More chassis problems - of the inexcusable type

More chassis problems started to reveal themselves.  These are simply inexcusable.

The rear frame rail section was too short.  The rear body mounts were way off.  Here the framerails have been extended about 4".  Nice work by Roland Phillips.  I called Street Rod Garage about this, and they assured me that there was no way their frame was too short. This would be my last call to them, as I new that it would be a waste of my time.  Also, the cool curved section to allow clearance for the fuel filler neck was offset to one side about 3/8".  We cut this whole cross member off and scrapped it.

Many of the body mounts did not line up with the holes in the frame.  Most of this were not simply a hole, they had a sleeve welded between the upper and lower planes of the frame.  Here is one of the few that lined up.

This one had to move 1/4".  That required a lot of rework.

 The very rear trunk mounts were not sleeved, but required slotting of almost an inch.

Here is another that was off 1/4".

Oh yea, I had the body shell media blasted, body worked, and primed by Doug Cole.  He did a nice job, in a timely manner, for a reasonable price.  Wow! Notice the shaved drip rails.

 While mocking up the car's ride height, I quickly determined that the front cross member was far too low in the chassis.  With the framerails set at 5" off the ground, the front cross member had only 2 1/2" of ground clearance.  I cut off the front frame horns, bought new 2x4 steel tubing, and made new frame horns that fit higher in the chassis.

Here you can see the splice plate helping connect the new, higher frame horns to the old frame rails.  

Lots of work to make sure the new frame rails are square and level.

 Guess what, same problem at the rear.  The rear frame rail kick ups are not high enough for ANY suspension travel at my 5" ride height.  Here you can see where I have cut into the old framerails and fabbed new pieces that are about 4" higher.

 Since I had to cut off  the upper shock mounts for the new frame rails, it was a good time to modify the lower shock mounts to allow for ride height adjustment.

Here you can see where the factory wheel tubs are cut out even with the new framerails, which are narrower to clear a 335 tire.

Another view of newly raised framerail.

One nice feature of my aftermarket chassis is adjustment holes for the lower links.  It may be the only positive for the money spent on the chassis.

 Another view of the new adjustable rear shock mounts.  These are drag racing parts.  The black line is where I cut them to allow them to be welded to the removable mount to their left.

The upper shock mounts were reused.

Another ride height related problem in the middle! The torque arm cross member would not allow exhaust to pass under with proper ground clearance.  Here is a remade cross member with much higher kick ups for the exhaust. I also changed out the johnny joint to a larger through bolt.

A direct view of the torque arm mounts on the rear end housing. 

The transmission mount secured onto sliding mounts, which is another nice feature I suppose.  1/2" aluminum spacers are needed to allow clearance for 3" exhaust.

Remounting the watts link frame mounts.

Roland Phillips modified the center watts link mount to allow for height adjustment.  This idea came from Ron Sutton.  He started his extensive Lat-G and ProTouring.com posts about the time I got this chassis home and started analyzing what I had.

 All watts link mounts now tacked in place.  Too bad all of this would be in the scrap heap later.