1971 Firebird455 - Project

[LeighP]

Well, I've finished converting a 75+ Camaro subframe to a 71 Firebird frame and added WS6 spec braces for the rear lower control arm mount.
Camaros have the mounts for the sway bar brackets tapped into the chassis metal. Due to the higher loads applied by the larger Trans Am sway bars, Firebirds use Rivnuts to anchor the sway bar brackets.
I drilled the original holes out to fit Rivnuts and set them with hand tools....easy and cheap if you are only doing a few.
Heres all you need....

Here are the Rivnuts set on one of the front frame rails....

I located the correct position for the WS6 control arm brace mounts using a 79 subframe I have spare here. The factory only taps the subframe for the mount, but since I had some Rivnuts, I fitted one into the chassis. The control arm rear mount is drilled for a 3/8" bolt....

The chassis is going by a small engineering shop down the road to get the late model rear body mount locations plated over, then its off to the powder coater for blasting and coating.