Reinforcing the frame

This past weekend I spent working on the frame to complete the previous work to box the frame and then added some additional structural support.  As the say there is a cost for everything and for the additional support it's probably about 100lbs of additional weight.  However, it's really MUCH stronger now.  Before any of the work the frame would twist very easily and now it's truly structurally sound.  You can step on the front passenger frame and the entire frame lifts from the rear, not just the drivers rear.

So now the big challenge is moving the frame :)  I had to use my engine lift to be able to maneuver it around the garage so that I could do the clean-up.   The pattern I followed can be found on-line in several pictures but it essentially entails boxing the frame and then adding parallel supports along the frame rails.  I still need to add some brackets for the transmission mount but aside from that the center section is complete.

Here's a shot of the reinforcement in the rear.  For the SS model there is a bracket (1/8" flat steel) that goes from the upper to lower mounts.  Instead of that I've added 1 5/8" DOM tube that ties directly to the cross tube and subsequently to the front of the car.  This should eliminate any flex in the frame during launches.

As you can see from the photo above and the one below the drive shaft hoop is centered while the rearend is not.  I'm going to cut one side and move it 1" to the passenger side to account for this and then everything should be fine.

One additional place I need to add some support is on the upper mounts behind the rear spring to reduce the flex from left-right. 



One step forward two back, as you can see from the bottom of the car where the grey paint is the new frame supports touch the bottom of the floor and the center cross-brace. Had it been another 1/2" it would have been fine however it's too close.

Here's a close-up of the area impacted and it's really not that bad, probably 2-3 hours of work to fix it with a minor change to give 1/2" to 3/4" of clearance to be safe.  The main issue is that the rear floor is about 2" lower than the front and it just makes it too close.  I took the other pictures on-line as de-facto "it shouldn't touch" and I should have measured or better done the mock-up with the body on the frame to be sure.  Oh well, live and learn.

Up next ...

- Re-weld the front frame horns with the new welder (better to be safe) and add some additional support

- Fix the rear-frame where I shortened it and also fix the passenger rear frame which is lower (3/4") due to being in an accident at one point

- Fill the un-used holes in the frame and re-weld the factory welds, some are pretty nasty

- Fix the floor due to the new frame supports

- Finish welding the underside of the body

Sport Welding Complete Inside, Outside Spot Welding & Frame Next

I was able to finish the last remaining spot welds inside the interior and trunk area this weekend.  The next step was to take the body off the frame and then begin working underneath the body and adding more structure to the frame.  Below you can see the body on the rotisserie again and outside.

I spent a little time working with the car in the same position this weekend grinding and welding and it's much nicer than working on your back. I probably need about 2-3 days to finish the griding and welding on the body shell and then it will be ready for soda blasting.

The next several pictures just show the close-ups of floor and you can see the number of spot welds required to secure the support brackets to the floor pan.  Since I started the project they now sell the floor with the braces already welded to the floor.  That would have saved A LOT of time!

The next project is to add some steel to the frame to box the channels running front to rear and also some tube to help provide a much stronger frame. The first step was to set the frame up on some stands and then add a bunch of weight to hold it in place while welding.  Fortunately I was able to borrow some sand bags from my plow truck now that we don't have snow to hold it in place.

I was able to get the steel cut today and tacked into place to box the frame rails. The next step is to add the structure to the rear and then some tubes. Below is an example of what the end result should look like, I don't remember where I found the picture but the additional tubes should add a lot more strength to the frame and that combined with the roll bar should keep things in place when launching!