Page 1 of 1

Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:58 pm
by 70styleVega
No, I don't have a solution.... yet.
I'm working on my 75 Vega.... soon I will be removing the front fenders to repair a couple of small holes behind each front wheel. When I have the fenders off I will make some notes and sketches regarding welding a tubular steel frame inside the existing unibody.
The goal will be to make a frame strong enough to cut away some of the sheet metal unibody to make these cars easier to cool and to work on without weakening the front end or losing the alignment.
I'm currently considering a combo of a tubular frame and a partial front unibody (firewall to front of A-frame mounts).

Everytime I see pictures of the subframe kits for 62-67 early chevy deuces/novas (with a rollbar support on each side between the front the frame and the firewall), and I wonder we will ever have something like this for H-bodies.

I seek your humble opinions and any photos/journals of similar solutions. thanx

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:31 am
by Ishiftem
hhhhhhhh

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:34 pm
by 70styleVega
Nice work Ishiftem
When I first saw this, I thought that it was tied to a roll cage. I now see that is not.
That is what I'm trying to design.... a strong tubular support solution that does not need to be tied to a roll cage. Think of all the rusty or tired H-bodies that could use this.

Do you plan to cut out any sheet metal? Or is this just extra reinforcement for punching gears? :burn:

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:42 pm
by Ishiftem
This would not really be necessary if I were going in a straight. The whole point of my car is to turn corners on a road course. Right now the forward struts are only welded to plates on the firewall which is very poor. The firewall is only a thin piece of sheet metal with no rigidity to speak of. I will eventually continue those bars through the firewall and tie into the lower forward portion of the door bars. I do not have a full cage, nor do I wish to have one. the door bars are attached to subframe connectors welded continuously to the floor and will extend forward to the front lower control arm mounting points. This is partially because I will be removing some of the area where the cowl,frame rails, inner fenders and rockers all tie in together, which is the strongest part of the car and a critical one. My bracing should make up for that loss plus a little.

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:22 pm
by conn.rod
looks good so far,can we get some pics of the home made motor mounts

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:04 pm
by Ishiftem
Look in my project journal Ishiftem v8 cosworth 2001. There are more pics there. I didn't make the mounts. If I did, they would be a little nicer. Somebody was making these at some point. I have seen a couple cars with them and someone on this site has them. I plan on making different ones to move the engine a little farther back.

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 9:15 pm
by res0o7eb
70styleVega wrote:Everytime I see pictures of the subframe kits for 62-67 early chevy deuces/novas (with a rollbar support on each side between the front the frame and the firewall), and I wonder we will ever have something like this for H-bodies.
I have thought about that, too. Could the Alston Chevy II front subframe be adapted to a Vega? The track width looks to be about the same, but the length may put the wheels too far forward.

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:12 pm
by 72 SS PNL
be just as easy to use the jegster front end

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:49 pm
by res0o7eb
72 SS PNL wrote:be just as easy to use the jegster front end
Agreed.
Image
Looks better, though ...
Image

Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 3:29 am
by supercardr
@72 SS PNL

Do you have a link or a part number for that Jegster front end

Or is there anything better now ?

Dan