Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

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Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby 70styleVega » Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:58 pm

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
75 Vega hatchback, EFI 5.3L/t350 swap kit, street/strip, budget build in progress
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby Ishiftem » Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:31 am

hhhhhhhh
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby 70styleVega » Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:34 pm

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:
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby Ishiftem » Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:42 pm

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.
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby conn.rod » Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:22 pm

looks good so far,can we get some pics of the home made motor mounts
if you don't have time too do it right the first time
how do you have time too do it over a second time
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby Ishiftem » Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:04 pm

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.
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby res0o7eb » Sun Apr 18, 2010 9:15 pm

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.
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby 72 SS PNL » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:12 pm

be just as easy to use the jegster front end
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby res0o7eb » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:49 pm

72 SS PNL wrote:be just as easy to use the jegster front end
Agreed.
Image
Looks better, though ...
Image
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Re: Tubular frame to replace Hbody front unibody?

Postby supercardr » Thu Jul 21, 2016 3:29 am

@72 SS PNL

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

Or is there anything better now ?

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