Thread: A bit of help needed with chassis/suspension

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hey guys, I'm hoping I can get some good input here. Working on a 1970 Chevy Nova, unibody car ya know. Okay, bought the car and the roll cage looked pretty good. but what do I know right. So a hotrod buddy of ours got under there and said hey man, this ain't right, you need to reinforce this or you're gonna twist it all up.

I'm gonna put a bunch of pics. basically they cut into the frame middle of the body, welded the cage in there. everything in the back is tube, the cage comes around, goes to the back, the shocks are hung from it, the four link is welded to it. it is all tube.

My question is this, Chris Alston sells a "battlecruiser" frame section for the back that supposedly will weld in (this is talking to them mind you, I can't find the right stuff on their site) to the frame rails under the floor, come back and finish the whole thing off. attach my rear end to their 4 link, supposedly be good to go. I want to know if I can use the roll cage I have with this rear frame section.

Thanks guys

what can I keep and what do I need? apparently the battlecruiser rear frame is 1500 bucks, a whole setup with new sheetmetal for the inside (ours looks real good, it all looks done real well which is why we thought it was good) and roll cage is 2100 bucks. as much as I'm trying to save the 600 difference, I'm trying to save lots of time! :-)

also, to install the new rear clip (is that what we'd call it) can I weld it all in from the bottom, or am I going to need to pull out all the aluminum to make it easy?

Thanks guys. all input appreciated, if more pics are needed let me know.

Red

Your aluminum might work but I doubt the kickup in the new rear frame section will be the same so you'd have to do some mods. Welding would be needed from the top and the bottom. Not sure about the cage, the main hoop would weld to the new crossmember and the rear bars from the cage to the frame might not be the correct angle or length to match the new rear section.

If this looks like something you will have to do whether you go with Alston kit or not, I would take the time to carefully remove interior aluminum with intentions of reusing. Then post more pics. I'm not sure that you need the Alston kit. Others may feel the same after getting a better look at it. You may find that there are only a few braces that are needed to strengthen what you have.

First off you need a set of current specs for roll cages-----

Then you need to remove the interior---put some marks on the pieces and take photos so you can replace them later or just use them for patterns for something new

Find out the specs on the tubing used in your car---material type, OD and wall thickness

WHEN you do get going on it spread out the rear coil overs and place them at an angle so the spring rate goes up as the car rolls

Weld in the side bars

You'll need to weld in another bar, min 1 1/4 x 0.118 MS, to mount your shoulder belts. The one that's in there is waaaaaay too low. Get the seat in the car and you sitting in it, in driving position. Weld the bar in, even with your shoulders to no more than 4" below your shoulders. Also, measure the stub where the swing-out bar mounts to the B-bar. If it's over 8", it'll have to be shortened. That's what I see without lookin' too hard.

nobody does rule books--they need an APT for a i pod phone!!!!

Thanks guys, I'll get the aluminum out and get back to you.

the swing out kit was the one thing that I did, it is just a bit shorter than 8", enough to make it a for sure pass, but I left it low enough so that if the driver needed to he could get to the pin himself. looks wise it isn't as great, but it was a functional judgement call by me and my uncle.

I appreciate all the help, it'll probably be a few weeks before I can get to this again, can barely get aroudn right now due to back problems and am busiest time at work to boot.

I knew you guys could help me, thanks again. (I'm holding off on ordering anything!)

Originally Posted by Dago Red

the swing out kit was the one thing that I did, it is just a bit shorter than 8", enough to make it a for sure pass, but I left it low enough so that if the driver needed to he could get to the pin himself.

My apologies. I didn't mean to rag on ya'. It's been a real bad week.

Check and make sure that roll cage is in fact tubing and not steel pipe, in some of the pictures it looks like steel pipe, and some of those welds won't pass inspection at a drag strip anyways.