MaTTSuN

well here you have it all done my first big step for my Z's frame i found some cool rustolium paint that dries as a hammer finish im going to do the whole engine bay like that as well hope yall liked my progress i had lots of fun with my new camera Matt

the angle gives me a nice....er shot to the holes for the tubing if it was closer on the top i would have to hack the rad suport up after i got the hood on i saw i could have raised it up a little for more ground clearence but im going to put a front spliter on the bottom so that should protect it a little more i dont think im going to run it 2 low for street driving anyways

im going to make a air tunnel so it all goes into the rad after the intercooler if it ends up being a prob its not to hard to switch it. not sure what its off of my buddy picked it up for me from a truck pretty sure it was an isuzu or a gmc same thing i think...

got my big isuzu intercooler mounted today welded some "nuts" onto my new frame and welded some other "nuts" into some tube and bobs ur uncle got me a sterdy front mount its rock solid and should act as a good bumper haha jk

well pretty much finished the frame work just need to clean it up a little more before paint i got the intercooler mounted today i think ill make a new post for that i guess ill have one more to add for this one after i paint it still need to make a mount for my oil cooler then ill paint got my new rad the other day hope it keeps this cooler then the last stock ones

very cool i was thinking about doing that aswell do you have any batterys where the gas tank "was" how much do the batt's and electric motor weight compaired to the gas engine?

i have a little mig pack 100 from home depot it welds everything without gas as long as i can keep steady and keep the area clean it makes a good weld i have been running it off a long extention cord with no prob

my filter has nothing to do with this post please keep it on topic haha jk thnks i got my new rad ill be getting it monday then ill get that intercooler fitted that u got me and we can make some real power

finished one of the side triangles today man it took allot longer than it should have my crappy chop saw is a time bugler

thanks ill be sure to blow that boot out and get a new one on there i was thinking about that on my drive home last night haha well next is cleaning up in front of the rad and seam welding everything prob going to trianglate the corners of this bad boy tonite next for the chassis is slipping some of this 2x2 into the frame rails and welding/riviting it in and at some point in the next couple weeks getting my big npr intercooler in place and i think i need a brake booster then strut tower braces

ok here are some new pics from tonite its on there pretty solid now but i need to go over it some more and make it really nice not sure if i should make a triangle on the ends like the stock one does i prob will just to square it off so the pan im going to make for under my airdam has more to mount on how does it look so far? im welding all my seams up front while i do this to give some more strength ill be doing that over the whole car as i go from the front to back improving this classic ruster

thanks here is a pic with my airdam pre new mod

haha thanks i like it i got the tube for free so all in all a good upgrade now i just need to finish it up and make it solid it was allot funner making putting it on the car is not as fun ill have some new pics tonite

thanks im very proud of this part i made classing up my car real nice like i started weling it to the car today but i didnt have my camera on me there are still the tabs on the chassis where the stock part was "gussets" i guess you can say u can see them in the pic im welding to those. i like the way it looks now do you think i should put trangles on the ends like the stock part looks or will this be strong enuf? i have an idea of what i want to do make like an I beam on the side with a hole much like how the stock part looks.

ok dude's im very excited now check this out i still have to touch up some of the seems but it almost there next i have to make some tabs and fit it to the chassis then gussets and that front triangle peice and she will be ready for the rab and intercooler

it would be very shaguare ha

thanks for all the help guys i got my square tubing today about 14 feet of 2x2 im going to finish the lower rad support first then figure out where i need to gusset it after that ill mount my big azz isuzu intercooler i wanted to make some pans for aero but that will be after a few things im going to slide some 2x2 in the sub frame since half of it is rusted out anyways, then make the strut tower braces but ill prob start a new thread for that when i get there oh yeah and how do i change my fence post title?? but that hooked everyone in and helped me not use fence post haha i was half kidding but i prob would have done it and cut it out after and wasted time thanks hybridz hehe new pics to come

heres a little something i put together with wood to see how it looks the red will be a plate much like the stock part looks like not sure if im going to do it in round or square ill figure that out when i get to my buddys shop

well im planning on doing strut bars next and running 2x2 in the subframe im also going to put a 4 point cage in at some point this summer this is just the first thing i wanted to do since i needed to do rad work anyways and ill be mounting my intercooler so i wanted to get everything infront of the rad nice and clean so i dont have to open it up again thanks for all the post its really helping me with my design

well let me clear it up a bit its not just going to be a tube going straight across, its going to fallow the same bends as the stock lower section did ill make it look pretty much like the stock section but it will be 2x2 and some gussets it will be nice stay tuned Matt

hmm interesting but i dont see how a rusty dented stock part can be better than a new 2x2 solid frame once i get it on ill see where i can put some gussets if its all attached at the same point as the stock peices wont it do the same job but better? since its thicker....

well i started my cutting im getting some 2x2 tube from a friend its about 2 bucks a foot he has a welding shop i took some pics of the cutting going to moke it up in wood tomorow then make it out of steal sometime this week or on the weekend then weld it on my car as far as going to the scrap yard for a core that is not even in my brain i want to make this thing strong not stock the fence post was just throwing an idea out there i still think it would look nice in round tube i might even go that route still if i can do some bending at my buddys it would save on some welding hmmmm thinking while i type... anyways here are some pics enjoy

ill prob just get a new one then

the wall thickness is pretty good i was just throwing it out there to see what people think as far as how strong it would be and safty if u look at my pics the post that i have would be a big upgrade from the stock rotted and patched i know a guy that has a welding shop im going to see if he has some nice stuff for me i may not use it but i think the fence post steel would be plenty strong for the cross bar infront of the rad at the bottom

ive always been outside when welding galv pipe never had a headache but i will take much better care with this little project thanks for the info Z-TARD but the round tube will look good right? and it will be much stronger than the stock beat up rusty thin steel.. i guess this is my step one in my frame ridgeding haha