Careless Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 aside from the Pparaska rails, i Might even get some small square stock and make a ribcage like underpan for the floor. trying not to add too much weight, but I've always felt that tying the frames into the rockers is a good way of achieving a bit more rigidity any comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Arizona Zcar used to sell plans for their convertible Zcar. Dave did a good job of adding stiffness to the rockers from the cage and the rails. It wasn't overboard to add weight, fairly minimal, but placed where it would do the most good... If I can find those drawings I'll scan them and post them... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Tying subframe connectors to the rockers is a good idea. The stock vehicle uses the rockers for strength. We tend to focus on big huge SFCs, but largely ignore the rockers. There have been some discussions on how to strengthen the rockers in the past 6 or 8 months and you can search and find them. I think it's worth your while to do so. Here's one to whet your appetite: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=112581 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnymrp Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 my car looked alot like yours. heres my soulution to the problem http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=12633&cat=500&ppuser=12917 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimsum Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 Woo hoo! Baddog rails and Zeddfindings floor pans just came in yesterday. Very exciting. I'll post pictures soon. My friends have been recommending that I put the car on a frame rack when I get the frame rails welded in. Is that necessary, or can I get them welded in with the car on jack stands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 if you have a frame rack option, go with it. the idea is to keep the car as close as possible to straight frame, and when you're doing it on jackstands, you might get sag, and a tweaked frame while welding them in i ordered the baddog rails myself, should be arriving soon. let me know what shop you've decided to get them welded in at, and how good of a job they've done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimsum Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 I went around to get some quotes today. A good number of shops aren't even interested in touching a job like this. The quotes I received were for cutting out the old floor pans and frame rails and welding in the new ones. The two quotes I was able to get were for $2500 and ~$2100. The ~$2100 quote includes sealing the seams and applying another sealant to the frames and floor pans. However, he wants to see the car next week before giving me a firm quote. I do not know if the $2500 quote includes sealant. However, this vendor did see the car and parts. Both shops will put the car on a frame rack to make sure the car stays straight. Does anybody know if these prices are outrageous or reasonable for this type of work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 DIY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I went around to get some quotes today. A good number of shops aren't even interested in touching a job like this. The quotes I received were for cutting out the old floor pans and frame rails and welding in the new ones. The two quotes I was able to get were for $2500 and ~$2100. The ~$2100 quote includes sealing the seams and applying another sealant to the frames and floor pans. However, he wants to see the car next week before giving me a firm quote. I do not know if the $2500 quote includes sealant. However, this vendor did see the car and parts. Both shops will put the car on a frame rack to make sure the car stays straight. Does anybody know if these prices are outrageous or reasonable for this type of work? IMO, that's ridiculously high. FOr 2 grand, they better be seamstitching the whole car. Assuming $75/hour in labor (because it's all labor), no way should it take 30+ hours to weld on 2 rails while the car's on a frame rack. $500 would be reasonable to me.... but 2500!? Which shops quoted you this? edit: just read that it was for floorpans as well. still kind of high IMO though. are your floorpans that bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimsum Posted January 22, 2007 Author Share Posted January 22, 2007 Careless, I wish I could do the work, but I don't have the skills, tools, or space to weld the frame. I figure something like this is better left to the experts. The two places I went to for quotes were White Oaks Auto Body, and Central Bodyworks, both in Campbell, CA. They have to cut out the old floor pans and frame rails (yes, the floor pans are pretty badly rusted, too) and then weld on the new parts. I'm going to try and get another quote or two, but it's hard when the car is immobile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 While we sell single point jack plates at Bad Dog Parts, if you have the skill, materials and tools you can make up two plates to weld on the mid-point of the rocker under the doors. That way you won't end up crushing your rails or floors, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 While we sell single point jack plates at Bad Dog Parts, if you have the skill, materials and tools you can make up two plates to weld on the mid-point of the rocker under the doors. That way you won't end up crushing your rails or floors, etc. what's a good size to make those jacking plates, in order to spread the load evenly, and is using a holesaw the cut through the rocker, and putting a small diameter metal tube inside to bear the weight a good idea at all? just wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Make them as big as the cup on your jack. For $40. we can sell and ship you a set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 what's a good size to make those jacking plates, in order to spread the load evenly, and is using a holesaw the cut through the rocker, and putting a small diameter metal tube inside to bear the weight a good idea at all? The hole through the rocker was the way I was going to go. Someone else suggested it to me a while back on one of my threads, sorry can't remember which thread or who it was. Basically you can put the hole up higher so that you don't need the jack to fit under the car, and then you can make a jack pad that is on a post that slides into the hole, kind of like a BMW in a way. Also it is possible to make stands that plug into the holes like rally cars use in servicing. I thought that the stands might be pretty useful too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The hole through the rocker was the way I was going to go. Someone else suggested it to me a while back on one of my threads, sorry can't remember which thread or who it was. Basically you can put the hole up higher so that you don't need the jack to fit under the car, and then you can make a jack pad that is on a post that slides into the hole, kind of like a BMW in a way. Also it is possible to make stands that plug into the holes like rally cars use in servicing. I thought that the stands might be pretty useful too... yeah. i might go ahead and do that =) i have a lot of time to plan it out .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimsum Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Update: I found somebody to come by and do the welding for $500. He's going to cut out the old floor pans and frame rails and weld in the new ones in my garage, with the car on jack stands. I have my reservations, but I will be there to watch him do the work and make sure that everything gets lined up properly. Auxiliary, if you're still interested, I can let you know about the quality of this guy's work. I also had somebody to offer to do the work for me in his shop "after hours" (without the owner knowing) for about the same price. I also bought some Rust Bullet to make sure the new pans and rails stay nice and clean. Do I paint the Rust Bullet on before or after the parts are welded on? I already painted the inside of the rails because they will be inaccessable after they are installed. What about the other parts, though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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