The torque box is in the front and that's where the torsion bars end, and it continues to right under the driver. But there's no "frame" from that point to the front hanger for the rear leaf springs. Perhaps he's catching the rear spring hanger?

That gap is one of the weaknesses of those cars. If you jack one up by a front corner you don't want to open the door as it may hit the front fender. So, you can imagine what that does to handling. But, the aftermarket sells a weld-in piece that ties the sub-frame to the spring hanger and dramatically stiffens the car.

 

My son had sub-frame connector installed on his Fox bodied 84 Mustang and 85 Capri. Did stiffen it up.

 

Yep. My Bee will get the sub-frame connectors, disc brakes, etc. And maybe aftermarket control arms.

 

Gee, you guys make me appreciate the healthy amount of stiffening MOPAR put in the K-konvertibles. They are actually stiffer than Archion's 99 Mustang convertible.

 

The late 60's were some of the early unibody cars, as you obviously know, and they hadn't sorted out the statics and dynamics thereof. I'm sure it has gotten much better given all the experience and the vast amount of computer resources available to run finite element modeling.

Thinking of that, I drove that Bee to my job where I ran Strudel and Dynel, the McAuto statics and dynamics packages, for Conoco. I had to schedule the runs and some of them took quite a while. Surely MOPAR had the same capabilities, but they don't seem to have produced the best results.

 

Gary, the unibodies I believe started in the 50s with Hudson and Nash, Chrysler went unibody starting in 1960 with the Valiant and Lancer, then phased it in as they introduced newer bodies, the duck butt (forward) look. We had first a 1962 Belvedere wagon, than a 1966 Polara.

Virtually everything built here after the demise of the big RWD cars are unibody. Stiffness on convertible unibodies has always been a problem, even body and frame cars could flex enough when jacked up to cause problems.

 

My first car was a '58 Chevy, but I'd worked on the family vehicles prior to that, including '54 Plymouth, '55 & '57 Buicks, '60 Chevy, and '64 Buick. All of those were body/frame vehicles and I don't remember any of them having door alignment problems with one corner jacked up. But when I sold the '58 and bought the Bee I discovered flex, big time.

Anyway, there is a fix, or at least a significant improvement, and I'll implement that when the time comes.

 

My friend had a 57 Ford 4 dr hardtop. If he got on the go pedal the body would flex enough so the dome light would come on...

 

Check some of the drag racers and maybe get in contact with Petty enterprises or whatever it is today. They raced those unibody MOPARS. I know a lot of what they did involved the roll cage. When I was contemplating building an SCCA ITB car a few years ago, I was told to essentially put the stripped body on a rotisserie like you built, and weld every seam solid rather than the factory spot welds. That will really stiffen things up according to my source. His son was running an F-production Omni 4 door, I was planning on a 1987 Turismo 2.2L with the rare (for Plymouth) 2.2L HO from the factory. It was basically a Shelby GLH in a Plymouth 2dr hatchback. 10.5:1 compression and rated 110 hp NA.

 

Cords were unibody, but a little different. The rocker panels were 3/16" steel. I did a bit of work on a 1941 Graham Hollywood, basically a Cord 812 with a modified floorpan to have rear wheel drive, and I was a bit surprised to see that sort of construction.
Two of the stiffest cars I have dealt with were both unibody, an Alfa Romeo 164 (same platform as Saab 9000) and a Volvo 245. Both cars could be jacked up at one jack point until both wheels on that side were off the ground, and the doors still opened and closed smoothly. Of course that all goes away when the upper frame (roof) is removed.

 

More progress yesterday, almost all of the walls are done, and a lot of the ceiling/storage floor joists.




Wood shop wall.





Bathroom entry.





Wood shop entry and wall.





Inside wood shop.





Entry alcove.





Hurricane clips on outer end of joists.

 

Seems an odd place for hurricane clips, but since the sheet metal could blow away it makes sense. Anyway, looks like it is time for Sheetrock. Going to insulate things? And what did you say you'll use for decking?

 

Only sheetrock will be the moisture resistant (green) in the bathroom, garage side walls will be 1/2" plywood painted, deck is pending what is available. John Doughty (Ray's son) is doing most of it. He is leaning toward Zantech? which is a tongue and groove joint system smooth surface and very strong. I can't completely close the walls in until I have the final electrical inspection.

Insulation will be front wall, shop side walls and ceiling of the office, bathroom and maybe woodshop. Outer wall will be probably foam spray in between the panels and shell. I will only be ducting A/C to the office, bathroom and when in use woodshop. Heat will be used in the same areas mostly office and bathroom to keep the pipes from freezing.

Shop heat will be as needed using the "747" as the previous owner called it and maybe a wood or waste oil system. I don't plan on being out there when it is real cold.

 

You know Bill, that the garage seems to be getting smaller.......
Hurricane clips AKA joist hangers, support more weight than just toe nailing.

 

I think Zantech is what I have on my attic floor. Mine is just slightly less that 1", and is extremely strong.

Don't scrimp on the insulation as you can't easily do it later. I had mine blown in, which makes it very tight and stops infiltration. I love it.

On the "747", be careful with it. As you know, the products of combustion include a lot of CO and H2O. I was leery of the CO, but it was the moisture that became the biggest problem. When I fired mine up in the cold garage unpainted metal quickly rusted.