And so it begins!! started the teardown today.....

[regal-nut]

Yap i am at that place to. the wife just ordered the frame washers for me for my b-day gift. so i get to do that job next.

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Ya, this stuff is tedius.....Im gonna have 100 plus hours into it no doubt, Im going to fill every slot and hole that is not needed.....guess im gonna be welding and grinding untill im blue in the face:wink:

 

[RobG]

If you're like me and you work on it one day a week (or less) get yourself some "Fast Etch" or equivalant stuff. It helps to keep the surface rust in check pretty well. 2/3 of my frame is fine but the rear section for some reason likes to get rusty Another 40 or so hours for me and the frame might see the light of day

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Yeah, as soon as im done with the filling holes it will be bead blasted and powdercoated in a matt black, im pumped to see the finished product!

 

[BetMinesFaster]

A couple mor before and after pics....This is gonna take a while! I do have so say these are not the kinda holes I like filling.......

 

[RobG]

Looks sweet man, the welding job is top notch

I'm assuming you're re-drilling smaller bolt holes for the control arm hardware?

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Looks sweet man, the welding job is top notch

I'm assuming you're re-drilling smaller bolt holes for the control arm hardware?

Im actually goint to redrill and run a thick sleeve so the nut will be outside the frame, im going to drill a hole snug for the sleeve and weld the sleeve into place, then use long grade 8 bolts, should look trick and make it a breeze to take apart if needbe......Heres a couple more pics, I covered the outside of the frame with some 16ga sheet metal, welded and ground the whole length, still have to weld and grind the ends.....coming along....slowly....

 

[EVIL87]

looks good reminds me of my project:biggrin:

 

[klever]

any updates???

 

[BetMinesFaster]

any updates???

Ill take some more pics, I have not done a ton, been working on the body tub and smoothing the firewall. That looks insane:biggrin: I have done quite a bit more to the frame, mostly just hole filling, looks sick though! Ill take some update pics tomorrow and put them up!

 

[rmar]

I hope all those welds are water proof. or I would leave some in the bottom at the lowest point so moisture can escape. Just a thought.......:biggrin:

 

[turbofabricator]

With all that welding, what are you doing to ensure the frame is staying straight? I fear that you have created a MONSTER when it comes time to bolt the body/suspension on. Laying the frame on plastic boxes will allow the frame to REALLY move as you weld it. That's why chassis shops have big HEAVY steel tables when they build/weld chassis. If you secure the chassis to the floor, and have plumb bob points marked on the floor, you can verify the movement of the chassis as you weld. A long weld will pull an AMAZING amount. Do you have any measurements/plumb points before and after to use? You can weld beads and rapid cool to pull the frame back into alignment. Long welds should really be stich welded. I've heard of guys completely ruining a chassis by doing all the final welds (after tacking it together) on an uneven surface. A frame shop could pull it back into alignment, maybe. (but they would NEED pull points, aka holes.)

It does look really nice, though. Not trying to rain on your parade, just giving you a heads-up.

 

[BetMinesFaster]

I hope all those welds are water proof. or I would leave some in the bottom at the lowest point so moisture can escape. Just a thought.......:biggrin:

The caps on the side are definatly water tight, the welds have been ground smooth and there are no pinholes whatsoever, I also used a good weld through primer.

 

[BetMinesFaster]

With all that welding, what are you doing to ensure the frame is staying straight? I fear that you have created a MONSTER when it comes time to bolt the body/suspension on. Laying the frame on plastic boxes will allow the frame to REALLY move as you weld it. That's why chassis shops have big HEAVY steel tables when they build/weld chassis. If you secure the chassis to the floor, and have plumb bob points marked on the floor, you can verify the movement of the chassis as you weld. A long weld will pull an AMAZING amount. Do you have any measurements/plumb points before and after to use? You can weld beads and rapid cool to pull the frame back into alignment. Long welds should really be stich welded. I've heard of guys completely ruining a chassis by doing all the final welds (after tacking it together) on an uneven surface. A frame shop could pull it back into alignment, maybe. (but they would NEED pull points, aka holes.)

It does look really nice, though. Not trying to rain on your parade, just giving you a heads-up.

Ken, I did all the heavy welding on a rack well supported, and took before, during and after measurments, all the cosmetic welding thus far has been stitched and spread out to keep the metal cool. I also have an awesome frame guy and a rack at work. Once I finish all the work I will put it on the rack and measure for square and twist once again. I took before measurments using the body mount holes and will use those measurments on the final check to assure its straight!:wink:

 

[turbofabricator]

Ken, I did all the heavy welding on a rack well supported, and took before, during and after measurments, all the cosmetic welding thus far has been stitched and spread out to keep the metal cool. I also have an awesome frame guy and a rack at work. Once I finish all the work I will put it on the rack and measure for square and twist once again. I took before measurments using the body mount holes and will use those measurments on the final check to assure its straight!:wink:

Great! Glad you thought ahead. I haven't been following this post, and when I saw what you were doing, I got "worried". Looks good.

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Hey guys, one of the things I planned on doing with this project was to remove the factory heater/AC box due to its massive size and less than steller look and replace it with something smaller and more to the point. I am not running ac due to the large lack of airflow that already exists with an RJC megacooler, and external oil and transmission coolers. So I found a rear heater box for an early 90's toyota 4-runner, its small, will fit inside completely, just wont have a glove box, and will move enough air to keep the windows defogged and break the nip on those fall cruises. I modified the box to accept the factory non AC buick blower resistor and modified a stock non ac blower harness to achive all blower speeds. also made a bracket that attaches the factory non ac heater control temp cable to the box to control the temp. I am now in the process of setting up the mode cables. I will have vents and defrost only, no floor heat. I made the mounting brackets to mount the box today and busted out the home made sheet metal break to make a manifold to direct the air into the factory vent/defogger assembly. turned out excelent. The car will now use an AC block off plate and will only have 2 fittings that come through for the heater core. also I welded up all the unused holes in the firewall, im also going to smooth out the firewall with some glaze and repaint it semigloss black. heres some pics of the box brackets, the manifiold and the new box installed, still have to remove the manifold for paint and finish the end of the heater case.....:biggrin:

 

[BetMinesFaster]

and a few more.....:biggrin:

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Well my new cowel panel and delete plate from TR custom parts showed up this week so I got busy today with fitting the parts. The quality of the parts was nice, fitment was as one would expect from the aftermarket, im certain that there are many variations in the assembly and fitment of these cars to begin with. the cowel panel would not fit nicely against the firewall so I dit quite a bit of cutting and grinding to massage the fit followed by welding on some new metal to replace a large piece that was removed. end result was a good fit. The delete panel had some holes that needed reaming to install the bolts. some a bit, some more than I thought was ok. I fit everything today, im hoping to begin prepping and mudding the firewall tommorow so I can paint the firewall, cowel and delete plate and reinstall. heres a few finished pictures of the parts all fitted. The new heater box is small and stealthy, retains both the dash vents and defrost function as well as blower speed and temp controll. so now there is nothing under the hood except for 2 hose fittings, plenty of room for the downpipe with no clearance issues and no bulky garbage taking up space:biggrin:

 

[DailyDrifter]

Did you ever know that your my hero. I wish i had the space to do that with mine. Seriously you are doing one hell of a job. Keep it up

 

[turbofabricator]

While you are at it, weld in a few ground studs to attach the engine/'puter grounds to. It will be nice to have a good 1/4" stud to ground through. If you can weld a stud near the firewall and the frame, you can have a great grounding point for the chassis and frame. Weld one back by they trunk, too, for your rear mount battery. Nice to have it all there before paint. (Speaking from experience, here. )
I also did a similar heater box mod to a StageII car. Used one from a Dodge Colt. Small and compact. I also built a air intake for it, too. Boy does all this type of stuff take TIME!!!! Keep at it. Don't loose steam. Looks great.