Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Yesterday afternoon I added fluids and some fuel and ran it up. Everything fine. Went for a 5 mile test drive after some initial checks and car drove fine. Clutch is fine. Brakes perfect. Engine temp around 180 idle or cruising. All electrical normal.

My initial alignment was pretty good as I had no steering wandering, and my follower on the road said the car was straight. Alignment next week after adding the sidepipe covers, other front bumper(new brace due Monday) and a few other bits and it's done. It looks much nicer inside the cabin with that stock shifter handle too.



One caveat.....The new stock smallblock Eaton front coil springs are still quite high by my eyes. The new Eaton rear is a bit high too. I am hoping it settles quite a bit. More fuel and the added right front bumper isn't going to help that much.

Have any of you used the Eatons and had this initial issue and did it settle to normal over time?

[Patrick H.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

One caveat.....The new stock smallblock Eaton front coil springs are still quite high by my eyes. The new Eaton rear is a bit high too. I am hoping it settles quite a bit. More fuel and the added right front bumper isn't going to help that much.

Have any of you used the Eatons and had this initial issue and did it settle to normal over time?

I wouldn't plan on them settling much. This is a common issue.
If you want it to look right, you'll probably have to cut a bit off the fronts and have the rear re-arched.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

I wouldn't plan on them settling much. This is a common issue.
If you want it to look right, you'll probably have to cut a bit off the fronts and have the rear re-arched.

Patrick, I was considering that. I'm going to cut the fronts. Thankfully I have bolted on ball joints which will make this easy. Any idea how many coil(s) to cut? These are Eaton's. Strangely, they were the exact same length as the originals I removed and same coil count. Their spring rate must be off or something different in the materials.

The rear spring is staying where it is. I'll use longer bolts and ring 'em up tighter until it's right. I'll save the original bolts in case it settles more later.

Thanks,
Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

AIM UPC 3 A6 has the vehicle dimension heights.

I measured Dim Z at the front control arms. I get 3.75". It should be 2.25". That's a 1.5" difference and is about what I see above the front tires to the wheel lips. I'm thinking if I take off 1.5" of coil height it will get me there. Thoughts?

I can't get Dim J(30.5" back from centerline of front wheels) as this is a sidepipe car and has no sill molding (rocker panels?)as specified for the measurement.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

I pulled one Eaton spring. It is 17" long, 0.600 wire diameter. Here is the original 3850100 and the Eaton side by side.

The original is 16 5/8" (16.625")long. Spec is 16.88 based on Bil M's original prints in a post HERE.

If I cut half of a coil on each end it will bring me closer to spec and the original. I'll do that and update later.

[Leif A.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Rich,
What you have accomplished in the last 60 days would take most of us years to do. I never cease to be impressed with your work as I follow your threads. Just posting all the photos and verbiage would take me 60 days Very well done, as usual. You will have a very happy customer.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Thanks Leif, Actually, I do this only for fun.

====
So I finished the front spring changes. Removed both, cut half of a coil from each end, now a big improvement. Both springs OAL measured apx 16 5/8" after cutting. The "Z" dimension is now 2.50". It was 3.75" before the changes, so I brought the front down 1 1/4" by removing one coil on each side(2 halves on each).



Doesn't look like a gasser anymore. When the rest of the bumper pieces go on and a few other items it may turn out just right and come down another 1/4". The rear leaf will get new longer bolts later.


Rich
ps That bumper isn't straight I know. The hole in the side is too high. When I get the other bumper fitted I'll be lowering the hole on that left side and likely on the other and readjusting everything to get them as straight as possible. I never saw the car with bumpers installed so I suspect they were never straight. When the one piece nose was put on years ago I think they got it a little wrong.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

I got the correct center front bumper brace from Zip. When I peeled the heated Zip label off(BU211-R), it appears they now get them from CSC who makes them with the "H" inside the "D".



Also got the new K&B fan clutch. Thread & photos HERE.

Yesterday I got the car aligned. All went very well. Car handles great.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

New fan clutch is on the engine.

My patience was tested with this one-piece front end, but I got the front bumpers wrapped up. Overchromed lower front stems didn't help much as well.

This is about the absolute best I can do without removing and reinstalling the nose. A good half day at it. Nothing fit right before I got it.

[Leif A.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

"This is about the absolute best I can do without removing and reinstalling the nose."

Rich,
You crack me up...the factory only wishes they got them that aligned. Someone once told me that perfectionism is a disease. I know because I have it, as well.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Leif,

This one has a all original body that I did a body off and restored the original chassis. I actually had to do a bit of shimming on these bumpers too, which were rechromed originals but not original to the car. It had early Paragon repros before. I ended up removing the bumpers again after judging and readjusted the license bar better. I was happier after that but forgot to shoot more photos straight on. It came out very nice.


This one had original body but some nose repairs over the years and more when I got it and a repaint by a friend's shop. A 18 wheeler farm grain truck was backed into it by the owner's spouse long ago. I did a body-on restoration on it. I was happy with this result.


In comparison, on the red car above(again shown below), you can see a slight downward tilt on the inner horizontal, and the horizontal plane of both is too high in the opening due to the fact that I had to raise the inner features. The main limitation is the placement of the holes for the bumper side bolts and the fact that the outer braces cannot go lower due to their angle against the inner fiberglass. The nose is very thick which prevents this and adds up on both sides. I could grind out glass, but dangerous on a painted car.

I have about 1/4" thick shims under both rear lower braces to get those features up as high as possible without the center braces hitting the upper grille horizontals each side. I removed the grille and adjusted the grille brackets upward a tad to help. I opened up the side fiberglass bumper mount holes a tad lower to reduce the tilt. I also experimented and released the 2 front frame to radiator support body mount bolts and adjusted with shims to lower the body a bit, but then the side fenders would bulge out at the top of the wheel lips so I couldn't do that. That's where the problem lies. The one piece nose has "features" that I couldn't get around.

The top horizontal plane of the bumpers should ideally be on the same plane as the grille horizontal, with all bumper braces free from hitting things in the wrong places, like the blue car above.

[Ed S.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Richard - your photo library is a treasure trove of great info. Thanks on behalf of all. question for you, your exhaust manifolds and clutch linkage parts look great, what did you coat (paint, whatever....) them with. Thanks again.

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Richard - your photo library is a treasure trove of great info. Thanks on behalf of all. question for you, your exhaust manifolds and clutch linkage parts look great, what did you coat (paint, whatever....) them with. Thanks again.

Thank You Ed, Pictures are certainly fun and explain so much.

I use POR 15 on the exhaust manifolds after media blasting. Fine product. It's in a small pint can and I use a Preval sprayer to apply. Don't use VHT in a spray can. THey changed their recipe and it turns gold after several heat cycles.

Clutch linkage, and many other items are painted using Eastwood Silver Cad. It's pricey, but looks better and more shiny than the old barbecue silver often seen to simulate plating. For judged cars, I get items such as that zinc plated. This car is a driver so I back off on those choices to save dollars and time.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

All Done. Going home tomorrow. I wasn't really supposed to clean up the engine bay but I just had to. Car deserved it. The new Vette Products of Michigan frame has saved this one.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: Another Bad Frame - 1966 Chassis Restoration

Videos from yesterday's road trip to bring the car to Carl.

Loading up in the morning after raining all night before.....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2EFOWPCUk-KWEU2VFZvOGRJejQ/view?usp=drive_web

Unloading and in his garage a few hours later during a clear weather window before Hurricane Hermine's outer bands rained hard up there.....

2 videos...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SyMrtVUhiEdnhGSkY0V3VmbnM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SyMrtVUhiEcmV1RGQ3VHNadkk/view?usp=sharing