Very Nice!!
The guys who have driven their cars with Newman's or my frames say they drive like a modern car, like a Corvette, and "like it's on rails" or "like a slot car". The power rack is 2.36 turns lock to lock (high perf ones are 1.96 turns) and caster is 6 degrees for stability on the highway. You get 4-wheel discs (11.5" or 12" OEM standard) and all C4 rears are POSI. I figure the setup takes 150 pounds or more off the stock frame.
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
Good to know.Makes me want to keep working on mine.
I'll post a progress udate in a few days.
Brian
Justin Novick
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I took some time off from the frame project to do a side project last week. I built this bending brake to bend 1/8" up to 6" wide. I did do a test bend on a piece of 2" wide 3/16" that worked pretty well also. I made it out of 1 1/2 x 2 rectangular tubing (1/8" wall). I used this because I had a bunch of 2 foot pieces from the local steel suppliers surplus stock. You can make one with flat stock or angle iron as well, you just have to make sure the center of the pivot point is right where the top corner of stationary bed meets the top corner of the bending bed. I made 2 different hold down pieces, 1 from the rectangular tubing that puts a nice radius on the bends but you can't quite get a full 90 degree bend, or do a tight u-bend. The second hold down is just a piece of 3/8 x 4" flat stock I had laying around which works well for finishing the 90 degree bends and the tight u-bends. in the last 2 pics you cans see the spacer (made from 5/8 dom tubing drilled to 3/8 in the center) to let the handle pivot freely and a couple of test pieces I bent up. Of course this led to some shop reorganization and a new workbench to mount the brake to. I should have built one of these years ago though, It sure beats the heck out using the bench vise and a hammer!
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Up next on the frame is the center cross member. I'll finish up on the rear sway bar later. I am building the cross member similar to the Art Morrison frames. So far I have the rear bulkhead built. I am using 3/4" x 1 1/2" .080 wall rectangular tubing and 1/8 x 3 flat stock to form an I beam. The exhaust holes are 4" x 1/8" wall round tubing, I used a 4" hole saw to make the holes for tubing to slip into. The center hoop I built a form and bent the tubing around it with the help of the acetylene torch. I'll probably add a piece of 1/8 flat in the lower part of the center hoop once I mock up the engine, trans and drive shaft so I know how much clearance is needed. The plan for the rest is to make another bulkhead like the rear one about 2' in front of it, and tie the 2 together with I beams parallel to the drive shaft tunnel and then angling out to just behind where the original rear motor mount were. The trans cross member will be bolted in where needed. This should make the frame quite a bit stiffer in the middle without added a bunch of weight.
Slow but sure I keep making progress.
Brian![]()
If you really want cool, cheap, easy to use brake to bend thick steel, I recommend one of these:
http://www.swagoffroad.com/20-TON-Pr...-Kit_p_40.html
It Is capable of bending mild steel in the following length and thickness.
- 19" = Full bending width of the bottom die on anything 1/8" or thinner.
- 15" in 3/16"
- 12" in 1/4"
- 5" in 3/8"
I have bent 3/8" thick steel with this that was 2" wide, and it didn't have any problems doing it. I bend 3.5" wide 3/16" steel regularly with ease. They also have a heavier duty version for a few more bucks that can bend 5/8" steel. The other nice thing is that you can put an angle gauge on it and get pretty accurate bends for multiple pieces.
All you need is a HF 20 ton press, which is something like $150 and has many other uses. You can even upgrade to air over hydraulic if you want to. SWAG Offroad also makes a finger brake if you prefer that. The other thing I've done is made large radius bends with this press brake by putting tubing over the upper die. It works great.
Last edited by chevynut; 03-29-2015 at 08:40 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
That will be on wish list. I looked at the presses at HF before I decided to build my brake. I have less than $10. in materials in mine.![]()
Custer, I understand that sometimes you do what you have to do. When I built my firewall I ended up using angle iron clamped to my welding table to bend it. I couldn't have even bent it on a regular brake and it would have taken a fingered press-brake to do it, which I didn't have. When I built the base for my console I needed to make some reverse bends that I couldn't do on my 48" JET brake that I finally broke down and bought. So again I ended up bending some of it using angle iron pieces and clamps. I often need to bend short "joggles" and still haven't figured out how to do that with my current brakes so I have used my bead roller with some success, but it's very limited. I needed a slip roll to build my inner fenders and radiator cover, but I ended up using clamps an an oxygen bottle to bend the sheetmetal around.
It looks like you solved your problem by building your own tools...that's pretty cool. If you need to bend some longer or thicker pieces than your brake will handle, I recommend you take a look at the SWAG Offroad stuff.
Last edited by chevynut; 03-30-2015 at 06:56 AM.
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
Not to much progress the last 2 weeks. Installed 2 new garage doors last weekend and I had to replace a front hub on my truck this weekend.
I did get a little bit done in between though.
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The second bulkhead in progress. This one will be just in front of the center inner body mount. The 3rd picture is the form I used to bend the center hoop.
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The center and top pieces of the I beam tacked in position. The 4" channel iron is clamped to the bottom of the frame to keep everything straight and aligned.
Nothing is welded to the frame at this point so it can be removed to drill the exhaust holes and finish welding.
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Removed from the frame to finish welding (clamped to the channel iron while welding) exhaust holes drilled and 4" tubing tacked in place.
The center picture shows the pieces drilled out for the exhaust holes. I weighed this piece on the bathroom scale at 10.8 lbs. so I would estimate the whole center section will add about 75 lbs. or so. Not to bad for the stiffness it should add to the frame.
That's all for now. Not a lot of progress but at least it's progress.
Brian
I guess this should be called a bi-weekly updateHere is what I've been working on.
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The start of mocking up the beams to connect the cross members.
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One done and media blasted, The second clamped to 4" channel iron for welding.
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Finished I beams welded in place. Now on to the front section of the cross member.
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Mock up for the front section and the 3" flats bent up an clamped in position. If I figured correctly I should be able to fit any transmission. Right now I have a Muncie 4 speed in My 55, but would like to update to a 5 speed or 6 speed eventually.
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Next up was making the angle bends in the upper and lower pieces. I made a double pie cut so the outside would have a bit of a radius instead of just a sharp mitered corner. The little slice in the middle just becomes like a filler rod when welding it up.
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Welds ground out to complete the bend. The rest of the pieces I clamped to the first one and tacked them up to keep them all at the same angle.
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Top and bottom pieces fitted to the cross piece and the frame. Next up is to drill the 2" lightening holes, pilot hole for the exhaust hole on the short front angle section, media blast the parts, tack everything up, finish weld, and so on. It's a good thing I have more time than money(Never enough time either though)
That's it for now.
Brian