custom chassis

[benno505]

Hi all,

Currently stripping a 68 dodge charger over here in australia. i want to build myself a custom chassis similiar to a roadster shop one, i have asked a few times if they could design one for me with no luck, they are not interested.
is anyone able to design one for me or point me in the right direction, that can also help me choose the right components and proper geometry setup.
not interested in a tube chassis, prefer a frame.

any help would be appreciated.

[slimjim]

Yeah roadster shop would be pretty crazy to design a chassis for someone who could then produce and attempt to undercut them, but I still think financially you'd work out better importing one straight from them, especially when you get into design hours, and most CAD engineers in the business charge a buttload, $75/hr+.
We could probably order you one through protouringgarage.com or an art Morrison setup.
But if you're set on designing one then you'll need to approach a CAD designer. I'd suggest Mike O'Brien but he does the designing for roadstershop...

[rickpaw]

You may want to contact Ron Sutton.

http://www.ronsutton-racetechnology.com/

[slimjim]

maybe www.suspensiongeek.com, Rod might also have input

[benno505]

i cannot afford 30k + for a chassis to be delivered to australia. i can build one for 3k as we have all the square tube benders available, just need a design made.

[68EFIvert]

I had Ron Sutton help me with the design and building of the suspension for my Volvo 1800 project. I second the recommendation to call him to have him help you out. He is fantastic to work with and does impressive work. Check out my build thread it you want a couple pictures to look at.

[mikedc]

I'm not sure what exactly the problem is. You've got the body, right? And you have some kind of aftermarket suspension you intend to run? (If not, then why cut out the original chassis/suspension? It's different from the typical aftermarket Ford & GM stuff but it's not bad. You just have to learn some Mopar-specific stuff for it.) Building a chassis for a yank-tank isn't so different from doing a local car model.

[benno505]

this is my second 68 charger, my first ran full magnumforce chromoly k member coilovers etc. and 4 link rear, this one i want to go a complete chassis, i dont see any problem with actually building the chassis, i guess i just need some sort of design for the front end and rear suspension setup

[mikedc]

By "full chassis" you mean a PT street car, not a dragstrip-dedicated car, right?

My first vote would still be to keep the stock chassis (if it's not totally rusted away to nothing). There are lots of bolt-on mods for it now. Much better options than 10-15 years ago.


You could also do an aftermarket chassis, like Mustang-2 or Corvette C5 front suspension. In that case there may be a decent kit you can buy to get the chunks of the frame that have the suspension mounting points.

This plan would be sorta like copying the Art Morrison Max-G chassis setups. They are expensive as a MoFo but you get a lot for your money. You give them the dimensions of the car, desired ride height, wheels/tires, etc, and they custom-build something for your car. If you intend to do this yourself then you'll want to have all that same info figured out ahead of time anyway. The old Mopar body is basically along-for-the-ride at that point and you are just making a car from (aftermarket) scratch.

142902

[andrewb70]

I would bet that Morrison has already built frames for your body style, they probably just don't have it listed on their website. They do a lot of custom work.

Andrew

[benno505]

im sure they have, but not for the price they want, id prefer to build myself

- - - Updated - - -

that frame is similiar to what i want to build thanks

[mitch_04]

I've asked similar questions and gotten very little to no response. I think that most people don't support the idea because of the risk involved with a failed design/construction, as well as most people don't know how to design a suspension from scratch since there is so many variables to account for.

I'm going for it anyways, I built a chassis table that I'm suspending my body & drivetrain from, then I'm going to design my chassis around all the mounting points. I purchased suspension analyzer to test different mounting points for the suspension and see what will work the best. I also plan on attending Ron Sutton's seminar regarding this topic, I believe it's next year.

I'm sure it won't be as pretty as a Roadster Shop chassis, and it probably won't be much, if any, cheaper than a Spec series (it's a C10) when you factor the amount of time spent. However, I imagine I will learn a ridiculous amount from it, and I just plain love building things myself.

I think that doing it yourself is a joy that is getting overlooked nowadays as people just tell you to buy parts and install them. I considering this hobby/life as more personably enjoyable the more I do myself. I could buy a Corvette... or I could purchase a Roadster Shop chassis... or I could purchase DSE or Ridetech suspension parts... or I can build my own everything from scratch. All roads lead to the same place, give or take. My personal choice is build from scratch. If I hate it, I'll do it differently on the next one.

*steps off soapbox

[astroracer]

I would have to say you need to do this yourself. Pick up a tape measure, get some paper and pencil and start laying out the body mounting points. You will have to do this anyway as the points will be needed for anyone to start a frame design. They cannot be pulled out of thin air unless you have access to a white light or laser scanner. You have the car and original frame in front of you, you can do this. Use your original frame as reference and start laying it out. Design it to replicate your favorite aftermarket frame. If you use aftermarket suspensions you will have the pickup points to lay into your design and the geometry is already worked out for you.
Designing and building your own frame IS an adventure. If you haven't poked around in my BadAst thread now would be a good time to do so.
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/20086-The-BAD-AST-Project-Faze-II/page38?highlight=
I designed and built everything chassis and suspension related so you may get some insight as to what it takes. :) There is a lot of on the fly design and fab work involved in a one off build. This is not an easy undertaking and it will take time.
Mark