Chassis Strengthening by welding in plates?

[RGBody87]

Hey everyone, and thanks in advance for any advice or links you post. I remember a while back looking at a page where people had posted what they had installed in their Monte's to strengthen the chassis and stop unnecessary bend. I notched the chassis with the UMI kit and I am looking to get the rest of the welding done now before I install the new rear and then begin doing the floors and then roll cage. What can I do to the factory chassis to add some more rigidity? Thanks!

Ryan

 

[Northernregal]

Box in the open sections of frame rails, that's a big one. Some add bracing around the rear suspension mounts and upper shock mounts. You can also get plates that add strength to the rear suspension mounts and some add driveshaft loop cross members in front of the rear suspension mounts ad tie them into the lower control arm mounts.

Lots of examples are on this site. Check out Rktpwrd's Juggernaut thread, he did some flawless work on his frame boxing. The turbo Buick site has some other great examples as does the Monte Carlo site.

I simply added some 14ga metal to box my frame in. I'll add some pics, it was pretty quick and dirty but it added a far amount of strength.

 

[565bbchevy]

How did you get the body mount in where you are closing it off?

View attachment 102480

 

[1bad79]

I did the same to mine, but good question on the body mount ied have to look at mine but it seems to me I some how got it in from the bottom though the hole or I left a space on mine now I need to go look lol

 

[565bbchevy]

In addition to what Northernregal mentioned I also welded in roll bar tubing across the frame rails before I notched the frame and at the rear of the rails.
All of the factory bracing helps also but I made my own jounce and GP bars out of tubing twice as thick as the factory stuff and it really helped strengthen the front.
I also made fender to core support braces.

 

[87National55]

Make sure to add the rear square tube at the end. That itself makes a HUGE difference on these frames.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pontiacgp]

One other thing you can do is to clean up the factory welds and fix any missed or weak welds.

 

[joesregalproject]

For $200 this seems like a pretty good deal-

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_404&products_id=999

 

[ItsnotaGN]

I made 1/8" endplates at the front where the box stops by the trans mount and at the back. Like the pictures show above, I welded in a 1/8" plate between the two leaving a "shelf" at the bottom. I notched the plate at the #3 body mount, just large enough to get the body mount in which was a pain in the *ss with the urethane multi piece mounts. Did the rear bumper tie in too. You could jack one wheel up and the opposing wheel will now come off the ground instead of being spaghetti. The doors on my rattily t-top car close a lot nicer now. There's a pic somewhere way back on the "what did you do to your G-body today thread. Use appropriate thickness material to match the existing frame, I've probably got $40-50 in materials between boxing the frame, lower rear control arm mounts, narrowing the rear rails and rear framerail brace.

 

[565bbchevy]

For $200 this seems like a pretty good deal-
http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_404&products_id=999

Honestly I think that is way overpriced for what it is. It's easy enough to weld a cross bar to factory jounce bars or make your own set up from scratch.