Shorty's 51

[Intimidator]

Coming in the morning....

51, 350/350/12 Bolt, Camaro front sub

With extra parts. Gonna add the corner windows...
have the roof and windows, and want a 5 window, so I'm gonna splice em in....
no chop on this one since I'm 6'7" and it's gonna be a daily driver.

Body mods to be done:

Frenched headlights
Move cab back about 3"
(And likely extend the firewall and floor forward that 3" to gain my legroom)
Chop box shorter and move forward about 9"
Move box up as high as needed for proper look/feel
Extend bed sides as low as stock position
re-mount fenders in stock position
work back end with roll pan and finesse the bottoms of support rails
(Corner windows eventually, not shown here)

So here is a rough rendering of the basic stance and body alignment goal:

I might have the box a wee bit high in the rendering...


Before and after (Real before, photoshopped after):

[Intimidator]

Ok... Progress today.

Yesterday was some fuel line and brake lines mocked up.

Today was more

Removed the box and front clip
(Minus the hood... need to move stuff out of the garage tomorrow so I have a good place to set it aside)

Made the notch pieces for the rear and got those tacked up in place. Will weld all accessible joints, then cut out the frame and weld up the underside.

Still have some gusset material to run from in front and behind the notch. You'll have to wait till tomorrow to see that

PICS.... I love pics.

[Intimidator]

More pics! Ahahahahahahaaaa!

[Intimidator]

And even moooooore!!!! Mwah ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa!!!!!

But... Is... That.... All ???

[Intimidator]

Not, There's more....

Last of the pics for today.

More to do. Gussets, cross member. Fix some rot at the front passenger shackle.

Once the rear is done, on to moving the cab back and shortening the box and moving it forward.

I'd say my Monday or Tues she'll be sitting level, Rear lowered a good 4+ inches to flatten her out, and shortened with the body back on.

Should be driving her soon. Was gonna slam her together quick since I'm grabbing S10 and bag parts and looking for a frame, but figured, eh, what the heck

[Intimidator]

Progress.

Cab slid back 3", 8" off the box. She's now 1" shorter overall than the shortbox. With a 9" longer wheelbase and 2" longer box. Go figure

Should ride sweet. I'll know this weekend

[nebdrummer]

Nice! ya did the flip in the rear! make sure you check driveshaft clearance on the crossmember right under the rear of the cab. I had oh so slight rubbing marks on my driveshaft. I still have some 2" wide 2 degree shims for my old rear if you need them.

[Intimidator]

I could use those shims

shortyemcee AT gmail DOT com

[Intimidator]

Current state.... everything's into a guide coat so I can start body work.

Workin out the mechanical. I've put 15 miles or road testing on in one drive..... but she's gettin hot enough to boil.

Flushed the radiator and it has good flow, new therm, new water pump.... still overheats and my brand new classic parts gauge doesn't read over 120 or so....

weird.

I'm thinkin I have a bum gauge and my block is plugged.

[OrrieG]

Making good progress, I have a question. Moving the cab back 3" didn't the front fenders and clip move too? Or was that all ready figured into the process when the front was clipped (looks like it in your rendering before pic)? Or had the cab already been moved back when the thread started??

[Intimidator]

I moved the cab and front fenders/grill/radiator back. It was in the stock location before I had at it.

The front subframe stayed as is, (I gusseted their work, which I didn't like).

Moving her back gave me better alignment of front wheel in the well too

It was very simple actually.

I got 16" of some pre-fab material that is the shape of the cab mount pads that are under the front/floor of the cab, cut to two pieces of 8", one for each side. They laid in right in front of the factory ones. (I had to trim one side flange a little to get the 3" on center.) So they worked out great. Just welded em in underneath the floor.

The rear mounts are a shackle type deal, so I just measured back 3" and drilled new holes in the frame. I unbolted the rear mounts from the frame and left them bolted to the cab.

I stuck the floor jack under the back edge of the cab (With a 2x4 spread acrodd to distribute the load a little bit) and had a buddy help me slide her back, lined up the rear mounts, bolted em in, squared, drilled my fronts through the new front cab mount pads..... tadda

It was very very simple.

As far as the front clip goes.....

The front filler, under/behind the bumper, bolts to the core/radiator support. Fenders also. The PO welded some 'ears' off the sides/bottom of the core support that laid right on top of the frame rails, and bolted it through the top edge of the frame. So all I had to do here, was to move it back and drill new holes..... beyond that, I now realize that he screwed up his fab work on mounting the core support, so I need to fix it.... it keeps the core support too high and so my fenders don't sit right on the cab. Not a big deal, not a very hard fix, I just need to bring it down roughly a 3/8"

Does that answer the Q?

added: The pieces I used for the front cab mounts were slightly 'thicker' than stock, so the front of the cab is also up about 1/4" now, I just need to get thinner rubber for that, easy fix.... will make a stiffer cab, but oh well....

between that and the core support it really screws up the angle of my fenders and alignment of the running board against the front fender, but I should have it straightened out by next weekend

And I need to level out my box (raise the front)

so much little crap before I can really start body work.