Frame improvements?

[Christer]

Hello
I am planning a body liftoff in a near future, for cleaning and painting the frame. Thinking about doing some reinforcements on the frame at the same time. Here comes the tricky part - making modifications the right way from the start. Have been looking in older threads for information. Found an expression "Chevrolet Power Manual", this one had a chapter "Chassis Preparations", anyone out there who owns a copy?
In previous threads there was diskussions about continous welding and gussets.
C3 Corvettes must have been driven on racetracks in the older days, what modifications did they do to make the car go faster around corners?
Thankful for all ideas and diskussions about this!

Christer

 

[pws69]

Hello
I am planning a body liftoff in a near future, for cleaning and painting the frame. Thinking about doing some reinforcements on the frame at the same time. Here comes the tricky part - making modifications the right way from the start. Have been looking in older threads for information. Found an expression "Chevrolet Power Manual", this one had a chapter "Chassis Preparations", anyone out there who owns a copy?
In previous threads there was diskussions about continous welding and gussets.
C3 Corvettes must have been driven on racetracks in the older days, what modifications did they do to make the car go faster around corners?
Thankful for all ideas and diskussions about this!

Christer

There's a guy on the Corvette Forum (NHVETTE) that recently posted pictures of his Frame-off resto. He did some fabulous work on the frame (seam welds, gussets, jackpads, etc.) that could certainly be used as a model. You should go look - very impressive detail.

 

[norvalwilhelm]

The bad place is around the lower A arm mounts, The channels themselves need continuous welding and the whole area gusseted. The hole over the steering box should also be filled in and this area reinforced.
Alot of guys have done this on the corvette forum and look under my name and you will see a number of posts on this.

 

[celeryman22]

Not sure if I did this right or wrong, but I seal welded all the frame and painted it. I can't stand to see rust coming from the joints. It took me a while to get all the welding done. I used a flux core portable welder, low heat, and I could only weld for so long or I would blow a fuse. It was 110Volt.
Pictures are here http://www.vette-restoration.com/chasis.htm

 

[Christer]

Thanks for the info guys.

NHVETTEs server is not working at the moment, so i could not take a look at it. I took a close look at celeryman22s pictures, must have taken som time to do all that welding. Impressive, nice to have some pictures to look in to.
About norvalwilhelms advice concerning gussets and reinforcements:
can you tell me more about dimensions of gussets and reinforcements, and where to locate them? This point is not 100% understood by me, yet.
Continuous welding is one keyword, i will go for that! When you welded the frame, did you put it into a fixture, to prevent twisting?

 

[FLATOUT427]

Chevrolet Power Manual

Christer, I Have A Copy Of The Power Manual. How Can I Help?

 

[Christer]

FLATOUT 427!
Tried to send you an email, but i am not sure if it got through allright. Our mailserver has been down for repairs this weekend, something that happens now and then...
I am interested in what the "Power Manual" says about frame and suspension modifications.
Drop me an email if you can help out.
Christer

christer.fransson@okg.sydkraft.se

 

[norvalwilhelm]

Not sure if I did this right or wrong, but I seal welded all the frame and painted it. I can't stand to see rust coming from the joints. It took me a while to get all the welding done. I used a flux core portable welder, low heat, and I could only weld for so long or I would blow a fuse. It was 110Volt.
Pictures are here http://www.vette-restoration.com/chasis.htm

You should try mig welding with gas and solid wire. You will never go back to flux core. Flux core has all the problems of stick welding. Cleanup with gas is also alot easier. No flux.

I hope you welded the lower A arm channels solid on both sides???
Gusseting the back/motor bay side of these channels is also important as is the sway bar mount and close the hole by the steering box.

 

[70 VETTE 454]

FLATOUT427 / Christer

im the in the middle of my restoration as well, and wanted to do the same thing to my frame. I need to do some welding to fix a few areas that have been messed with in the past, and not done correctly (of course I only found out after I removed the body)

I am interested in the frame and suspension mods as well from the manual?

could you email me with your findings of how to get that book,
work is best: der@carney.navy.mil
regular one: vette7072@yahoo.com
Dave

 

[Peer81]

I'm about 1 month away from welding 4 bodymount brackets on my chassis and then send it to the sandblaster and powdercoater.
I heard in some threads welding the hole chassis is a good idea (aldo my 81 chassis is almost compleetly welded) and some other things. Does somebody have some picture's for the extra things to reinforce the chassis? (pictures say more then words to me )
Or a webside? The book would be great but i think here in Holland there is little to no change i could get it...

Groeten Peter.

 

[celeryman22]

You should try mig welding with gas and solid wire. You will never go back to flux core. Flux core has all the problems of stick welding. Cleanup with gas is also alot easier. No flux.

I hope you welded the lower A arm channels solid on both sides???
Gusseting the back/motor bay side of these channels is also important as is the sway bar mount and close the hole by the steering box.

I welded the crap out of it, if there was a "crack" or a gap I welded it solid. I have the hookup for mig, Im just to lazy to go get a bottle or argon or co/argon mix. Flux core is a very messy process.

 

[norvalwilhelm]

I welded the crap out of it, if there was a "crack" or a gap I welded it solid. I have the hookup for mig, Im just to lazy to go get a bottle or argon or co/argon mix. Flux core is a very messy process.

When you weld you should weld a little here then move somewhere else a weld a little and move, keep moving. You don't want to really burn the metal, it will warp. With a whole frame you can keep moving continuously letting the area just welded cool. If you start welding in one spot and just keep pouring the heat in continuous you run the risk of distrotion.
NOT Getting a bottle of Argon/CO2 is alot more work, getting the bottle is being lazy. The welds run so much better and no cleanup.
Always push the weld ahead of you, don't drag.
Doing vertical weld pull down, not up.
Don't weave alot, slow down.
There are some great posts on this in the past on Corvette forum.

 

[celeryman22]

When you weld you should weld a little here then move somewhere else a weld a little and move, keep moving. You don't want to really burn the metal, it will warp. With a whole frame you can keep moving continuously letting the area just welded cool. If you start welding in one spot and just keep pouring the heat in continuous you run the risk of distrotion.
NOT Getting a bottle of Argon/CO2 is alot more work, getting the bottle is being lazy. The welds run so much better and no cleanup.
Always push the weld ahead of you, don't drag.
Doing vertical weld pull down, not up.
Don't weave alot, slow down.
There are some great posts on this in the past on Corvette forum.

Since I was using a 110Volt welder I had no choice but to go slow and move around since I would throw a breaker if I didn't.