Hey guys, I thought I would bring out my 61 Econo project (YEG’R Bomb….YEG is our airport designation). I purchased it out of Spokane about 3 years ago and had it shipped to me.

Plans include:

1. Custom 2x4 tube chassis
2. Full Tilt Customs IFS
3. Complete air ride suspension
4. Team 321 IRS Subframe for TBird center section
5. 20/22" Wheels
6. 40"x80" sliding ragtop (van is an ex-camper so the hole is there already)


Original state:



Here is my TBird center section



Dave sent me a preliminary drawing of what his subframe would look like with 32” tires.



Here is the revised drawing he sent me, with 10" ride height and 28" diameter tires which confirmed no interference with the Shockwaves, control arms or frame rails..



Here is what it will look like at final ride height. It’s sitting on jack stands, with the wheels under it for visual reference.



Christmas in March!!



Team 321 IRS Subframe.

Let me just say that Dave did an outstanding job working with me to completely one-off the design for this build. I spent 3-4 months designing and redesigning with him to arrive at this design. The quality of his fabrication is exceptional.







Shockwave air bags, upgraded CV axles and custom powdercoated control arms.



Full Tilt IFS, c/w air bags, power rack & pinion(which will need to be custom mounted)



Now for fabrication!

I plan to run all wiring inside the frame rails, so I drilled a 3/4" hole where the IRS subframe meets the frame rails. This will allow me to get all the way to the back.





IRS is 34.5" wide and the IFS needs to be about 30" wide. I notched the frame rails about 12" apart inside and out, heated up the joints, pulled them in/out, squared them up, levelled them and then welded down the joints.







And the finished product, with the IRS subframe squared, levelled and welded down. Ready for the IFS!!



Measured up the crossmember for cutting





Tacked into place



Measured up the top hats for cutting



Mounted the control arms and spindle for front and rear. Measured from the floor to confirm frame will sit level.



Tacked the top hats into place and ready for test fitting



Control arms & spindle sit level. Measuring must've been good...lol



IFS welded down



Frame ready for test fit to the body!! I would like to point out that I will be cutting off the portion of the frame behind where the IRS mounts to the rails. For levelling/squaring purposes, I've left it tacked all the way back. Still need to tack a tubing gusset between the IFS and IRS for rigidity and future tranny mount. The rails in front of the IFS are rough cuts, as I need to allow enough metal to support the front end, and the part of the floor where it rises to meet the front nose.





Back to the bodywork.

Removed the next section of floor to make removing the engine/tranny easier.



Engine/tranny out



Last piece of the floor cut out





For the next while I will be removing and cleaning up the body edge lines so the frame will mate up to it cleanly.

I will also cut the excess rail off the back and do a full mock up of the front and back suspension before I slide the frame under the body to confirm my wheelbase, clearance to the body, get wheel measurements...Yes, I know, I should've done that before I welded it all down..lol. Should be good though.

 

rock on , luv to see ambition coupled with insanity, your work seems top notch.

best of luck and keep us posted

 

Very cool project!! And great work!

 

NICE !

My buddy built a mid engine one back in the 60's

 

WOW! Normally I read the "I have a project and here are my plans" threads and figure, sure, whatever, we'll never see another post about it.

Not the case here. Neat stuff!

 

Moved to appropriate forum at the request of the OP.

 

That is going to be pretty bad assss when done or even when it's rolling on wheels.
Wish I could do that with my '66 super. Keep the updates coming. Later.

 

Measured up distances between the outer body shell and then cut up pieces for the "wings". Tacked them into place.



Slid the frame under and into the body. Confirmed square and level, then tacked the body to the frame.









Measured up the rear frame connector to tie the back end together.



Measured up the front frame connector to tie the front end together.



Here is another pic of the ride height on jack stands, with some old tires spun on.



Since these pics, I have finished welding all the tacked components and fixed my anti-dive problem with the top hats. I bought my vanagon steering box and it should be here next week. I've started thinking on how I am going to tie the R&P to the steering box to the steering wheel, and I think I'm going to go under the frame from the R&P to the box and up to the wheel, with some offsets and UJoints. But I need to get the piece first so I can get it in place to see how it will come together. I also flipped the rubber bumpers on the R&P around so the output shaft points forward. Need to grind off the factory R&P mounts on the IFS and fabricate some new ones and of course lots of other bits and bobs I need to fiddle fart with.

Once that is done, then I am going to get the suspension components put on permanent and make a roller out of it as I am trying to have it "in progress" showable for a big Father's Day show in Edmonton.

WP

 

Very nice job! Looking good!

 

Thanks Greenmachine55!!

Another update:

Welded up the shock mounts and mounted the shocks. Originally I had them vertical but caused too much binding on the top mount of the shock during compression. This angle seems to alleviate the bind.





Then I removed the original R&P mounts on the crossmember and fabricated some simple offset mounts and then boxed them in for extra support.



And the finished product with just a bit of weld to clean up.



Time to start plumbing the air lines!!

WP

 

HOLY CRAP!

 

Thanks!!!!

 

I got the airbags/shockwaves installed. Had to remove the front calipers to get the OEM wheels on for now. Not sure what I want for wheels. Plumbed in the temp air lines so I can finally roll the thing around on it's own wheels. I'm also very excited to meet my first deadline of having it a roller for the fathers day car show coming up this weekend.















Ride height

 

Hi,
Great project....was wondering what the front and rear
width was on the suspension?
thanks.

 

Hey Tink,

Hub to hub on the front is 56".

The rear is 63 1/4" measured from the outer edge of the tires, the wheels were 16x7 with 48mm offset and the tires were 245x50x16.