The chassis is said to be the foundation of any hot rod project...

The chassis work is one of the most
interesting parts of a rod project, as it involves
quite a lot of problem solving...

 

A 27" long piece of the lower flange of the frame had to be patched. The "patch panel" was cut from the corner piece of a square tubing with the same wall thickness as the frame. The nice and even corners of the tubing was roughly the same shape as that of the framerail, wich saved some work. The material in the frame is about 5/32" thick (4mm), and I don't know how I'd have bent such hefty sheetmetal anyway. (January 2005)

A while ago I called a guy who happened to have a pair of 11" front brake drums from a '68 Plymouth Satellite. They were bought along with the master cylinder and pedal assembly.

A few days later a Plymouth Volare 7 ¼" rear axle was bought. It looks real ugly as it's been sitting under an unused car for a couple of years. Here are the "before" and "after"- pics of the axle mounts. The 2" higher mounts equals 2" lower ride height, working just like 2" lowering blocks, only a bit more tidy, and since the mounts had to be redone anyway...

Here's a shot with the rear axle mounted to the frame with new U-bolts.

Here's a rear view. Note the diagonally mounted rear leaf springs. The mock up engine is a Rover 3,5 liter V-8 (215 ci) just like the one that will be used.

The front axle mounted to the frame with some ill fitting Mercedes steel wheels and Plymouth hub caps. I'm now able to roll the frame back and forth on the floor for the first time. Am I having fun or what? Barely visible in this shot is the front body mounts (arrow), that are lowered about two inches. Combined with the body modifications, this will effectively lower the front end of the body some four inches.

Go on to part six