Nova Subframe Install On 49 Chevy Truck

[wpotter]

Learned a little and got more accomplished than thought we would. It was a good day of work and the subframe is 90% installed. Here are a few pictures of what and how we did it. Hope this will help if anyone is planning on doing the same for the first time.

[wpotter]

A few more.

[wpotter]

And then some more. Next we will be installing the rear leaf spring kit and Nova rearend. Will post a picture or two when done.

[wpotter]

Oops! Forgot the pictures, must be getting late.

[56ClassicTruck]

Looking good, I like the subs under the frame like that it will lower your front end alot, I did my clip right in the frame and it come out to high, I am going to redo it your way.....
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[hotrodjoe1952]

very nice and i love how you are doing it step by step in the pictures to show us that have never done this how to do things, just from your pictures all of my questions was answered so thank you so very much

[wpotter]

Glad this could. This is a project for my 13 year old son and we had help from both grandpas (3 generations), but it was a first time for all of us. Another thing I wanted to post was that you have to notch the subframe for the front running board mount. I do not have any close ups but this may show a little.

[Indian113]

great pictures,it gives everybody a good idea on how to do it. keep up the pictures and the good work
thanks Ray

[kaycee]

Nice work there potter sure appreciate the pics your adding,are u gonna do the rear allso.When doing this clip does the rear have to be c nothched or not?

[wpotter]

We are going to be doing the rear in the next couple weeks. My son has basketball tournaments the next two weekends so probably sometime after that.

We are going to be using a rear leaf spring kit from Chassis Engineering. They say it doesnt need to be notched unless you run a lowering block so we'll have to see how its sits when put together. We want it low but still driveable, at this time we dont really know how it is going to sit. I was thinking about notching it just in case while we have it all apart.. There is always an option for a drop spindle in the front since we want to convert it to disc brakes and lowering blocks in the rear. We'll be posting some pictures of the rear once we get a chance to work on it. Here is a photo of the rear right now, I think we are ready for a notch and to start installing the new kit.

[skip99]

nice

[mr48chev]

If you have it at the right height and it looks pretty close the stock core support will sit right on the front crossmember and only need a thin rubber spacer between it an the crossmember. I think I used a piece of sidewall cut out of an old tire when I did mine.

I think I like the way you did yours leaving back of the subframe on and having it under the stock frame rails. I cut mine and then spread the front of the stock frame more an it made for a bunch of work and filler panels before I was done.

[wpotter]

mr48chev

Do you have any photos of your core support? Also any of the engine compartment that would show the inner fender panels. This is the only thing I am unsure of but will probably come together once we start to reinstall everything. I think we have a little while to figure it out. Thanks

[ratty 46]

If I could be so bold to ask ... what is the difference between the original track width and the new subby??

Looks good.

Ratty 46

[wpotter]

I honestly dont know. All the research I did lead me to the early subframe because the later ones have a front steering box and are wider. If the original front suspension is'nt hauled off before I get back to where the truck is I can measure and let you know. Front the looks of just setting them next to each other it should be close.

[jrusher]

Im thinking of doing this to my 45 chev frame. What year of Nova did you use for the donor subframe ?

[wpotter]

We used the front clip and rear end from a 1971 Nova 4 door we bought for $200.00.

[dsraven]

looks pretty good for a bunch of newbs, haha. lucky kid anyway. great to see the generational thing working.
looks like you might have some experience at this whole hotrod thing, judging by the cool stuff in the background.

[jrusher]

Perfect thanks and nice work !

Originally Posted by wpotter

We used the front clip and rear end from a 1971 Nova 4 door we bought for $200.00.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by 56ClassicTruck

Looking good, I like the subs under the frame like that it will lower your front end alot, I did my clip right in the frame and it come out to high, I am going to redo it your way.....
Posted via Mobile Device

The key there is set the subframe up at it's stock ride height which on that subframe means the bottom of the crossmember will be about 5-1/2 inches off the shop floor. Level it and match the frame up to it at the ride height you want the truck to end up at.

I ran one on my 48 in he 80's and they are to me 80's tech that should be forgotten rather than embrced. You just flat have to cut up too much of the front inner sheet metal to get them to fit.

[dsraven]

my56classic, can you explain what you meant about the truck sitting lower if the subframe is under the truck frame as compared to welded on higher up on the truck frame? maybe I'm thinking backwards but wouldn't the sub under the truck frame make the truck sit taller than if it was welded in higher up on the truck?
wpotter, nice work. did you guys use plumb bobs dropped to mark the floor at axle centerlines in order to keep things square or some other method? just curious.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

my56classic, can you explain what you meant about the truck sitting lower if the subframe is under the truck frame as compared to welded on higher up on the truck frame? maybe I'm thinking backwards but wouldn't the sub under the truck frame make the truck sit taller than if it was welded in higher up on the truck?
wpotter, nice work. did you guys use plumb bobs dropped to mark the floor at axle centerlines in order to keep things square or some other method? just curious.

I'm not quite following that particular line of thought either.

leaving the back legs on the subframe gives you way more weld surface area plus it is a whole lot easier to set the subframe up so that the alignement is correct for the subframe and you don't get the subframe cockeyed to the actual frame.

I cut one frame up that a guy thought that he had to build caster into the frame bcause he wanted a pretty radical rake when it was done. Meaning that the subrame was not parallell with the frame by any stretch of the imigination. when it was all together the truck frame angled up at about a 5 degree angle from the subframe rather than being parallell.

There were other issues with the way the chassis was done so we scrounged up another stock frame and a bare Camaro subframe and hauled them down to my buddy and he welded them up right and we hauled it back and swapped the suspension from the other one to it. It ended up being a pretty nice driver quality truck that I still see around every once in a while even though it has changed hands several times.

As I mentioned earlier, if you block the subframe up on the shop floor or frame table at the stock ride height of the donor with it setting right and you bring the frame of the truck up to it at your desired final static ride height, you can hit very close to having the exact ride height you want. Rake or what ever height the rear will be at is all in the rear suspension. you do not build that into the frame assembly.

If you look at what was probably the last subframe out of about 30 that my buddy did over the years you can see on this TF frame he sat the frame real low on the subframe because the owner wanted a really low truck.



Xompare that to Wpotter's frame that should set higher from what I see.

WPotters subframe job is Textbook as for getting it right though. Note that the rail is as close to perfectly parallell to the subframe as you are going to get without a chassis table. This is the do it right subframe thread.


On the other hand this one that is done similar to how I did mine and how a lot of guys do is a bit iffy. It's how a lot of Chevelle style clips were installed though.