Chev C20 RHD

[Thomo5150]

Cheers Rick.....

Updates.................

Picked up some steel for crossmembers today.... 6 x 6 inch for the centre crossmember and 5 x 5 inch for the front....

Precision cut at Di Candilo Steel.....





Cleaning the frame rails.



Tweaking the rails before I weld them together.





Found by standing the frame rails up right and placing a jack under the cut it was easy to line up.





Rails are square.





One welded together, full day tomorrow should get some work done.......

[bonecrrusher]

Not going to lie - I had to google your screen name.

Is this the 3rd iteration of integrating a C5/C6 chassis?

I saw the One Tonner thread on LS1tech, I remembered the F100 from here, and now it looks like a Chevy C20.

Pics are looking good.

[Thomo5150]

Hi Bonecrusher, yes I've done the others, I sold the One Tonner chassis cause they would not licence it in my State. The F100 chassis I still have, I spent a year looking for a Dent cab 1967-72. All I could find was rusted over priced junk( I'm in Australia) the C20 came up it was perfect, I looked at C10's in Australia but they where all LHD. When this RHD came up I grabbed it, I knew the Corvette drivetrain would fit just by looking at chassis blueprints.

Compared to the F100 just the front track has been changed and the steering rack and front sway bar.

Still having problems shipping replacement panels from the USA looks like they need to be Sea freighted Downunder ( takes months)

[Thomo5150]

More work.....

Started marking out the centre crossmember....



Next was the front crossmember.....



Drilling for the lower control arm





The old saying comes into play here, measure 10 times and drill once...

Tubes are square, only drilled with a hand drill, as I've said Old Skool build...





Welded the other frame rail together today spent 1 hour measuring both rails at different points, got it exact.... Pic shows using body holes for reference points.



Called an early day my hands not working to well, this should explain why. I fell off the back of a Semi trailer a couple of years ago. Result shattered both wrists, fractured skull broken toes and shattered 2 bones in my right hand. My right hand basically doesn't work, I've got some cool Titanium parts in my body though....:metal:



Hopefully I should finish the crossmembers this week and have the Cab mounted....

[Greg from Aus]

Nice fab work Thomo, keep up the good work.

[Thomo5150]

Cheers Greg, I talk to you soon about blasting the chassis when its finished, I normally use Fast Blast in Bayswater over the years.....


Starting to re square the frame, once the cross members are removed its not an easy task to bolt it back together making everything square again. This is why I went for a 6 x 6 inch box section to replace the gearbox cross member. This centre cross member is what everything else frame wise will be squared off...........

Bevelling the edges to fit inside the C section of the frame.



The cross member now sits flush with the frame.



Because the frame will be pulled down a few more times the cross member is only bolted in, it will be welded when finished.



With the cross member fitted I used threaded rod in the frame alignment hole to pull the cross member in flush against the inner frame rail section.



The rear of the frame and centre were level, the part of the frame where the cab cross member was not, problem?





The frame rail on one side was out of square, soon as I fitted and tightened the treaded rod it levelled this part of the frame again.



I'll fit the front cross member when everything is squared before I shape it .





I will set the frame back at ride height. I'll then run a string line down the centre of the chassis table. I'll square and set the centre cross member once this is done I'll weld the side plates. Its then a matter of squaring the frame with the treaded rod and the string line......

Then the cab and radiator support panel will be trial fitted as well.......

[Thomo5150]

So today the question is answered what mods are needed for a Corvette drivetrain into a Chev pickup. Answer 3 custom cross members and a small tunnel mod, that's it........

A 3 to 4 inch high and 5 inch wide tunnel mod needed. Scrapping away the factory body deadener.



The sump has 6 inches of ground clearance no firewall mods needed......





Back of the cylinder head to the firewall.








Sorry for the blurred pic, this shows the low CG the engine and drivetrain will have....





Looks easy, one word for anyone attempting this "Anti dive"......

[bonecrrusher]

Nice updates - look forward to seeing more updates/pics!

[Thomo5150]

Cheers, I still remember the measurements you gave me from your C6 this has helped me in this project. I'd like to know your sump clearance measurement, next oil change could you check for me please.

Cheers

Tim
,

[Thomo5150]

Starting rear suspension should take a week to do....

Upper control arm mounts 3mm x 50 mm flat bar, ends up 6 mm for the suspension arms...



Start of the suspension cradle mount...



Following pic's are mock ups should get an idea how this will work, tire is a 295 on a 10 1/2 inch rim, room for the 335 I'm going to run





Shock will be centred the cradle is not level in the pic...