Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Duke of Frame

AHH- Finally I get to do my own version of Cut-som.
But this time it will be different.


"Z"-ing the frame.
If you've been reading along, you'll know why I'm cutting into the frame. The plan is to get a 2.5" drop in ride height, without sacrificing suspension travel or correct steering geometry.

First things first:
This is everything that I ground, cut, or beat off of the front frame cradle with a sledgehammer:


...... motormounts, leaf spring hangers, and of course, more cutsom brackets. Both of the motor mounts and one of the shock mounts were cracked.


The motor mounts had to go- as they had been miserably welded on with an arc welder (again- sometime in the 80's), and had cracked enough to let the motor sag pretty significantly.
You can see in this photo that the exhaust manifolds were resting on the mounts.



Here is the new motor mount/crossmember from So-Cal in Phoenix, mocked up to check for clearances around the straight axle, oil pan, etc.







Ready..........CUT-SOM!!!





Here is the cradle just after getting it back from my dude at AZ Pro-Strip.



The slanted cuts are done, and it's ready for the 1/4" plasma cut frame pieces.