Complete Scotts IFS install (how to) with pictures...

[jephs422]

The whole install will actually run in print later, so here's a quickie on just how easy an ifs install really is. I know a lot of you guys balk at the thought of cutting and welding, but really, it's not all that bad. Remember, if you aren't a competent welder you can always hire a mobile welder to buzz it all up once you have it tacked in. It won't take him more than an hour for final welding.

Now naturally I am leaving out a few steps to save space...

First things first, the entire front end was removed. When I arrived it was already pulled; but I don’t think I need to show you guys how to remove front sheet metal or a stock suspension. In this case, the frame was previously boxed, but it was done quite poorly so it was being redone also. One thing I wish I would have been there to photograph was how to measure the front axle centerline. In this case it was marked on the frame table where we will transfer it to the frame later.



In addition to removing the front sheet metal and suspension, the boxing plates were also removed with a plasma cutter. For those of you without a plasma, a die grinder with a cut off wheel would have worked just fine. As a matter of fact, I’ll show you a bit on that later. Ultimately the goal is to create two smooth frame rails so the crossmember and airbag brackets are easy to weld in straight.



Like I said, the boxing plates originally welded in were done with 18g sheetmetal. Not exactly what I’d call strong enough to hold a crossmember in, so after it was all cut out it we took a square to mark the inner frame rails. Here the goal is to grind the top and bottom of the frame rails level to each other. When the boxing plates are welded in we want them to be straight and level and not all cock eyed.





Once we were satisfied with the fit of the rails, a template was made for the boxing plates. I tell everyone to box it all from the firewall forward, but for time sake, we boxed just where we needed to.

[jephs422]

Severy takes a lot of time making his templates to save a lot more time later. Excessive trimming later is a bore.





Only a bit of 1/8” plate is needed. The template is transferred to the plate and cut with a plasma.





Now what happens for the guys that don’t have a plasma? Or how about when your plasma cutter takes a crap? Well, again, just bust out the cut off wheel. You really don’t need a slew of expensive equipment for this kind of install.

[jephs422]

A little bit of touch up and you should be good to go.





No need to weld it in here (unless you are welding this yourself) If not, go ahead and tack the plates in.



In our case, we decided to weld it in.

[jephs422]

Not really anything, I just love this pic, LOL...

[jephs422]

Next we ground the welds down and cleaned things up a bit.



Okay, here is the outside of the frame rail. Because this is an airbag install we need to make sure this part of the frame rail is smooth too. Because the plasma was on the fritz we used the cut off wheel again. Typically I like to smooth the entire outside of the rail, but it’s not necessary, so we opted to just cut out the detents and weld in some plate.


Again, it’s a good practice to clean things up after you cut them out. If you start clean, your piece will fit clean, and it’ll finish clean.



This is kind of a combo shot. You can see here where the patch is stitched in, but also a plumb bob is hanging to get the centerline of the wheels that was marked on the table. There are several ways to get the centerline marked so I won’t go too deep into it, but I do want to point out that it is very important that even when welding on plate to not let it get too hot. Just like sheetmetal, plate and frames can warp very easy. So stitch pieces into place and weld them in a bit at a time.

[jephs422]

This is what happens when you work too much.......

[jephs422]

Skip forward a bit. The frame rails are straight and smooth, and the crossmember is here ready to install. This is just how you receive it from Scott's. It is one piece and ready to install. There will naturally be a little bit of final trim fit, but it's basically ready to go.

A little grinding and it’s a tight fit and ready to line up.

So where does the crossmember go? That’s easy….dead center of the wheel centerline.



A quick tack, and booyah, it’s in.


Somewhere is a really cool picture with a level on the crossmember to show how to level it……but instead I’ll explain.
In short, you want to install the crossmember level to the ground with the truck sitting at ride level. Look at that sentence carefully. The truck is at ride level, not necessarily ride height. If you want a 2” rake in the truck, then level the truck with a 2” rake, and install the crossmember level to the ground. If you want the truck straight level, then level the truck, and level the crossmember to the ground.

[jephs422]

[jephs422]

In a lot of cases the upper arms hit the top of the frame rail at full inflation. In this case because of hos the crossmemebr was set up, it did not hit. But, we do include a set of cut outs for the top of the frame to clearance for the a-arms.

[jephs422]

Okay, back to some more of the technical stuff.

Because there is not real set way to tell you where to place your air bag, we use this method:
Holding you’re a-arm at ride height (the bottom a-arm level to the ground) measure from the bottom bag plate up 3-1/4” and make a mark on the frame.


Make the same mark the full width of the bag plate and draw a line. This is where your upper bag mount will sit.


The center mark here is the center of the crossmember which is also the center of the lower bag bracket, and the center of the upper bag bracket.



Another near impossible dimension to give is the location of the upper shock bracket. So rather than try to taken a dozen different reference points, how about if we just put it in the only place it can go…

Bolt on the shock to the lower shock mount and bolt on the upper shock mount to the shock. When you compress the shock the upper bracket will lay on top of the frame in the natural position. Tack it there in place. Then simply match the other side.

[jephs422]

You can see here it is already trimmed to sit at the correct angles.



At this point you can go ahead and tack in your upper bag mounts. Before you weld it in though, give it a quick eyeball to make sure it lines up with the lower bag bracket on the lower a-arm. We found that on our frame a previous plug protruded just a hair on the drivers side, so we went ahead and trimmed the bracket just a hair to line it back up.



Don’t try and level the upper bag bracket. Just make it parallel the bottom bracket.


Here Severy is marking the frame for the rack cutouts. Not all frames require this, but the height on the 67-72 frame is so tall it needs one. He just used the cutout as a template

[jephs422]

Ugly!!!


Okay, not ugly anymore. Now it’s ready to weld in place.


See, all better..



Now a lot of bolting on parts happens and I highly doubt I need to retell the story on how a rotor bolts to a spindle, so here’s the short version:
Spindle, inner seal, bearing/race, rotor, bearing/race, washer…LOL…..


Our caliper bracket

[nuke1]

good install so far jeph

[jephs422]

J-Body caliper



Crossmember’s just about welded in





A-arms are bolted on per the instruction sheet


Bags go in

[jephs422]

Spindles are attached along with the correct provided spacers.



Rack goes on along with the out tie rods



And well, as far as this part goes……the front ends installed and done.

See, pretty simple

[jephs422]

this is everything here less shocks and brakes

[Scottshotrods]

looks good,great pictures on the install Jeph
Justin

[Custom 68]

Jeph, thanks for the nice write up. It doesnt look too bad.

[jephs422]

Originally Posted by Custom 68

Jeph, thanks for the nice write up. It doesnt look too bad.

It's really not. I hope that with enough pictures and a detailed walk through, people can see that a weld in unit really is a fairly simple installation.

[gringoloco]

Looks very nice.

[kizer]

I don't think people really balk at the fact that its a weld in job. Its probably becasue a bolt in job everything is figured out and its simply a matter of putting a few bolts in a few holes thats so attractive to those like myself without the skills.

With welding you have to well use a tape measure and more thought because it comes in pieces and figuring out angles and locations can mean the difference between riding correctly and well having your alignment all out of wack.

[abadsvt]

Sweet write up. I enjoyed reading it all! Looks like a nice setup and love the way your control arms look. I like that custom built look. One question though. In those pics i didn't see any sway bar mounts on the lower control arm. Is that something you add later or let the person who purchases them add the mounts? Just curious. Anyways nice explanations and beautiful tig welds!

Josh

[Scottshotrods]

Originally Posted by abadsvt

Sweet write up. I enjoyed reading it all! Looks like a nice setup and love the way your control arms look. I like that custom built look. One question though. In those pics i didn't see any sway bar mounts on the lower control arm. Is that something you add later or let the person who purchases them add the mounts? Just curious. Anyways nice explanations and beautiful tig welds!

Josh

we do offer sway-bars with our frontends they are a upgrade to the frontend.We do weld a bung on to
the lower part of the a-arm.We have had customers in the
past order sway-bars after they installed the frontend.We
can make them and send them to you.You will have to weld
the bungs on your self.You can send the lower a-arms back
yo us and we can weld them on your self.
justin

[Scottshotrods]

On thursday at the shop
we will be installing our
polished scotts superslam ifs on a 68 chevy frame.
We will post some pics on this when done.You guys can see what it looks like.
Justin
www.scottshotrods.com

[jephs422]

Originally Posted by kizer

I don't think people really balk at the fact that its a weld in job. Its probably becasue a bolt in job everything is figured out and its simply a matter of putting a few bolts in a few holes thats so attractive to those like myself without the skills.

With welding you have to well use a tape measure and more thought because it comes in pieces and figuring out angles and locations can mean the difference between riding correctly and well having your alignment all out of wack.

I wasn't trying to imply at all that the folks here are not skilled enough to do a weld in ifs, rather, there is a ton of misinformation on just how the installs actually go, so I wanted to show how simple they are.

On a regular basis I actually get calls with people ask how they weld the a-arms together, or how the crossmember needs to be welded into one piece.

Yes, a weld in will be much more basic as far as installs go, but you will still need to do just as much measuring with that new fangled tape measure, LOL. the only real extra work is going to be the bit of welding. Even the bolt on kits that I am familiar with require you to cut in your rack notches.