progress, a little I guess... Outer cowl panels on. Doors fit nice. Lower left cab corner. Probably set cab off and start on the chassis now. Probably will order a Fatman Stage 3 coilover front end. And for those of you that like trucks in general, thought I'd throw in a pic of my daily work truck, the thing that keeps me away from my 50 Chevy.
got some packages from a fatman, but, it wasn't Santa... Finally decided to go ahead and order Fatman fabrications coilover ifs kit. Ordered with Chevy big brakes, swaybar, and power r&p. They advised order Wilwood if you want open wheels and good looks, but, Chevy big brakes will be plenty of stopping power. Had a rare day in the 40s so, I drug out the little sandblaster to clean-up the inside of the frame. Then, painted with epoxy primer and black enamel. Constructed some mid-section boxing plates out of 3/16" steel and cut "lightening" holes to save weight and access frame and running board bolts. Tac welded them inset just a little so I could weld these as a groove and fillet weld, as Lakeroadster suggested in a thread awhile back. Then, weld them in, about 6" at a time, moving around.
Next, Fabricated forward boxing plates as per Fatman instructions. Again 3/16" steel, but this time butted up flush to weld in the groove. Need a big welder with a healthy duty-cycle for this. It is also much easier with a bare, stripped frame that you can flip over and weld. Next, measured and marked center of axle, to position lower crossmember. Tac'ed it in and measured to rear spring mounts both straight back and cross ways to make SURE it is right. Also, I set mine with about a 2 degree rake. Measured from the grease zerks on the lower a-arm ball-joints. Learned that from a TCI install video on youtube. Seems more accurate when you get out that far.
Great pictures/fantastic progress!!! I would be willing to bet you will have a hard time keeping your mind off of that now~ I know I would. Good luck and keep the pictures coming! (I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get more *nice* weather!)
Frame Boxing This looks VERY nice ! . I wonder if it'd be worthwhile to do it to a stock frame too ? . I know i regularly over drove my poor old '49 , it did pretty well but I imagine stiffening the frame like this would make it handle far better whilst still keeping it a TRUCK .
Thanks, Charles, Zig, and Nate. Made a little more headway on this job today. Made some braces to set-up the top side brackets and hold them in place until I could spot them in. There are several precise measurements that have to be held. The camber plates have to be 28" outside to outside. The upper coilover shock mounts have to be 36,1/2" center to center. The upper coilover mounts also have to be parallel to the lower control arm so as not to bind the shocks. This takes a lot of set-up and measure to be certain they are right. After your convinced they are right, tac them in. Re-check everything, several times. I also checked the caster angles, both sides. After final checks, weld everything in solid, with a big welder. After that, I set-up the lower control arms and coilovers, but ran out of time, so more assembly photos coming soon. The rest should be easy. Zig, I have to go back to work tomorrow and I WILL have trouble keeping my mind off of my truck.
Friday evening, back in the shop. Getting ready to finish assembly, found the wheel bearings included with the kit. Does anyone notice what is wrong with them? Have to make a trip to the parts store tomorrow a.m.
Almost everything is made in China these days. Use to be it was Taiwan then Mexico who's next. If they fit use em, Timken and most others are probably made in China as well. Some of the body panels I am on my new cab were made in China and they seem to fit fairly well. Mike
we don't make anything important here anymore... Mike, I think your right. NAPA store brand, made in china. NAPA sourced SKF, made in Japan. CARQUEST sourced Bower/BCA "premium", made in china. NOBODY claimed to offer Timken. I know one thing, we could never fight another world war like WW2.
Fatman finished, at least for now... Assembled everything today, and everything fit real well. This is not final assembly as everything will get blown apart for sandblast and paint as soon as weather permits. Test fitted rack & pinion, but, took it back off because it will be along time before it is needed. Probably will fab up some kind of tie rod just to move the frame around the shop. Installed sway bar and it also fits well. I had to cut some relief notches in the frame flange, but was happy with the way it came out. I ordered this kit with standard spindles, and it will set plenty low, I believe. I can always order the drop spindles, if need be. The hub to hub measurement with Chevy big brake rotors is 58,3/8". That is about what I wanted, don't like the wheel track to look too narrow. I'm hoping I can get 8" wheels under the truck in the front. I will now move to the rear and start on a fuel tank, and also complete the rear axle install. I purchased Total Cost Involved rear parabolic drop spring kit and it fits real good. The spring brackets line up perfect with this old truck frame, 3/8" bolts just fall into place. I will however, move the axle back about another 1,1/2" because I think it fits the fender opening better. I will also use 2" blocks,(at least) to further drop the rear. The fuel tank I hope to use is a '69 Camaro tank with provision for the new in-tank modern LS fuel pump. That should hopefully bring the filler out below the tailgate. Moving the gas tank to the rear is a no-brainer for me, safer, and anything to add weight to the rear should help handling. As Evan so humorously pointed out, a 60/40 weight biased ol' truck needs all the help it can get. If anyone has pictures of this install or advice, I could sure use it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot... What do you guys think about boxing the rear section? I don't really think it is necessary, as the frame is much stiffer as is. Also, the rear axle, forward spring mount is tied to the original x-member. Any twisting action induced by the rear axle should be already partially transmitted to the boxed mid-section. Also, I plan to add a rear sway-bar with a forward frame mount point, approx. 1 foot to the rear of the front TCI spring mount. We have an in-house stress analyst/ engineer. You know who you are...
Steve As you said any additional weight out back can't hurt and the additional stiffening should help with that LS. Mike
Looking great Steve, you do good work. As for boxing the rear, it kind of depends on what how you plan to use / abuse your truck. If you are using leaf springs in the stock locations, haven't notched the frame and aren't planning on drag racing or canyon carving it should be fine in stock trim with GM's fabricated C Channel design. If you are going with some sticky rear tires that can plant that LS horsepower and maybe some Caltrac's or something similar to get the rear end planted, or you plan on some gymkhana cone killin', boxing the frame would be a great idea. So what's the end goal... John
I'll use it, but, try not to abuse it... Thanks, Zig. Mike, I know I'll never the balance to that of a sports car, but, I can do the easy stuff. John, I don't intend to drag race, except maybe to challenge a couple of friends. I would really like to embarrass my brother in his '15 Dodge Challenger, 5.7 Hemi. Probably go the wrong way, though. Autocross? Yes, but only for fun once or twice a year at Goodguys. I do like to push a car through curves. Alot. I live very close to a private road-course that hosts a "American Muscle" weekend each year. Anything American with American power is welcome, looks like a lot of fun. So here is the plan as of today. 400 horsepower at least, 4L65E, 3;70 rear w/posi. Tires, if they will fit, 245/45ZR17, front, 275/40ZR17, rear, prob. Continental Extreme Contact DW. As soon as I decided on the rear leaf springs, I planned on some sort of traction aid and I like cantilever traction bars. A center mounted torque arm is another possibility. Slapper bars, are effective, and look good on a older Camaro, like yours, but, I'm going for a "sleeper" look and think they would stand out too much. As I pondered this rear boxing question over the weekend, I remembered the cargo box is bolted through the frame in 6 places, solidly through hardwood blocks. this should stiffen the rear section also. As I lift the rear corner now, the frame only lifts approx. 2" before the front corner begins to raise up from the jack stand. So, I don't know, need to decide before I go further. Oh, yeah, absolutely NO notching the frame. Period. The Fatman kit does not even require notching for the r&p, even though that shouldn't hurt frame strength.
FWIW I think I'd box the frame, using inset boxing members, and weld the existing riveted cross members to the frame. 400 hp is just a tad bit more than the general used in his design calc's. back in the day Step-Boxing a frame, as shown below, provides for a strong weld joint yet is appealing to the eye. It also gives a recessed inner panel to attach fuel lines, brake lines, etc. too. A lot of guys will weld the boxing plates corner to corner, then grind most of the weld away during finishing.
