Uploaded some pics into my gallery today...showing the boxed frame, tri-link 4bar and coil overs in position.

Comments and criticism welcome, as I pretty much built this chassis on "internet speak".

The next step will be to put in the radiator mounts and place it, then mock up the engine and tranny and add a few more crossmembers...one for the tranny mount and another behind that..to square up the chassis.

Chassis specs say I should be at 44 inches wide, but time and years had taken it's toll on the old '36...so a little squeezing here and a little spreading there is still needed

 

I needed to put together the coilovers for the front, didn't realize I needed to...thought they would come assembled...first idea was to use a set of bearing seprators, but that idea was a big flop, too much angle on them with the coils to do any good...so, being the cheap Bastar d o (I'm Sicilian...I think that's a real word ) I am, I modified a set of VW strut compressers I had to get the coilshocks together.

So I've decided I'll leave the caliper and brackets off for now as well as the sway bar and rack and just mount the spindles and rotors so I can put some wheels on it and some weight to see what's up...everything has to come off for paint anyways, so no use putting too much together now.
I should be able to update my gallery later tonight with some pics of the partially complete frontend...it is kinda cool seeing it come together

 

Well, I'm here to offer Heidts an apology.....as I was cleaning up a few things I found a scrap of paper that told/showed me how to put the CO's together...removed the dampening valve at the bottom of the shock, unscrew the adjusters, slide the springs in and tighten them up....sooooo, looks like I have egg on my face...guess it's a good time to start reading ALL the instructions

So the CO's are in, etc, decided to go ahead and mount up the sway bar so I can get some holes drilled and tapped...may as well mount the calipers too...since it looks like it'll be easy to pull everything off with just a few bolts...might be a bit of cussing to put it back togther, but this way I won'nt lose any parts

Okay, beer break number two is over, time to get back to work!

 

Very nice job on the frame boxing Mike. I need to do some boxing and strengthening to the front of my frame soon. Did you use 1/8 in. metal?
Some time ago I read a guys recommendation regarding boxing. He suggested backsetting the plate a little to give a bit of rail for wires, lines etc. What are your thoughts about that?

 

I used 3/16th...but only reason was my frame had several suspect spots...I did patch up the "spots" on the inner frame rails before boxing, but would rather deal with the extra few pounds of wieght than a weaker structure.

on a '42-up, the frame is made much better and 1/8thinch should be fine...in fact I probably would have used 1/8thinch at the time, regardless of trying to make it stronger...but my plasma cutter was on the fritz and I had to use the torch to cut out the boxing plates...I do better with a torch on thicker material than thin...but probably would have just zipped it out all with the Plasma cutter had it been working, and just went with 1/8th in.

In regards to insetting the plates, I did that behind the IFS plates that Heidts supplied, the way the x-member was designed, it required the plates to be on the outside of the rails.

In retrospect, I should have marked them where the X-member went, then bent them "in" to sit on the inside part of the rails to give good/better clearance for lines and such, plus welding would have been easier and all done by the Mig......I had to Tig the boxing plates that Heidts supplied to ensure a neater looking fit, I Migged them initially, but after grinding them down I picked up a few "parting" lines,...so hence the Tig'ing.

But yes, all my babbling aside, inset the plates, it really makes it easier to weld them in...go for about a 1/4inch inset...seemd to work best for me.

 

PS...Updated my Galley with the IFS bolted together...still have an issue or two to work out, but should give you folks an idea of the look of it.