[sawzall]

well, some of you may know me from anothe board I frequent, if not... my name is jeff and I just traded a 1946 ford for a 1948 oldsmobile woodie project.

the woodie's previous owner installed a 1979 firebird subframe to the front of the olds chassis, the darn car now sits about 18 inches off the ground, to make matters worse the frame actually looks really good, (the graft is mooth and the subframe looks like it grew there. anyhow what i need to do is get this thing on the ground. i need about 17 inches of drop immediately, before I even think about wood or other stuff, the rear will not be a problem theres plenty of travel in the coil spring rear, however what should I do at the front??? would you:

A. z the front clip creating a nasty looking transisition between the chassis and the subframe,

b: channel the entire body?

c: cut the gm subframe out and put a fatman stub in place for mustang two...


all of the plans for the car include air ride of some sort, I dont plan to cruise down the road with the car 1 inch off the ground. I do however plan to power park it that way...

thanks in advance

sawzall

[BOBCRMAN@aol.com]

the fatman stub would be the best looking and the least work.

[46_stvblt]

I bought a 46 chev coupe that had the same look, (like a 4wd) High very high it had some sort of pontiac front frame clip on it. I bought a 73 camaro clip and put it on and it sat pretty good but there was too much interferance with the radiator by the steering box so I cut it all off and made my own frame stubs from 2x4x120 tube and used the camaro spindles and disc brakes. made my own A arms and cross member and used a 74 mustang rack. It works pretty good. If you want I can scan some pics and send them to you.....GlennK

[sawzall]

well I called fatman and they said its too late that the stub they sell wouldnt work cause of where the previous owner cut the frame. so thats out. I am thinking about a possible subframe swap to a rear steer but it seems like that would be more work than its worth, so I will most likely just channnel the heck out of the car to get the body down where I want it.

thanks again everyone

sawzall

[TooMany2count]

my cousin use a chevelle frame under his 48 chevy, might want to look at that too

[46_stvblt]

where did they cut the frame? GlennK

[slider in wa]

Speaking for myself, I have a 1977 Camero front clip to put under my 57 pickup. with the drop in the Camero clip it is a perfict fit for the truck. Looks like it was made to fit. I helped my buddy do his and it is too cool!!! Dropped it down from the stock truck height to the stock Camero height. The truck frame is simply cut to fit on top of the Camero clip, welded in, and boxed in. There are some real good sites up for this swap. Keep looking and you`ll get it.
I don`t think you should have to channel the body to get the level you want.
Slider in Wa.

[sawzall]

they cut the frame just behind the a arms and boxed back from there, unfortunately they didnt leave any of the drop in the subframe, which is what killed the subframe all together.

like I said before, they sub frame looks pretty good overall but theres absolutely no drop in the chassis, which is killing the set up of the car.

[slider in wa]

This is what i would do. I`d go to the pull a part and get a complete chev front clip. Nova, Camero, Monte, etc. I`d cut all that out and do it over. Check out some site`s. I think Willy`s has an article on doing this . A junk yard unit should run $150 to $200 i think. You`ll never be happy otherwise. My two cents worth. I think this is the best fix.
Slider in Wa.

[CustomChrome]

I'm with slider on this one. That is what I would do. Try and find one from a Trans-Am, not a Firebird, the TA had a quick ratio steering box and stiffer sway bars. My .02 cents.
Good luck!

[willys36@aol.com]

I sent him my article in a PM but haven't heard whether he got it. No big deal. I have probably sent out a hundred or so artilces on request and, unless they can't open them when they scram to high heaven, have probably gotten less than ten replys. Must assume they all got there ok!

[sawzall]

willys36

hey thanks again for the article. just saw it here at work, so I will not be able to open it till I get home. Gonna look at subframes today after work taking my tape measure along. gotta get this thing out of the clouds!!! thanks again guys

sawzall

[pasadenahotrod]

The best subframe for the early cars is the NOVA subframe 1968-74, with preference to the 74 since most of them have disc brakes. These subframes have the steering box located behind the front crossmember which makes the fabrication of sheet metal mounting, radiator saddle, and bumpers much simpler. Again, the steering box placement is very importannt for these early cars which do not have the long overhang that the later cars have.

[F-1Rodder]

Hi Sawzall: I think your best bet would be to find a '67-'69 camaro (nova or whatever) front steer clip. I can't believe that the frame is not salvageable so long as the clip section you get is long enough to go past the section that the previous owner butchered. The early camaro is a lot narrower than the later sub frames and a better fit than the later cars. You then can add the fatman narrowed A arms to narrow it more. I also believe that it would be possible to use a Mustang II clip, you would just have to fabricate the extension past the previous graft.

[sirstude]

Sawzall,

I too, post on several boards and you may have seen stuff from me before. I have a 1941 Olds that I used the front frame from a 1978 mid sized GM. With no air in the front bags, and 2 Inch dropped spindels (that are coming off) the front crossmemeber will sit on the ground and the tires can be picked up off the pavement. I just used the crossmember itself and fabricated my own front stubs and steering mounts. I have some pictures out at the following page. Possibly this will help.

http://community.webshots.com/user/sirstude

Doug