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Thread: Dropped my '56 off at Cnut's today

  1. #1
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    Dropped my '56 off at Cnut's today

    Hey fellas,

    A friend of mine and I dropped my '56 off at Cnut's this morning (Saturday, 4/9/16) for the front clip (with body on frame) C4 conversion. Super excited! It was a slight miracle that everything was ready with my work schedule lately...I pulled the motor and tranny on Friday night (4/8/16). Long day, but I got it out and everything today went off without any problems thankfully!

    Here are a few pics of the car loaded on the trailer for transport in Laramie, WY. I've asked Lazlo to take some pictures as he progresses so this should be pretty fun.

    FYI...the wheels on the front are stock 2005 GTO wheels. The offset is +48mm and is really close (within 4mm) of the stock C4 offset. I'll use these for a while before I put a set of 17x8.5 C5 ZO6 wheels on the car. The rear are actually Mustang Bullit wheels...I'm running an 8.8 F**d rear and got a killer deal on them. They'll come off after the front conversion.

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    Last edited by hutchenc; 04-09-2016 at 09:37 PM.

  2. #2
    Registered Member JT56's Avatar
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    This will be a fun project to watch

  3. #3
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    I got the frame joint area sandblasted this afternoon and we'll probably roll it into the shop tomorrow afternoon. The C4 front clip is already built, so it's just a matter of fitting and attaching it. Then Chad needs to reinstall the SBC engine and tranny, and hook up the steering, clutch linkage, exhaust, and a few other things. We did a standard 3" front drop with a late C4 suspension, Z51 30mm swaybar, and Chad is installing C5 brakes on it.

    I can't wait to get a ride in this car and hear Chad's impressions when he gets to drive it.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  4. #4
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    C6 brakes Lazlo! I found out, because I have a 2005 GTO, that 2005-2006 GTO front brake calipers are the same as Corvette C6 calipers, but without the "Corvette" logo. And, C5 and C6 calipers are interchangeable...but the C6 variety is a little stronger and looks cleaner (IMHO). The only difference is that the GTO uses different abutment brackets than the vette does so one needs those. I picked up my GTO calipers with pads and floating pins for $150 (including the rear calipers so I can just sell those for maybe $75...can't go wrong there!). So one can use C5 12.8 inch rotors (17" wheels will work) or C6 Z51 13.4 inch rotors (requires 18" wheels) with either C5 or Z51 C6 abutment brackets, respectively, and GTO calipers. I think I'm gonna stick with the 12.8" variety...I don't really need 13.4" brakes, but I can switch if I want in the future. Seeing as I want to run the 17" ZO6 wheels, I will likely stick with the 12.8" C5 rotors and abutment brackets along with the GTO calipers. The cool thing about this is that GTO calipers are about half the price of C6 calipers on the used market and also use the same brake pads as the vette.

  5. #5
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    We got Chad's car off of the trailer on Saturday and in the shop on Sunday just before the rain started. Today I put it up on jackstands, leveled it , and removed the wheels. I had to cut away the clutch ball and a steering box bracket before I could check the side-to-side level at the cowl. I tore off the temporary suspension and now we have a bare frame to work in. I marked the front bumper holes on the floor with a plumb bob, and also the radiator support holes to mark the center of the frame in case the frame horns are bent. Luckily, it looks like my frame jig, which I completely disassembled, will bolt back up under the body. All I might have to do is remove the rear caliper brackets, but it clears the springs, rotors, and everything else. The jig will let us accurately relocate the clip without nearly as much measuring and fitting.

    Here's the car after unloading it....




    Here's the stuff I had to remove because it's right where the joint is going to be.




    Here's the car on stands, leveled, with the front suspension removed.



    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by chevynut; 04-11-2016 at 06:25 PM.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  6. #6
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I dropped Chad's clip and a full conversion frame off today for sandblasting, and hopefully get it back on Thursday. In the meantime I'll finish assembling the jig and cut the stock front clip off.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  7. #7
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    Glad you got it in before it rained Everyone can see my frame tears now! Long story short...had the car moved across the country a long time ago. guy put tow hooks in holes in the frame right behind the firewall on both sides and tightened it down so much the hook literally tore the frame. The company that moved it then said it was already there...yeah right! The repair is not very well done obviously.

  8. #8
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    Well...got off the phone with Lazlo. My frame is tweaked...I'm not surprised at all. I think this car was driven a lot before I bought it and I know for a fact that the front end sheet metal was originally from a red car (because I stripped it to bare metal)...this car was never red so it hit something at some point in the past and someone replaced the sheet metal! The passenger side frame horn has been dented since I have had the car...I bought it in 1992. I guess the passenger side has been pushed back about 1/4" or so...enough that it didn't line up on his jig. Lazlo is going to attempt to pull it forward a bit to address that.

    And, my rear end isn't centered...off by about 1/4" to the passenger side. I have later plans to run a Watt's link anyhow so this is good to know.

  9. #9
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    I knew something might be amiss when I measured from the bumper bolt holes to the floor, and got 3/8" different dimensions. I was pretty sure my floor wasn't off that much in 36" . I noticed the dent in the frame horn where the diagonal brace attaches that you can kinda see in the pics above, so being off a little was not a big surprise. There's also a tear at the very front of that frame horn, possibly from the same event. That vertical displacement was confirmed when I got got the front of the jig bolted together and leveled.

    What was a bit of a surprise was that the passenger side bolt hole was further back than the driver's side. I aligned the REAR bumper bolt hole on the driver's side with the jig and the front hole aligned with the jig as well. Now I could tell that both the front and rear bolt holes on the passenger side were too far back, so I concluded that the frame is "parallelogrammed" a little. With the body on it's not easy to find locations to cross-check the frame. The jig has a diagonal brace to keep the sides in alignment and everything square. I'm going to re-check it when I get some help, but the dimension from the jig to the firewall brace is the same on both sides so I'm pretty confident the jig is still correct. Given the damaged frame horn, I'd say the passenger side is pushed back but I didn't think that was enough damage to do it.

    Once I confirm again that the frame is not square, I plan to put a come-along on it and pull it square. I may have to cut the front crossmember off to do that, and I need to be careful that I don't lose my frame centerline. This is the first time we've attempted a clip installation on a frame with the body on, so there's a bit of a learning curve. Normally we'd just hack the crossmember off and drop the frame in the jig and let it align the rails where they're supposed to be.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  10. #10
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    Seems like if you verify the jig and are still convinced that the frame is parallelogrammed, you could add some temporary blocks that keep the frame in the correct lateral relationship while allowing fore/aft movement on the frame rail that's pushed back, then pull it into place. Another thing you could do is cut all but one vertical wall away on the crossmember on one side, allowing it to hinge at the cut as you pull the frame rail into place.

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