Project Chili Pepper

[John Wright]

Table looks good, lots of holes and slots for fixturing......should be able to get some work done on the frame now.

[andrewb70]

Tom,

What are you planning for the rest of the suspension? Since you are going this far it makes sense to really do something cool in the rear, like a watts link with either a torque arm or 3 link. If you are doing a 9" rear, I would also suggest setting up the housing in such a way that the pinion is centered in the chassis. Now would also be the time to determine your ride height and make sure that there will not be any issues with driveline angles.

Andrew

[tommycomfort]

That chassis table is flat out awesome. Glad to see you're back at it Tom!

[irregal83]

Sweet project!! love them G-Bodies!!

[TomT]

Table looks good, lots of holes and slots for fixturing......should be able to get some work done on the frame now.

Thanks John. We took the time to make the jig versatile so we can use it for future projects too. It probably wasn't the most efficient use of time but we learned a lot and it allowed me to practice TIG welding.

[TomT]

Tom,

What are you planning for the rest of the suspension? Since you are going this far it makes sense to really do something cool in the rear, like a watts link with either a torque arm or 3 link. If you are doing a 9" rear, I would also suggest setting up the housing in such a way that the pinion is centered in the chassis. Now would also be the time to determine your ride height and make sure that there will not be any issues with driveline angles.

Andrew

I realize how ridiculous this is going to sound but we're trying to keep this build as simple as possible. It's one thing to narrow the rear axle and frame rails by moving the LCA's inward and another thing entirely to engineer an entire suspension system. We already have DSE Swivel-Link control arms and we're going to use DSE's coilover kit as well. We have a DSE sway bar too but we'll probably have to have a narrower one bent up to fit the narrowed chassis. So basically it will pretty much have stock geometry in the rear but be better controlled and more adjustable.

I've been thinking about centering the pinion like you suggested. I wonder if any of the axle guys take that into account when they make a "direct fit" product? When we're ready for the rear, I was going to get in touch with Currie. I am hoping to buy an axle with the UCA brackets already welded in place and LCA brakets that are unwelded.

We're definately going to try to sort out the drivetrain angles. I'm pretty sure we're going to do 3 degrees down on the powertrain and 3 degrees up at the pinion (at ride height). We're also going to try to get the engine mounted so that the centerline from the crank to the tailshaft is at 90 degrees from the rear axle hub-to-hub centerline when viewed from above. Once the suspension and driveline are bolted up we'll drop the body back on to firm up ride height (among other things). Wow, that all sounds like a lot of work!

[TomT]

That chassis table is flat out awesome. Glad to see you're back at it Tom!

Thanks Tom!

[TomT]

Sweet project!! love them G-Bodies!!

Thanks Dave! That's a wicked-looking Regal you're working on!

[CRCRFT78]

I love everything about this project.

[TomT]

I love everything about this project.

Thanks Joe - looks like you like G-Body Malibus too!

[CRCRFT78]

Any updates Tom?

[TomT]

We finally got some garage time in this weekend and made a little more progress. We centered the rear crossmember using plumb bobs hanging off the upper control arm bracket holes.



The top of the cross member was a pretty irregular and ugly stamping so we cut it off and made a new top piece from some 2 x 4 rectangular steel tubing that we cut up. The sides have already been welded and ground in this photo and the top section is tacked in.



We then fully welded up the top piece and ground it smooth.

[SShep71]

Looks great, the custom jacks are great. Lots of little tips for everyone learning new skills.

[TomT]

Looks great, the custom jacks are great. Lots of little tips for everyone learning new skills.

Thanks!

[motorntv]

This is a very looking project. Can't wait to see this one done.

Frank from Moto'n TV

[CruizinKev]

wow looks great!!! good work!

[TomT]

Thanks guys. Here's another quick update. I reposted a few older photos so the whole sequence would be in one place.







The outside part of the frame C channel has been finish welded and ground.


Here the top plate has been welded in and ground. All that's left is to seam weld it and finish the access hole for the lower control arm bolt. We'll finish up the bottom once we turn the frame upside down on the jig.

[tommycomfort]

Excellent! I'm stuck at work for 24 hours and finally something to look at on the internet! Always good to see progress Tom!

[CruizinKev]

wow looks great!!! I need to do mine like that! good work man!

[TomT]

We test fit the stock rear end one more time to check the pinion location.



With the stock rear mocked-up we confirmed that the factor pinion location was 0.5" to the passenger side of the car.



We tacked the upper brackets in place positioning them so that the pinion location on the 9" would match the stock 0.5" offset. We located the rear with the Detroit Speed upper links and confirmed the pinion location.





Not a whole lot of progress but it's exciting to see the 9" rear end sitting in place!