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Necoa #: 4647
Location: 10(IL,MN,WI)
Joined: Jan 13, 2005
Posts: 216
Year: 1979
Model: El Camino
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject:
Looks good! Did you take it all the way to the line in the first picture, or did you stop at the seam? _________________ '78 El Camino
'79 El Camino Royal Knight
'80 El Camino
'86 Yamaha FZ700
I have heard of people doing this to increase tire clearence, and I'm sure this has been done many times before. But it just looks like it might create a weak point in the frame. Has anyone heard of any problems with the frame bending side-ways after this was done? Is the amount of work required worth the extra 1" ~ 2" of clearence? _________________
1981 Chevy El Camino
1991 Chevy S10
"The only thing collecting dust in my garage... is my broom"
The extra clearance for me was much worth it. I purchased a custom set of 19x8 front and 20x10 rear rims and the new motor is about 600 HP so I wanted to be able to switch out to a set of wide custom welds if I go out to the "street" races. With the set up I am running, I just wanted to be able to stuff the biggest tire possible since I didn't think an 8" would be suffice.
The notch combined with rolling the fender lip gives you considerably more tire space.
Some people weld braces in but the more I calculated and asked some of the pros who have been doing this for years... I found that a frame support/brace would only really support the frame from a side collision, not much from torque twisting. The thing that most of us agreed on was the fact that the body is connected at 10 points from the front door back and that is the biggest frame "support" there is.
Before this project was started, the frame was cross measured about 4 times, it was then braced to prevent movement, cut, re-measured, welded, and again re-measured to make sure every part of the frame was in its proper place so that the body will easily go back on.
There are a few people who really want some dig runs and 20 rolls from me when the motor goes back in, so I will be sure to let you know how it holds up.
Also, once the body goes back on I will be sure to give a measurement from frame to fender. Hopefully someone else with a 5th gen can measure there stock elky and give us the total gains!
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: more info
Hey El Corvino, im in the process right now with the frame off so I can notch it. I noticed you said you were going to brace it on maliburacing.com. I see that the guy on there braced it sort of like a roman number 5. We cant do it like that because of where the bed and gas tank is located. Where did you decide to put your brace. Not trying to hijack your topic just seems like your the one here with the know how on this topic. Thanks _________________ Slim never dies
I decided against it... I thought about it and consulted with 3 other shops and they all said the same thing. Realistically, the bracing will only help in the instance of a side collision (since we have weakend the frame that way) but they all said that the frame bracing wouldn't help us much in terms of preventing the frame from twisting from torque.
They cross measured it and braced the frame prior to the cutting and then cross measured it after the welding to make sure nothing was out of place. Unless you are dealing with about 900 lbs of torque, I don't see a problem with what I did and not bracing. I did not go all the way to the skin, leaving only a 1/2" of metal and in that area I believe there are 6 or 8 bolts that hold the frame to the car for extra support.
Conclusion, I think the bracing is a bit overboard for what I am trying to accomplish. I mean, heck, my car isn't ever going to the track for nasty launches anyways.
- Forms of bracing you could do... run extra metal on the inside of the frame across where you did the notch! When the car is back together or if you keep the drive train in tact, see where everything is and maybe weld some support going from drivers side to passanger side .
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Thanks