BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

[Tony1968]

Firstly get well. Second i can't be the only one still scratching his head over this piece... but I'm sure when it's all buttoned up I'll understand better. Maybe a shot from under the car will nail it. And excellent job as always. If I could have an hour with you watching your fabrication skills it would probably be the equivalent of what I've learned in my entire life.

 

[Streetbu]

Tony1968 , think of it this way. Disregard the exhaust. He cut and moved the floor upwards for whatever reason. It also happens to be right where a body mount goes. Can't just not have a body mount. So this is merely an adapter, or rather, extension of the floor crossmember, downwards to the body mount to support the body on the frame.

 

[scoti]

Firstly get well. Second i can't be the only one still scratching his head over this piece... but I'm sure when it's all buttoned up I'll understand better. Maybe a shot from under the car will nail it. And excellent job as always. If I could have an hour with you watching your fabrication skills it would probably be the equivalent of what I've learned in my entire life.

Tony1968 , think of it this way. Disregard the exhaust. He cut and moved the floor upwards for whatever reason. It also happens to be right where a body mount goes. Can't just not have a body mount. So this is merely an adapter, or rather, extension of the floor crossmember, downwards to the body mount to support the body on the frame.

Bingo.

Think of it exactly as how Streetbu described. The floor is raised. Which if done properly requires the floor + body support to be raised. Raising those points required a 'tower' for the body mount to work. Kind of like what one would do raising the trans tunnel to clear a larger trans & driveshaft. One could raise the area on the frame to raise the body mount but this keeps the frame consistent. With this conveniently done, it provides a nice path/space for whatevah.... Like exhaust maybe 😎

 

[64nailhead]

D, you are one crafty b*st*rd!

I’ll mention this to others, this is a great thread to catch up on after a week or so of updates from Donavan. It’s like a short story - keeps the pages turning!!

 

[Tony1968]

I get it. But I still need to see finished product because I'm stoopid. Lol. Really I'm wondering how to extend the body mount from the frame. But I probably missed that explanation.

 

[scoti]

I get it. But I still need to see finished product because I'm stoopid. Lol. Really I'm wondering how to extend the body mount from the frame. But I probably missed that explanation.

The body mount is still on the frame just like stock. The 'tower' fills the gap between the stock location body mount & new (revised?) raised floor as needed so that it remains in the original spot.
Remember, when you're viewing most of the pics of the 'tower', it's upside-down. The tower will point down toward the frame/body mount when final installed.

 

[Texas82GP]

Well, it looks like I’m going to be delayed and held up temporarily due to a head cold. Took the day off work today to try and kick this and I’m already bored, so might as well post on my progress of late.

When I left off in my last update, I had inadvertently created the driver’s side pedestal due to not paying attention and bending the metal on the wrong side. So the following night, I repeated the process and made the passenger’s side like I had intended in the first place.

I got it all bent up, edges welded, fit and metal finished out, and even punched my plug welding holes in the flanges and figured it was good to go. Here is the pedestal portion of it mocked up on the underside of the crossmember.
Still version 2.0 at this point.

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Lots of pictures, but I wanted you guys to get a 360 degree idea of what this thing looks like. A couple more from a bit further away to get an idea of size and perspective. Keep in mind this is only the pedestal portion of it, and upside down on the crossmember.

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So far it was looking and fitting really well. I Cleco’d the crossmember back in place for yet another test fit, and it not only fit beautifully, but is now also EXTREMELY strong. Just as it should be. If it was wide enough to stand on, I would take pictures of me standing and jumping up and down on it, it’s that strong.
Perfect.

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And one from a bit further back for Eric:

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One small issue tho, the very furthest corner was juuuuust touching the exhaust pipe. Not acceptable because it’ll rattle and vibrate with normal exhaust movement and drive me nutz. Cardboard templates can only take you so far, they’re floppy and deflect easily, so that’s likely what happened. I needed to find a way to move/remove the offending corner, so out it came and time to create the latest revision, V2.1.

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The other markings on the bottom shown there are to drill a hole for the body mount to pass through. It has to be that large to provide adjustability when aligning the body back with the frame.

Did yet another test fit after this alteration, and now it’s 100%. I have roughly a 1/4” - 3/8” of clearance between the pipe and the pedestal, and still lots of room for movement in the body mount cage box I built.
Y’all didn’t forget about those guys did ya??
They’ll get cut and modified slightly before getting fully perimeter welded to the bottom of the pedestals.

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Aaaand that’s where I’m at now. Chomping at the bit to get back out there and finish off this side since I’m so close, but gotta kick this head cold BS and get back to 100% strength again first.

I’ll use this final metal version as the template to build a new driver’s side one, and that shouldn’t take me long once I get into it. Then cut out the last remaining bits of the old floor crossmember and weld this new one into place. Then it’ll be onto starting to create new rear floor pans!

Thanks for checking in gents. I appreciate it.

D.

Beautiful workmanship as always D.

 

[81cutlass]

Once I thought "man, side exit exhaust behind the door would be sick!"

But now what I've seen the amount of work to make it proper, I'm bailing on that idea lol.

Bravo good sir, the fuhrer of fabrication, the master of MIG, the president of painstakingly attention to detail 🙂

 

[Northernregal]

Once I thought "man, side exit exhaust behind the door would be sick!"

But now what I've seen the amount of work to make it proper, I'm bailing on that idea lol.

Bravo good sir, the fuhrer of fabrication, the master of MIG, the president of painstakingly attention to detail 🙂

Psst.... boom tubes are all the rage now...

 

[motorheadmike]

Psst.... boom tubes are all the rage now...

Nostalgia baby!