Thread: Frame work

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It pleases me very much to have you as a member here. I love doing frame and clip swaps because it makes so much sense and now we have you to lean on for information. Great to have you here.
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Originally Posted by techinspector1

It pleases me very much to have you as a member here. I love doing frame and clip swaps because it makes so much sense and now we have you to lean on for information. Great to have you here.
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If that was directed at me I thank you. Its nice to have a place to share knowledge and learn from others. That is what this hobby is all about. So thanks for letting me know I'm doing that.

Originally Posted by 39 Chevy

It seams to be a little wide can't get much tire size under it without it rubbing on a turn.

Sorry I did not notice this part of your post. I thought you simply wanted to replace what you already have. It is true the the Carmaro/Firdbird clip is a little wider than the stock track with but most offset this with wheel offset or using narrower a-arms. The 67-70 Carmaro/Firdbird clip is narrower but it is rear steering like the clip I posted of the fix I did. This can affect your steering linkage or header choices. This is why I stated eariler in this thread that my donor of choice for 55-59 Chevy trucks is the G-Body 78-88 Monte Carlo, Cutless Supreme, Riveria, etc. The track width is 58 inches and works great I also like the feel of the steering box more. The only draw back is its not as easy (still easy if you careful) a install as the Carmaro/Firdbird because the Camaro has great reference points to get the clip square. The G-body you have to be extra careful when trying to get it square.

Originally Posted by BAM55

The G-body you have to be extra careful when trying to get it square.

I have found that the first thing you need is a flat and level floor (a home garage floor is neither). Then you need a plumbbob to drop down from the frame in the rear at places that are equidistant from points on the front of the frame. You can then verify that the frame has not been bent in a collision before you start. Dropping your plumbbob down to the floor and marking reference points on the floor will allow you to accurately measure from the rear to points at the front clip and get the clip squared up before tacking it into the recipient frame.

I did clip swaps at my home garage by building a particle board floor above the concrete garage floor and using 2" x 2" shim packs every few inches to level the whole mess. Three pieces of 4x6, 3/4" board worked out just right to make a 12ft x 6ft flat and smooth working surface. From the northeast corner to the southwest corner, the new floor required from zero shims at one corner to 2 3/4 inches of shims at the diagonal corner to make it level. I kept a 2 foot length of 4x4 lumber handy to slide around an make sure that there was nothing lower than 4 inches from the ground at ride height.

I could have also constructed a frame jig and done it that way, but I wanted to see that I could do it with a new floor, which I did. I used this same arrangement to construct an independent front suspension system from scratch, using an MII power rack and pinion and MII spindles. I had zero toe in/out in 9 1/2 inches of suspension travel (verified with a dial indicator), using chromoly tubing for control arms and Chevy pickup control arm bushings, along with a set of Aldan American coilovers. My hero in that project turned out to be Carroll Smith, the guy who had been Ford's crew chief when they went to LeMans and whipped Ferrari. He laid it all out for me in his book "Tune to Win". I had read several different authors before I happened upon Smith and became enlightened.
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