"williams welding" 54 5 window

[slammed57]

I'll be watching your build, enjoy it with your son and have tons of patience and it will be something he will rember for a long long time. priceless!!

[tlwilliams]

happy thanksgiving to everyone, no real updates yet, ordered a tri-4link from thorn bros, and this weekend ill likely place the order for my 9" for the camaro , and pull the camaro rear end out, possibly narrow it a inch on each side and mock it in, thinking of going with the qa1 coilovers outback, anyone have any experience with them?

[bobinbc]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

also when installing your cross members, what are you setting the rake to? i set mine to +1.5 degrees , i marked my front axle line before removing the solid axle, but given the heidts measurement from the front shackle , they are about 3/4 of a inch off

Does this era of truck need the wheel centerline moved forward to look right in the opening like the TF trucks? When you lower a TF truck the front axle centerline needs to move ahead roughly an inch or so...

[tlwilliams]

BOBINBC- i know before i removed the old soild axle it was centered in the fenders, but i can also tell you that today i will be throwing a set of wheels on and checking the center and get back to you

[Kevin Mac]

Nice build and shop. I just put QA-1 coilover on my front clip and they are good quality.

Mac

[sprworm12]

A friend of mine who owns a hot rod shop strongly suggested I move the "new" centerline 3/4" to 1" forward from the factory location.

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by sprworm12

A friend of mine who owns a hot rod shop strongly suggested I move the "new" centerline 3/4" to 1" forward from the factory location.

im wondering why tho? where i put my cross member, i barely had room for the rack and pinion cut outs and the core support as is

[tlwilliams]

so ive been progressing steadily , still waiting on my 4 link to show up and when it does ill pull the axle out of the camaro, i ordered my 9" rear from quick performance, they said it should around 2 weeks to ship out , BY FAR the best pricing on a new 9" rear, only thing left to order is some coil overs

tomorrow i should be picking up 40 foot of 1.75 round tubing to build cross members

right now im welding up all the holes in the frame and getting ready to box everything in, I straightened the metal where the old engine cross member was, by far the hardest part of the this build has been removing all the old pieces and original rivets, what a pain in the a**, if i was to do it again, i think i would just build a new frame from scratch. will post pics later tonight

only question for the day , what angle is everyone trans sitting out ? ill be running a 5.3 to 4l60, thanks

[tlwilliams]

ok pics as promised... i put the cab and fender back on to check center on the suspension, hopefully yall see what i see, it looked good to me so i burned it all in no going back now

[tlwilliams]

time spent cutting off bracket and rivets, and welding holes

[tlwilliams]

unrelated to the build, but i was able to get my son his first four wheeler! proud dad moment , he's quite a bit to small for it , but gives me time to work on it till he's ready

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

ok pics as promised... i put the cab and fender back on to check center on the suspension, hopefully yall see what i see, it looked good to me so i burned it all in no going back now

Looks pretty good. Set it down off the jack to check fitment. I'm not sure if the mustang II suspension goes straight up and down or if there is a slight toe effect when you put weight on the frame. That may put your wheels back an inch or so which would look pretty spot on.

For all the measurements I did with the front fender, nothing beat just sitting back on the floor and staring at it until I felt the lines were spot on. I just did it with my front fender by laying on the driveway and staring at it. Eyeballing I ended up 1/8" off from one end to the other not bad

[Advanced Design]

It looks good from here! Congrat's on the new 4 wheeler...cute son there!

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

It looks good from here! Congrat's on the new 4 wheeler...cute son there!

thank you doug for the kind words!

tonight i got the rest of the cross members removed , since i cant find anyone around who will sand blast, ive been spending countless hours with a wire wheel and a grinder cleaning up the inside frame rails to prep for box. one more evening and i believe all rivets and holes will be done.

[tlwilliams]

FINALLY have the entire frame stripped of all stock pieces and rivets, frame is clean and about to be boxed and cross members built... any advice on how to set engine and trans in the frame? this is my first time doing something like this , its a 5.3 4l60e combo, do i put cab back on and set engine in place to get front to back or is there another way?

also i hate to bad mouth anyone or company, but i ordered my 4 link from thorbros since there were local, money has been taken from account but now i cant get them to return any of my calls (4 in total) has anyone else ordered from them? thanks

[joedoh]

thor bros used to be "we aint no damn corporation" thorbecke fabrication, who made good parts at a great value for minitruckers about 15 years ago.

then something changed. they got more machines and doing outside machine/fab work, the founder started posting pictures of his expensive rides while more and more people started complaining about order times. I heard on another forum the wait for certain pieces was measured in years. YEARS!

I havent ordered anything from them in over 10 years, I remember though that all the "drop ship" stuff (airbags arent usually stocked, they just send the order to the airbag maker and they fulfill the order) showed up a good week and a half before the fabbed stuff.

this is just my experience, I hope I am just talking out loud and your stuff is on the way. I dont think they take the money till its ready to build so maybe that is a good sign.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

I think with thorbros it depends where you land in the rotation. It seems like he bangs out a lot at once vs one at a time.

He's a good dude though maybe try contacting on Instagram

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

FINALLY have the entire frame stripped of all stock pieces and rivets, frame is clean and about to be boxed and cross members built... any advice on how to set engine and trans in the frame? this is my first time doing something like this , its a 5.3 4l60e combo, do i put cab back on and set engine in place to get front to back or is there another way?

also i hate to bad mouth anyone or company, but i ordered my 4 link from thorbros since there were local, money has been taken from account but now i cant get them to return any of my calls (4 in total) has anyone else ordered from them? thanks

Yes, I would suggest putting the cab back on the frame to position the engine and transmission in place.
I ordered from them 7 or 8 years ago and the parts came in pretty quickly.

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by joedoh

thor bros used to be "we aint no damn corporation" thorbecke fabrication, who made good parts at a great value for minitruckers about 15 years ago.

then something changed. they got more machines and doing outside machine/fab work, the founder started posting pictures of his expensive rides while more and more people started complaining about order times. I heard on another forum the wait for certain pieces was measured in years. YEARS!

I havent ordered anything from them in over 10 years, I remember though that all the "drop ship" stuff (airbags arent usually stocked, they just send the order to the airbag maker and they fulfill the order) showed up a good week and a half before the fabbed stuff.

this is just my experience, I hope I am just talking out loud and your stuff is on the way. I dont think they take the money till its ready to build so maybe that is a good sign.

i hope your right, im gonna keep my fingers crossed, want to keep this project moving along.

Originally Posted by Dave_The_BMXER

I think with thorbros it depends where you land in the rotation. It seems like he bangs out a lot at once vs one at a time.

He's a good dude though maybe try contacting on Instagram

great minds think alike, i did add him on instagram and sent him a message tonight, wait to see if he replys.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Yes, I would suggest putting the cab back on the frame to position the engine and transmission in place.
I ordered from them 7 or 8 years ago and the parts came in pretty quickly.

thanks AD, it will mostly likely be a couple weeks before i need to actually build my cross members, think im getting a little ahead of myself, still need to box all the chassis in yet

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

FINALLY have the entire frame stripped of all stock pieces and rivets, frame is clean and about to be boxed and cross members built... any advice on how to set engine and trans in the frame? this is my first time doing something like this , its a 5.3 4l60e combo, do i put cab back on and set engine in place to get front to back or is there another way?

also i hate to bad mouth anyone or company, but i ordered my 4 link from thorbros since there were local, money has been taken from account but now i cant get them to return any of my calls (4 in total) has anyone else ordered from them? thanks

I had cab and front fenders on just so I could be sure the fenders lined up to the front wheels. Front axle is pretty much the only thing that can't be shifted and moved Engine and trans fitment after that.

For suspension parts, I tried Matt's Bowties on this forum and I can see my shipment is about to be delivered today. Turn around time I think was a week. I originally was going to go with Thorbros but read far too many posts about people waiting months for their stuff to arrive.

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by gigamanx

I had cab and front fenders on just so I could be sure the fenders lined up to the front wheels. Front axle is pretty much the only thing that can't be shifted and moved Engine and trans fitment after that.

For suspension parts, I tried Matt's Bowties on this forum and I can see my shipment is about to be delivered today. Turn around time I think was a week. I originally was going to go with Thorbros but read far too many posts about people waiting months for their stuff to arrive.

ill have to check him out for future builds, on that note i was able to get a message to jason, he informed me that he has been in texas at a truck show/build show, to shoot him my info and will try to get my parts out tomorrow, fingers crossed

[OutlawDrifter]

Definitely put the cab on to set the clearance to the firewall. Slide it as far back as you can, not much room after all the front drive accessories go on. I have less than 3" between the radiator and the end of the water pump on my '49.

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by OutlawDrifter

Definitely put the cab on to set the clearance to the firewall. Slide it as far back as you can, not much room after all the front drive accessories go on. I have less than 3" between the radiator and the end of the water pump on my '49.

do you care to post up some pics of the clearance so i can get a good idea in my head, that would help me a ton

also do you happen to know what degree you set the trans and pinion angle at ?

[OutlawDrifter]

Here is a link to the build thread. Still not 100% done, but it is running, driving, and tagged.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=732777

Pictures start on page 3.

Current angle is between 4.5-5*. Steeper than I would normally do, but it worked better for my setup. 3-4* would probably be more ideal.

[tlwilliams]

Originally Posted by OutlawDrifter

Here is a link to the build thread. Still not 100% done, but it is running, driving, and tagged.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=732777

Pictures start on page 3.

Current angle is between 4.5-5*. Steeper than I would normally do, but it worked better for my setup. 3-4* would probably be more ideal.

good info thanks! im also super super jealous of the heating system your putting in your shop, maybe next year for me, this year will be heavy overalls and jackets