "
Really just want some input and general thoughts. I'm definitely leaning towards the C5 LS1 Technology
Absolutely! Just tacked enough to be sure nothing moves this will require a complete "frame off" finish welding and grinding evening... All that's left to do is EVERYTHING!
My lil bro came through. He works in a metal fab shop where he has access to plasma and laser CNC machines. He made me some 3/16" gussets and caps out of some material that would have otherwise been scrapped the other day. Thank you to Garrett. following pics will show them and some welded in... hold the applause on the high quality welding... NOT.
Yesterday was Veteran's day. Thanks to all our veterans for protecting us and serving our country proudly. The holiday provided me and my friend Jim Perlik the day off which allowed for some much needed hot rod work. With the help of my bota and Jim, we were able to remove the chassis and get it flipped upside down on horses for finish welding and x-member production.
Last post for a while... the dreaded grinding to begin. I'll be busy Finish welding and Grinding for the next few days, fortunately I have a couple days without any family plans. I would like to have the chassis back on by Saturday in order to set up the air ride mounting points. If I didn't have the day off for veterans day I would have done this already... take the free help when you can. Well i'll be back after some exciting days of burning and cutting myself.
Here you'll see my horizontal bandsaw at work... Only on the second blade believe it or not for this entire project thus far. Does a great job... absolutely a necessary tool if you attempt a build like this.
That smoke is a mixture of burnt oil from the saw being flash-welded, Metal under melting temperature, grindings, etc... Breathe deeply my son... you're not working hard enough if your snot is not BLACK!
So last night I began construction of the x-member. I am hesitant to complete the entire structure because I do not have a brake booster setup yet. I currently have a Z-member and intend to connect the bottom half of the other x tonight leaving room for the booster and potentially some ideas from the group. An under-dash design is not possible as I am planning to add A/C to this car. I hate seeing the Master Cylinder and booster on the firewall as well. I'm leaning towards an "under body" version; maybe with a separate fill mounted to the firewall. Throw out your thoughts.
My M/C is located at the bottom of the firewall.. looks fine down there and is easy to service if needed..Think turning a firewall mount upside down if you will..
could you shoot me some pics... I get what you're saying, just haven't seen what you're talking about... might be tight with steering shaft and headers.... definitely would like to see some pics.
Sorry no pics...I welded in a cross member at the firewall to support the master and the brake pedal. on the inside the brake pedal comes up from the floor and the master is bolted to the front. steering comes out over the top and the headers on mine are far enough to the front to allow clearance. Hope this is more clear than mud..
The front upper control arms require mounting them higher than the chassis level and require hardware to enter from the side. I'm not sure I am in love with my answer to this problem but am much more confident with it at this point. I am only skinning the top with 1/8" stock, but believe tying it in with the 1/2" and the 2" x 3" tubing, it will suffice and hide some less-than beautiful hardware. BTW, ran out of my 44# spool of .035 so I'm into my .023... the wire feed is set at 400 and all I can do is hope I have enough till pay day... 5 days to go...
I like what you are doing, it should be awesome when finished, but don't be scared to go back later before you are done as I feel on such a complex project frame wise you may benefit from doing some mods and fix ups before calling it good.
It seems you maybe able to lighten stuff up with less metal, but your call.
I guess there is a reason why not everybody is using this setup.
My take on doing stuff like this is you usually end up doing stuff more than once before you get it how it needs to be.
Even basic hot rod stuff happens that way without doing what you are taking on.
Is the body just going to be sitting on top of your chassis rails or is it going to be slightly channelled over them so they can not be seen???
Definitely a channel job... which is why I chose 3" to begin with. 2" x 3" affords me another inch of headroom! I definitely agree and appreciate the positive feedback. I am looking forward to getting my truck in the garage for the winter and getting my lift back but I cannot afford to rush the project. I agree that I can go back and do more, but am really trying to avoid that as much as possible. As for the weight factor, I am not at all concerned as the body weighs nearly nothing and if anything I need some weight in order to get the big meats planted rather than just spinning. My biggest concern for the project is how to deal with the torque tube being inside my very small car. It is definitely going to hinder my space and/or legroom. I took on this project because I have never seen it done before. I ran into one guy on this site (who found my build) that had even attempted it. I guess I like a challenge. I truly believe that "real" hot rodders built and made things to make their cars faster and cooler. I didn't want to order my car piece-by-piece through a catalog. I don't mean to offend folks that do... it's just not my way. I love the look of a straight axle car, I don't however like the ride and handling of them. I just wanted something different and believe I am on my way to having just that.
When I saw your build it reminded me of a local car here where a guys was building a traditional style hot rod but was using a big hemi and wanted space inside his model A tudor, so he widened the body with the back being wider than the front kinder like a wedge to match the wide track Ford 9 inch diff that he was running and then he lengthened the doors to make it easier to get in and out of.
It looked great since he had gotten the proportions right, however he never did finish it and it got sold and we locals lost track of it.
Keep up the good work.
So the past few days were spent re-installing the chassis, re-checking all measurements and lastly, mocking up and producing air-suspension mounting points. The pics should show it all. The steel mock-up bars are set at 50% travel. (ridetech's advice). Much steeper than I would like, but the size of the convoluted air bag and its position on the lower control arm dictate the mounting point. I may end up making my own mounting points on the lower control arms and trying again... we'll see how it works.
Just some more pics. Hoping these shockwaves are what they say. The bolts that fasten the front ones to the lower control arms resemble roughly a 5/16" bolt in metric diameter, Hard to believe these will support the entire weight of the front end of my car. I guess Ridetech knows better... if this is enough, I am extremely overbuilt.
So from the time I put the front shocks on, until yesterday I have not been happy with the steepness of the angle in which the shocks sat. It was hard to swallow a loss of over $100 in brand new parts from ridetech as the trundle and bearing setup they sold me simply will not work for this application... put them in the "extra parts" pile I guess. With about 5 hours of fab work I came up with a solution that ultimately loses me 3/8" of travel downward... affording me more upward I guess. This is total shock travel... not including mechanical advantage gain through the length of control arm and shock angle factor.
She's Free!!!! off the table anyway! Finally removed from the table and ready to sit on the ground for the first time. I will post some pics of the table with all of the mounts still welded to it.
just wanted to show you some pics of all the supports necessary to keep the cradles suspended. Everything was bolted as the cradles are aluminum. Would have been much easier to tack it up, but I must say it was a lot cleaner of a removal. Bolting also allowed for minor adjustments as well.
She's a Roller... Note the Coffee mug in the pics for an idea of scale... 2.25" off the ground... will come up when the correct wheels are on front and rear. Thanks to Grover (My dad) for the Z06 wheels on loan for rollability.
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