Full-Frame Chassis for Unibody Cars

[ProdigyCustoms]

One thing about weight Mark. In the Convertible, we lost a substaintial amount of weight doing the chassis. Our weight bill for the steel tubing was 200LBs which did everything from the firewall back including rear crossmember and roll bar materials, + 100LBS for the front stub frame which was firewall forward. The stock front subframe, rear rails and seat partition in the convertible easily weighed 500 lbs. The seat partition alone was so heavy when it hit the ground, Michael and I had to get a vehicle to drag it out from under the car. So without yet having weighed the car, I am certain we picked up at least a couple hundred pounds. A Coupe would not be as drastic because they do not have the superstructure (seat partition) the convertible has.

Rigidity in the full frame, with nothing more then a roll bar / crossmember for cage is super rigid. Much stronger then a sub frame conected car, of coarse I am talking convertible again. We also are talking about a spine and backbone type frame here. With all that said, have doen plenty of uni bodies that are fine with no more then a 10 point cage. My street racer is a great example.

I would like to work out a simlar chassis and possibly use you rear for one of our in house projects which is going to be pretty hard core. It is a choice between your set up and a different independant set up. Maybe we can talk soon. And congratulations on making SEMA with a trick product, I know you guys humped to get it there.

[Mean 69]

Rigidity in the full frame, with nothing more then a roll bar / crossmember for cage is super rigid. Much stronger then a sub frame conected car, of coarse I am talking convertible again.

THAT!!! Is a really good point, a convertible is where a full frame would shine over an "average" sfc car. And as you pointed out, it gets a whole bunch better, really quick with a roll structure. Man, that convertible cross brace must be a real hulk, I knew they were beefy, I didn't think they were that much though. Great info. We are going to be doing a new frame for my wife's 62 vette here in a few weeks, and another customer car at the same time, so that big ole cross bracing will be a must, as we won't be using a cage on either. Stock frame has a big "x" in it already.

Great stuff, thanks!
Mark

[Silver69Camaro]

Hey, no offense taken here, guys. More brains on this, the better.

I just intended this post to be about easing fears of installing this chassis, rather than if the design was acceptable or not. That's all, no big deal.

Mark,
I totally agree. Unibodys can have extremely rigid chassis and can have the benefit of being light weight, which is why I personally am somewhat partial to them.

Prodigy,
I'd be very happy to work with you on measurements and your concerns. I've got my own Camaro to measure from, but as we all know, all of them are not the same. More is better. Shoot me an email in the near future ([email protected]).