57 Chevy Truck Camaro Chip install

[rawraw67]

Just wanted to post a few picture of the camaro chip that I am doing.The subframe is from a 1981 Z/28

[rawraw67]

what do you Guys Think ? saturday welded up the subframe and got it all grinded and steam cleaned. now ready for some filler.Thats my 16 year old working on his welding skills.

[enick72]

looking good.

[blackdiesel]

Those bare legs are going to hurt in the morning. I've still got scars from where i did the similar about 6 years ago. use your leathers!!

[1955 Eddie]

Nice work

[Houston54]

I will just add two words of caution to you.

1. I noticed you are using a 110-120V welder with gas. The effective thickness limit on that welder at high power is .135" with that set up. This is at the bare minimum to weld that metal thickness with. I would suggest getting a professional welder to go over the critical welds or use a higher power rig yourself. I borrow a friends 220V rig when I need to do frame welding.

2. I typically do not grind the frame welds as it compromises the strength in my opinion. I also would not put filler on them should that disguise a crack sometime in the future.


The frame is one area where it is better to be sure as a failure would be worse than terrible.

Glad to see another Father-Son project.

[rawraw67]

Originally Posted by blackdiesel

Those bare legs are going to hurt in the morning. I've still got scars from where i did the similar about 6 years ago. use your leathers!!

I know what you mean.I had one spark go down in my shoe,it gave me a nice burn on my foot.

[rawraw67]

Originally Posted by Houston54

I will just add two words of caution to you.

1. I noticed you are using a 110-120V welder with gas. The effective thickness limit on that welder at high power is .135" with that set up. This is at the bare minimum to weld that metal thickness with. I would suggest getting a professional welder to go over the critical welds or use a higher power rig yourself. I borrow a friends 220V rig when I need to do frame welding.

2. I typically do not grind the frame welds as it compromises the strength in my opinion. I also would not put filler on them should that disguise a crack sometime in the future.


The frame is one area where it is better to be sure as a failure would be worse than terrible.

Glad to see another Father-Son project.

we have .035 inner core wire with no gas,the bottle is empty.with the setting hot D-4 D-5

[no moa]

I've Got 3 trans am clips I saved for my 72 truck, keep posting I want to see where this goes. Nice work.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by rawraw67

I know what you mean.I had one spark go down in my shoe,it gave me a nice burn on my foot.

I still have scars on my arms and legs from welding and cutting with a torch in tee shirt and cutoffs 35 years ago.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Houston54

I will just add two words of caution to you.

2. I typically do not grind the frame welds as it compromises the strength in my opinion. I also would not put filler on them should that disguise a crack sometime in the future.

In my experience the crack usually shows up right next to the weld, not at the weld itself. These frames flex a lot by design and the weld will be stronger than the adjacent frame material.

[C-10 simplex]

Originally Posted by rawraw67

what do you Guys Think ? saturday welded up the subframe and got it all grinded and steam cleaned. now ready for some filler.Thats my 16 year old working on his welding skills.

IF you can do it, fine; i had a friend with a 55 pickup with a camaro front subframe installed and it rode just fine.

If it were me, i would have went with struts OR went with a-arms---such as from a camaro or monte carlo/ S-10 etc., but kept the stock frame, but that's just me.

[nikwho]

Originally Posted by C-10 simplex

IF you can do it, fine; i had a friend with a 55 pickup with a camaro front subframe installed and it rode just fine.

If it were me, i would have went with struts OR went with a-arms---such as from a camaro or monte carlo/ S-10 etc., but kept the stock frame, but that's just me.

C- 10 simplex, can you clarify what you mean? He is using camaro A-arm suspension.

[nikwho]

rawraw67, its cool to see your son getting to work on the project too! Does your truck frame overlap over the camaro sub-frame at all? Seems to be much tougher that way to box it in more and have more than one flat surface welded. Just a thought. Its looking good though, making good progress. The progress of my project started going so much faster as I finished up the frame work. Have fun!

[rawraw67]

nikwho, I cut the truck frame so that it would slid in to the camaro subframe.if you take a look at the picture you can see how I cut the frame.it will slid in just about 11'inch and is just about center in the subframe.I then box and overlap the outside of the frame

[rawraw67]

Have a few Pictures of the filler and primer going on.pulled the A-arms off and bought new ball joints and bushings.I will try to get the A-arm done this weekend.

[nikwho]

Wow. Looks nice and clean. Good job! Is this going to be your sons truck?

[63chevyll]

just curious, Im sure you did but i didnt see the picture.

how did you support or measure the X in the frame to make sure everything is square.

i know how much a frame can move when not supported

[Kabwe]

Well I really want to know about that 55 wagon in the background. BTW great job on the clip

[66_c10]

Does anyone have pictures of the motor mounts and trans crossmember?
My frame is welded like this and the trans is low to the ground because the truck frame is spliced higher than the way others weld it together. Seems like you have to raise the engine higher to make it work

[idbeast]

Originally Posted by rawraw67

Have a few Pictures of the filler and primer going on.pulled the A-arms off and bought new ball joints and bushings.I will try to get the A-arm done this weekend.

Close to what I did with mine! 77 Nova sub frame, 3/8" steel plate boxed around 4 inches past all joints.

Originally Posted by 66_c10

Does anyone have pictures of the motor mounts and trans crossmember?
My frame is welded like this and the trans is low to the ground because the truck frame is spliced higher than the way others weld it together. Seems like you have to raise the engine higher to make it work

With the sub frame at the same height as the truck frame stock small block V8 frame mounts and an aftermarket transmission mount with separate frame to crossmember mounts allow you to put the tailshaft in perfect alignment. Keep in mind Chevy motor mounts very in height almost 2 inches!

[Rickysnickers]

Flipped it

[cameo]

I had to hunt down motor mounts out of a Nova, as all the truck ones I had would not allow the mounts to line up with the subframe bolt holes