69 Z/28 with Max-G Chassis

[BobK]

Originally Posted by 67pro-street

I think using this jig and having everything level is going to work out a LOT better than my first attempt where i had everything on jackstands with a shim here, a shim there, a shim everywhere...

And some pics of the bracing and floor removal...

Looking good. I'm assuming you know that the roof panel got whacked about 2" above where it meets the quarters, right? That line of drilled out spot welds on the inner structure below the roof cut is where the quarter attachs, and the roof slips down over it. You may end up putting a new roof skin on if you don't want to have to fab up a 2" wide patch to tie the roof and quarter together- that area has a lot of curve/shape to it and isn't something I'd want to try to make look right with a patch.

[67pro-street]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I hope to get some more work done between now and the new year. I will post pics as i make progress!

[waynieZ]

Nice project good for you on doing it yourself.

[canrc]

Nice project Aman, I only live about 45 mins from you (depending on boarder wait times) your more than welcome to swing by anytime.

[67pro-street]

Originally Posted by BobK

Looking good. I'm assuming you know that the roof panel got whacked about 2" above where it meets the quarters, right? That line of drilled out spot welds on the inner structure below the roof cut is where the quarter attachs, and the roof slips down over it. You may end up putting a new roof skin on if you don't want to have to fab up a 2" wide patch to tie the roof and quarter together- that area has a lot of curve/shape to it and isn't something I'd want to try to make look right with a patch.

BobK yes i realize the roofline is cut too high. I still have the two original pieces though. I was going to try and put a thin strip of 18 gauge metal behind the roofline and plug weld it into place using half the strip. then put the original piece up there and plug weld that to the other half of the strip, leaving ~1/32" gap between the two pieces. Then i will spot weld the two roof pieces together. My hope here is that i wont warp the roof material when it cools after welding and will want to shrink in. I am also hoping to avoid ghost lines in the paint by spot welding the two together since that part will be at eye level. If that doesnt work, then i can look into roof replacement. The pics dont show it, but it is rotted out along the rear window channel so i need to address that as well. Clear as mud?!


canrc, thanks for the offer i may take you up on that in the new year when all the holiday rush across the border dies down. I checked out your build, Rybar posted it and that is a sweet camaro! Rybar's is pretty nice too! My original colors were garnet red with black stripes which is what i was thinking of going back with on my car. But i dont know if the car gods will allow two pro-touring cars within 100 miles of each other to have the same paint scheme!!

[67pro-street]

Been about a year and haven't had a chance to touch the car much until recently. One of my goals was to keep the body removable from the frame. I had a hard time trying to figure out how i was going to do that so basically I was too scared to touch the car until I did. I have to give a lot of credit to Gary Betsy on my final solution. He build the Voracious Cuda on this site. Anways, once i had my game plan, it was pretty easy to execute the plan...like two weekends!

Basically i took the art morrison frame and started created a sub structure on top of the frame using 3/16" flat bar. I will then take that sub structure and weld it to the body of the car. That substructure will then bolt up to the AME frame and have polyurethane pads in between.

You can see the pilot holes drilled into the frame. Eventually the threaded bungs will be welded in these spots. It was next to impossible to bring myself to drilling/welding to this frame...once i did though i was happy with the results.




Here are the final holes for the threaded bungs.




Welding the bung into place.




Bungs all welded into place!!

[67pro-street]

Here is the substructure i built. It will eventually be welded to the body of the car.



And here it is after all bungs welded, grinded smooth, and then bolted into place with the polyurethane pads. I used 1/4" pads, think that is enough space between the AME frame and the substructure? I am thinking i will be okay since i used 3/16" flatbar for the substructure and then the floor pans will be welded to that. shouldnt flex too much, but im open to suggestions if others think i should go with 1/2" polyurethane pad.



Oh, the flatbar spanning the width was just there for mockup so i dont tweak the substructure. It will eventually go away.

[67pro-street]

Next step was to cut away the inner rockers to allow for the body to slip over the substructure. Following are some pictures, and thats about where the car currently stands. May not look like a lot of work, but its the most I've done in a few years so i am pretty happy! It takes a lot longer to fabricate this stuff when all you are using is an angle grinder and multiple cutting/grinding discs, but its the end results that make this an enjoyable hobby.

Cutline along bottom of outer rocker panel





You can see the inner rocker cut away.


body set on frame. I made it so the substructure and the top of the inner rocker panel will sit flush. Ill bridge the gap with some steel and then start on the rest of the inside/outside sheetmetal. Might be a while till i make some more progress, but moving forward slowly is better than not moving forward at all!! (PS, ill buy a new camera as well, I do realize how much the picture quality sucks!)












Here is what the substructure looks like on the bottom of the rocker. The outer rocker is in pretty rough shape so i plan to modify it and extend down to the bottom of the substructure, thus covering up the AME frame.

[tubbed69]

thats some good fab work,glad to see you are back to work on it,good luck with it

[preston]

Happy to see you making progress.

I'm confused though, I thought these bodies were already bolted on to the chassis and that the AM chassis included OEM style body mounts, although of course I don't see them on your chassis.