First Frame

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A buddy of mine and I worked on our first frame. It's his 52 Henry J that hes building into a street rod version of an old gasser. This might be a lot of information but I'm proud of it. We used c-clamps on all the welds to keep the gaps from wandering.General information about the frame: the front rails extend back onto the middle rails with a 6 inch overlap. The middle rails go back towards his middle crossmember which is the mounting point for his rear kickup rails. There will be an x-member fabricated and installed just before the middle crossmember. The kickup rails extend over the rear axles along with the kickdowns. We have actually taken about 3 schooldays to put this together minus the time laying it out on the floor and taking the measurements we need. The whole rear section is tack welded in place and only needs a full bead around both rails and then the frame is complete. We plan on having the steering setup and suspension installed and then installing the x-member before school is over. What I am really proud of is that the whole frame measuring across from the front to rear was only an 1/8th of an inch off of the original frame and the angles of the kickups and the height all the way around matched the original perfectly.A few pictures:Car at ride height. Keep in mind that he is making it into a gasser which is why it is going to sit this way. (He's not using this body. Was only purchased for mach up)The front section (no kickups installed yet). The roundtubing on the front rails was a scrap piece we made to keep the front rails from moving around when welding in the crossmember.The 6 inch overlap. This was welded in with tacks 8 tacks around for precautions. The actual welds are 6-8 continous beads around the overlap. We switched sides on the metal after each weld to make sure it would not distort the metal and maintaining level. We ran the beads over the tacks for constant penetration which is why they don't look as pretty as they could.The crossmember was welded in place the same way.My friend just getting done laying the first bead on the rear frame rails. Done the same way as the others except with a sleeve behind the connection and 8 plug welds all around the main beads.http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/4439/img0459lo4.jpgMy rear frame rail after completion.My friend laying a bead on his side of the rear crossmember.That is myself.We rummaged around in the scrap bin to find metal we could piece together for supports for the rear frame rails. The kickups had to be placed perfectly on the middle crossmember or the rear crossmember could not be bolted to the body. Every angle, length, width and height demensions could be off if it wasn't placed perfectly squared onto the crossmember. We plan on holding the rails up at an estimated height just by looking and onto the crossmember the same way and tack welding the rails onto the crossmember and onto the supports. We planned on braking the tacks later to make needed adjustments. So I am holding the rails up and against the crossmember while he tacks them in place. He gets them tacked and we bring an angle finder over to see what adjustments we are going to need to make. The first angle is fine, and the second, third, fourth and the last angle, which was on the rear crossmember was at 0 which means it was perfectly level. We measured across the length, width, and checked for diamond and every measurement was exact. This was achieved by only looking at it and saying, "Yeah, that looks good enough to tack in place for now." We didn't need to make a single adjustment.
Reply:There is moreGot the front axle centered under the front leafs. Installed the spindles with kingpins and the right clearances.Got the rear axle centered with the pinion yoke at an estimated angle. Had to make a block between the perch and the rear leafs because of clearance issues. Also fabricated a piece of square stock to sit on the rear frame rails for the rear shackles to be attached to because my friend did not know the length of the Chrysler springs when he ordered them and they were a little longer than the rails.Bolted all the wheels to the axles and then began painting it.Finally the body on the frame. Every body mount on this car was perfectly centered on the rails. It all mounted up perfectly. Felt pretty good that out of all the frames that were built in the shop at school, this is the only one that rolled out.Our instructor told us he could not have done a better job himself.
Reply:sweet post more pic'sChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:You gonna put some plates on the outside where you stacked those tubes on the frame?
Reply:Oh yaaaaaah...I like those old Henry J's !! NICE !John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:verry cool. summer is here, plant a tree for mother earth. if you dont have time or space, sponcer some one else to plant one for you.feel free to shoot me a PM or e-mail me at [email][email protected] i got lots of time.
Reply:Originally Posted by AntiblingYou gonna put some plates on the outside where you stacked those tubes on the frame?
Reply:time for some constructive critisizm...change the rear springs..shackles hanging out of the rear looks retarted  how could you do such a nice job on the rest and leave it like that?i've built my share of chassis..and thats not the way to attach rear springs.. i cant believe your "instructor" let that go.. i know it wont be raced..but if you want to race it eventually...it will never pass tech.....zap!Last edited by zapster; 11-21-2006 at 05:09 PM.I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Originally Posted by zapstertime for some constructive critisizm...change the rear springs..shackles hanging out of the rear looks retarted  how could you do such a nice job on the rest and leave it like that?i've built my share of chassis..and thats not the way to attach rear springs.. i cant believe your "instructor" let that go.. i know it wont be raced..but if you want to race it eventually...it will never pass tech.....zap!
Reply:sorry i was so blunt i apologize..there is mention of fabbing up the blocks because the springs were too long..but no mention of a temporary"fix"..therefore my temporary lapse of judgement..the ideal thing to do would be to get shorter springs..by about a foot..and drill into the framerails and install the spring bushing inside..but you know that..right? or put a 4 link in it..keep posting! i wont be so critical next time..but when i see something i dont like..and there is no explination why?i tell it like it is.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Yeah, I apologize for probably coming off like an *** back towards you.  Rough day then I read that and it came off bad.  I thought that I stated it was a spur of the moment brace to hold the springs up.  I won't have any input on what else is going on with it besides pictures probably since I'm a good distance from upstate NY where my friend was building it.  He couldn't afford a 4-Link and he wanted the Chrysler springs that have that set-back to account for less axle rap  during the launch. Atleast thats what he was told, I have no experience with it.  I bet he will be going with a camaro spring or something of that sort and fix the problem just like that.
Reply:no problem mr Screemin3o2.. like your choice of engines i'm a ford fanatic myself..i betcha springs from a '69 mach 1 will work.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Are those the Chrysler Super Stock springs or some other type?I know that the super stock springs out of mexico have been having issues with losing arch very quickly.  Just thought you may like to know if they are the SS springs. Cool looking project.  Love the old iron.
Reply:I have no idea.  He knows all the facts.  I just built it.