My Front Frame Solution

[vin63]

I started boxing my frame awhile back - had mentioned in another thread how I had my paper patterns laser cut out of cold rolled plate. Anyway, I've been dealing with the issue of the front of the frame and access to the fasteners of the front crossmember. I didn't want to lose access, but also wanted to stiffen the front of the frame. So, I decided to run forward struts from the firewall to the frame. I fabricated plates at the firewall and frame that will allow me to bolt and unbolt the forward strut bars - similar to some of the front clip kits for the early Nova/Chevy IIs. I used existing bolts on the firewall for the mount plates, to keep things as simple as possible. I bent the 1 3/4", 0.120 wall tubing to try and follow the downward break on the inner fender so it didn't stand out too much. Here a couple of final mock ups before I start welding the tubing to the plates. These are prototypes for another set that I'll build for my friend, who wanted a set after seeing what I was doing.