Fender wells

[meangreen73vega]

Hi all, still kinda new to this hbody stuff and wondered some things. I'm building up a 73 Vega with a SBC and a power glide and have decided to use it only for the strip. I want to know if and how much of the inner fenders I can cut with out compromising the strength of the front end. The front end is mostly stock right now but the car has been back halved with a four link in it and 12 bolt. Subframe connectors were already welded in when I got the car and a roll bar a well. Will I have to cage the whole car or shud I just leave the front alone till do it all?

Thanx!

[monzajer]

Hey meangreen' welcome to the family! I am not a strip guy, but there are many here and very experienced they are, too. I am sure they will chime in be of great help, but until then, here is a thread to chew on:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31942&start=0

make sure to check out the videos and threads inside this thread.

Good luck and have fun.

cheers jer

[Bob Gumm]

You will likely get many different answers on what others did and what worked for them. The deciding factor is usually the race class you are in and/or the price of the design. There are many different solutions, some plausible, some not, with extremes at each end. One the cheap side some will tell you they cut the front-end and reinforced it with no problems. However, this is not recommended and will result in a compromise of safety and reliability. De-hard chassis builders will tell you doing that is a recipe for disaster and recommend a full tube chassis from nose to tail. In-between are the guys who mix the two designs to come up with something suitable for their class of racing, but still very safe and reliable.

The H-Body front suspension is already the bare minimum required to support a stock application for daily driving, you can even see the added reinforcements that GM installed on the V-8 cars to handle the extra stresses of a mild V-8. So it should be evident that removing any part of it without first adding reinforcement is not a good plan. I have fielded a Monza with a 400+ HP engine and later a 600+ engine with the front sheet metal intact. However, I first shed hundreds of pounds from the car by removing AC equipment, heater, radio, carpet, etc. I have also had to get the car realigned at a frame shop and weld up stress cracks that formed over the years. Removing any material from the front without first getting the frame checked for alignment, looking for and correcting problems (cracks, etc.) and then installing a support structure will prove to be problematic and could lead to a car that won't drive true during hard acceleration and will eventually fail.

Be safe, get the body checked for alignment first, then weld up any imperfections and cracks as well as add 1-2 inch stitch welds every 1-2 inches or so to all seams. Then add reinforcement to the body via sub-frame connectors and to reinforce the front-end I highly recommend a complete roll cage with front bars that connect to the front frame rails and upper control arm supports. Only after you've done that would I recommend cutting the fender wells and fender supports out. Beyond that, the best solution is a complete tube chassis and roll cage. Jegs makes a weld-in front-end clip under the Jegster name and there are three different widths available, so if you could use it and add their frame and roll cage kit for a complete chassis. There are also numerous other chassis kits available.

Good Luck,

[meangreen73vega]

Thanx guys! I think I'll stay stock for now till funds are availible to replace it all. I forgot to mention that I'm making my own engine mounts (solid ones) and have already welded in the plates out of a v8 Monza and removed interior, heater, dash, and all other accessories that won't be used.

Thanx.

[Fasterthansome]

On my Starfire I cut from theforward egde of the heavier plate forward to core support, it was 10 lbs per side I think.