Front sheetmetal on Camaro clip?

[Jemo]

Can anyone share how to do this on a '55? Obviously the original front frame clip is gone. Not sure where to begin to get the front fenders mounted again.

Thank you
Jeff

[Speedbumpauto]

Bunch of ways to do it. I cut and boxed the frame right in front of the steering box. Tacked plates under the frame and mocked up the front to see where the core support donuts needed to be. shaped and adjusted ht. as needed then welded it all in. I included bumper brackets in my design as it's a "plug in" bumper that comes off with two bolts. Here are the best pictures I have. Hope it helps. If I was doing it again I would have saved the parts of the original frame front that I needed, but...........

[OrrieG]

Like speedbump said, everything hangs off the radiator support. If you have not done it now is the time to start setting your door gaps. Get the top, back and bottom right. Put the fender, grille and radiator support together, mount the back of the fenders at top and bottom while supporting the radiator support. When the front gap is right on both side figure out how to support the radiator support at the front allowing for plenty of up and down movement. You should probably drop the hood on to check for squareness to the cab too, just in case the cab is not square on the frame. I just went thru this exercise on my stock frame truck expect to take some time to get everything lined up and the gaps right.

[1-ton of fun]

i welded the front sections of the original frame back on the end fo the clip.

you have to do some reshaping of the clip frame to meet up, and test fit it all (the sheet metal) before you weld it fully.

[Jemo]

Unfortunately, the original clip is gone but this gives me some ideas.

I guess I should fix the door gaps first. In order to get the door gaps right, did you weld 1/8" rod to the gaps and grind until lines matches or is there an easier way? The door gaps are really bad on the truck.

[Speedbumpauto]

Yea, buddy! 1/8" rod and 1,238,561 tack welds. There's no easy way.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Jemo

Unfortunately, the original clip is gone but this gives me some ideas.

I guess I should fix the door gaps first. In order to get the door gaps right, did you weld 1/8" rod to the gaps and grind until lines matches or is there an easier way? The door gaps are really bad on the truck.

I'd say set the door gaps at the top and back of the doors as close to perfect as you can get them before even starting to install the nose.

Once you have them as close to perfect as you can get by moving the doors around you do the welding rod thing if you have to.

Then start setting up the front sheet metal and fabbing your support system (s) for the core support and bumpers As Orrie said in his post build the supports so you have room to shim the nose up into place. It's a lot easier to add and or subtract shims or spacers than it is to figure out how you are going to fix it because your supports are a bit high and you need the front to come down a bit.

If you haven't already done so I'd install all new cab support bushings so that the cab was setting square to the frame and at the proper height from the frame. That might also take a slight twist out of the cab that may cause door alignment problems.

[Iceburgh]

I have done many of these, and as stated there are a million ways to do this.
Also like others have said everything hangs from the rad support so it must be in the correctr position to start.
I use a jig made up of spare parts and angles that is bolted in a area that does not move ( Hinge bolts) then from there jig down and out to the base plate for the rad support.
When you tack the new clip in place use this as a starting point along with measuring to stay square and true. One note if your cab mounts are bad or floor is rusted to where the cab is not sitting correctly you will need to repair that first

[ChuckDriver]

Here's how mine was done.

[hotrodelrod]

Very clever!

Originally Posted by Iceburgh

I have done many of these, and as stated there are a million ways to do this.
Also like others have said everything hangs from the rad support so it must be in the correctr position to start.
I use a jig made up of spare parts and angles that is bolted in a area that does not move ( Hinge bolts) then from there jig down and out to the base plate for the rad support.
When you tack the new clip in place use this as a starting point along with measuring to stay square and true. One note if your cab mounts are bad or floor is rusted to where the cab is not sitting correctly you will need to repair that first