Frame Notch/Tub/Cage-Complete build Start2Finish

[prostreetdrag]

OK Guys, Here we go I have decided to start a detailed thread of my Tub/Frame notch for those interested. i recent started gutting out my trunk and tubs as most of my rust was in my factory wheel tubs and trunk area so im starting from fresh with all new sheet metal so I thought this would be a great thread for some people. I will post pics as i go along. the pics attached is what has been done so far. the pics you see is a rough cut out i still need to go thru and cut out the inner tubs and straighten all the cuts to give a nice clean straight edge to get the new steel tacked in. I also need to strip the frame to bare metal. once i have the inner tubs out i will start notching the frame. once i rough cut everything i went ahead and welded in the cross bars to strengthen frame im also going to be doing a cage and the down bars from the cage will most likely get welded into one othe the crossbars you see. I will put the cage progress in this thread as well once the tubs,notch and trunk floor is complete. The very last pic is some upper control arm braces i made as well there is a pic of one tacked in since the floor is go and easier to get to..Again i will post more pics each day there is progress.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Also I will be doing somthing diffrent went the new floor gets put in and im trying to think of somthing creative with floor and the way the fuel cell is mounted.

 

[disco stu]

exciting. subscribed

 

[prostreetdrag]

Yes very exciting for me too...lol I like seeing stuff like this too and i thought there would be other people that would. There are alot of cool people on this thread and helpful too. One guy I'd like to personaly thank is A.K.A (Coach). He has been pretty helpful he is actually working on a sketch of an idea he has on how to mount my fuel cell and Nitrous bottles. If his idea is the one used I want to see to it that he gets credit for the idea. I just dont want to slap a new floor in and call it a day I would like to do somthing little diffrent. There are several idea's I have that i'm bounceing around back and forth with. So you will have to wait and see I guess.......

 

[charlief1]

I'm sending Shane a PM to move this to the fabrication setion for you. It really needs to be there for eveyone and not lost in the general section after all.

 

[jackass1000]

subscribed

 

[prostreetdrag]

Just a quick update.... I just picked up most of my material(steel) for the project. which was 8ft sheet of 16ga sheet metal and also about 24ft of 1 1/4 sqaure steel for the braceing of Trunk/fuel cell/battery box braces. I also have my steel tubs. I'm hopeing to get the tubs trimmed and put togeather this weekend as they need to be assembled.. I will post pics im hopeing I can get a good start on it this weekend...Just be a little patient as I'm working on this durring any free time in evening and most of the work will be done on weekends and some late evenings(I do have wife,kids,job..lol). This will be an extensive detailed build and thread. I'm trying to set a goal/deadline to have complete within 6 weeks as far as notch/tub/trunk floor. The cage will be last...Thanks for everyones patience I promise it will be well worth the wait...P.S..The prev pics in this thread was taken with my phone before i even decided to do this detailed thread so my appoliges for the qaulity of prev pics. I will be useing a quality dig cammera for the future pics...Everyone have a good day and go build somthing...lol

 

[prostreetdrag]

Also the 3/16 steel plate should be here by next week for the boxing of the frame notch. since frame has been braced I will go ahead and cut the notch this weekend too and have it ready to tack the steel plate in.

 

[prostreetdrag]

I thought I would also add in some of the engine and interior pics to give you an idea of rest of car and what has prompted to do the work with the rear of car...also thought would give you some nice eye candy to look at in the mean time.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Here is an interior pic before the cage. also a before pic of trunk with fuel cell. I'm also fabricating a alum sump in my fuel cell I will post another pic of the fuel cell after welding in the custom alum drop sump..Orginaly this car was going to be a mild street machine now will be strictly drag/prostreet.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Hello everyone, I kinda wanted to just back up a little and explain how I installed the crossmember frame notch supports being that this will be a detailed thread i want to make sure everything is covered. Before you just start cutting your frame my advise is to take care of your crossmember supports or any bracing first. This is the best way I have found to install the suport between frame rails....instead of just welding inbetween rails. The first thing i did was cut a sqaure section away from outer side of frame rail. Once a section was cut out I drilled a hole with a hole saw the same diameter of the tubeing that will support the frame notch. the tubeing will stick out as demonstrated in the pic.(im just holding a scrap piece in place for example) the reason it will stick out is because on the new plate steel that it will be boxed in with will have a hole as well and that will allow it to be welded on the outside,inside and innerside of frame rail. By doing it this way it allows the tubeing to support not only between the frame rails but through the frame rails as well. should make the notched section of the frame stronger. Once you have welded in your support you should be ready to cut your notch in the frame rails..Please note doing your notch is much easier with your wheel tubs removed. Keep in mind it still can be done with the stock wells still in place. You will just need to do little messaging of the stock wheel tubs along the frame rail with a air hammer and proper hammer attachment...If you dont have an air hammer you use a soft blow hammer. There are several diffrent methods you can use to cut the outer section of your frame rail..several tools are.....Plasma,Oxy/act torch, grinder with 4 inch cutoff wheel or a sawzall. I will choose the gas torch method to remove most of the material and I will use a cutoff wheel or sawzall to make the final precise cuts. (More pics to follow soon) Once the section is cutoff I will then use a grinder with a flapdisc wheel to smooth any rough edges and to remove any rust and paint to allow a nice clean surface to weld to...For those if you that do not have a plasma cutter or a torch if you use a sawzall with an 8-10 inch blade you should be able to cut off fairly easy and be able to cut from underneath and with useing the longer blade you would be able to cut through the top and bottom of the frame at the same time and just cut along the length of the rail

 

[prostreetdrag]

One quick important note--Before makeing any cuts or welds. Make sure you determine where you are going to mount the cross bar. Especially if you have removed your rear end,springs and shocks. You will need to be certain the cross bar is not going to innerfere with anything or make any contact with your suspension parts

 

[charlief1]

Thanks for the pics and explaination. This should help some out if they decide to do it them selves. Great work!

 

[prostreetdrag]

me lighting torch and starting to remove outer section of frame rail...more pics following of rough cut

 

[prostreetdrag]

Left side of the frame rail you will see a rough cut which is what it first looked like once the front secion was removed with the torch. Right side of frame rail you will see what looks like after the frame rail is trimmed and grinded smooth with a flap disc on a grinder. There is still alot of work that needs to be done for me instead of just welding the new plate back on after final cuts in... .Im going to take the extra time and fill in every hole with new material in the frame rail and also weld in some sort of ribs or reinforcement inside the frame rail before caping of with the plate steel to give the notched section more strength...There is a small rust hole that started in the frame which this type of thing will have to be repaired as well ( You will notice all the way to the right of the frame notch)(.It is NOT recomended to reweld the old material back on) You will need to invest in some new solid plate steel. I will be choosing to use 3/16 plate. More pics will follow I will get you guys some more pics at diffrent angles after it is preped for the new material this pic is more less a demonstration.

 

[prostreetdrag]

closer veiw

 

[prostreetdrag]

Just my personal advise it will be much cheaper and easier for you to call around in your area for places that sell plate steel and buy a large enough peice to cut your replacement. I will be useing a piece of carboard as a templete to trace out on the 3/16plate steel. Not trying to knock on bussiness's that sell their own frame notch kit..this is just my own opinion..(and opinions are like A-holes everbody has one)..If you value your hard earned money as I do, you will find it is much cheaper to cut your own verses buying a kit already cut..Unfortunatly, you will spend as much time fitting and triming rather then just useing a templete and cutting your own..It would be too hard to get yours cut to match the already cut kit(not one person's will be the same) also most kits sell online between 3-400.00(WOW!) I found a place local here in columbus that carrys just about any type and size steel you could ever need for a restoration project and most definatly the cheapest I have ever seen. My mouth about droped when I was qouted the prices for my steel. I ordered a total of about 10sq ft of 3/16 plate steel for about 90.00 before tax. 10sq ft should be more than enough it gives me plenty leftover for other fabrication projects. I was reffered to this placed by a friend. I have called around for this material at other places and have been qouted (at most)around 200.00 for 10sq ft. Keep in mind you will not need this much material for this project I just needed extra. So you still will deffinatly save a ton of money cutting your own. I also bought a whole sheet of 8ft 16ga sheet metal at this same place and paid 52.00 after tax. I could not belive how cheap it was compared to other local places. I was told by the sales rep that I order from that they have very low over head cost and they are able to sell alot cheaper than other places. Most suppliers will only sell at these prices to contractors that order by the ton. If anyone of you live in the Columbus,Ohio area and would be interested in contacting this company feel free to PM me and I will be glad to share their name and phone#

 

[prostreetdrag]

Food for thought.....For those of you interested in a frame notch but do not have a welding machine or a large enough welding machine to perform this task. You could save yourself some money to do most of the work yourself as far as makeing the notch and cuting out your own replacment steel and haveing a qualified welder complete the welding portion of this project. Even if you only have a small 110 flux core machine and not enough amperage to burn good solid welds you can atleast use it to tack your peices on. There are alot of gas pipeing contractors and other companys out there that have welding machines on their trucks that you can hire to come to you.

 

[karolko]

I am glad you posted your build as i was going to ask a question in regards to the tubbing process.

I have already notched my car but i would like to redo the entire trunk paneling in the car and the wheel tubs as well.

So here is my question, would cutting out the entire wheel well (front lip of the fender where the inner and outer portions are spot welded together) will weaken the outer body paneling too much and ultimately cause creasing like with improperly notched and reinforced cars?

Hopefully someone has some real life experience and photos maybe

 

[prostreetdrag]

First thing I want to mention is I have been planing this part of my build for well over a year with tons of internet reaserch, phones calls with manufactures, I have also spoke with local chassis builders and I've also have recieved tons of advise from talking to racers at our local track....Im no engineer by far but I would have to say, NO it will not cause an issue and there are several reasons that i think would support that answer. First thing is look at the tube chasiss racers that just use the shell of these bodys. That is basically what your doing is gutting everything out leaveing a shell. Now if you were not going to replace any material or reinforce everything you cut out you could run into a problem(if your not useing a cage). But from your post you said your putting in new tubs and panels so you should not have any problem. Also if you are running a cage and if it is installed correctly (welded to frame)it is designed to tie the body and frame togeather and the cage helps equally distribute any force through out the entire body and frame..Lastly if you look at the instalation instructions for any wheel tub replacment manufacture it will say it is not recomended to weld the new tubs to the qtr pannel but to use a sillicone-based caulking or a strip of fiberglass along inside of qtr panel. Based on that alone I would say that if there was some sort of risk with body crease the wheel tub manufactures would not have you install them like that. The way im doing my restoration it will be tons stronger than before. Everything has been gutted out on my project and im starting over. mine will be reinforced with square tubeing as im useing it to frame in the new trunk floor and brace in the fuel cell,battery box, and a place to mount a couple NOS bottles. This braceing will also be tied to the frame. This should make the body and frame all one. From the factory the body is designed to be seperate from the frame with rubber body mounts and once you install a cage that concept is thrown out the window so to speak. I will not be the least bit worried with the integerity once everything is complete on my build. There have been tons of guys do exactly what you are wanting to do.....Keep checking back as im posting each step involed with this process in my thread...And good luck with your build, if You have any ???'s with your build feel free to ask away