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You put the car in the shop and note or mark the mounting holes and brackets that will be needed for sheet metal and anything else that is going to go back after the sub frame is in place. Measure the wheel base of the car-truck exactly, remove the sheet metal, place the sub frame beside or in front of the vehicle, faced the same direction, and decide where to cut. Now YOU decide the ride height, and this is somewhat a crapshoot, but you should be able to get fairly close. If exact is what you're after, then you need to use individual wheel scales, to find the finished weight of your vehicle, that is with everything in its place. Then put that weight on the sub frame so as to know what its ride height will be, then install the sub frame so its loaded height will be where you want it.

A friend put one under his 58 Chevy PU with the stock stance, people still tell him it would ride and handle better with a clip, and he just says, "yeah, I know". You can set it up high or low, personally I praise the lowered. You use as much of the clip as your existing frame allows, You will need the front of your frame for sheet metal and bumper mounts, and you cut the rear of the sub frame where you can graft it and still have the body mounts in place.

Another contributor, Gary McClain, said he used a method to brace the front horns in place while this is being done, I just measure and trust I will get them back in place. With the method Gary describes it would be conceivable to brace and cut the frame with the sheet metal in place, and with the sub frame cut to size and the coils removed you could set the ride height exactly. We're assuming a good working environment for that idea.

Now we need to be careful not to get the sub frame out of its working plane. When it was designed, its relationship to the road was based on the most front to back tilt the car might incur and it can only be adjusted so much for castor. In most cases the engine sits too low on the sub frames stock mounts, this can and in my opinion should be adjusted. I like to call a motor that sits up in the engine bay "proud" sometimes you will see a really nice chromed out engine but its so far down in the hole it looks like they're trying to hide it.

The other big thing is you need to be or hire a super welder and bracing expert, don't grind your welds to make them look good, grinding will weaken them and strength is far more important than looks here. For best look use a TIG, a MIG will do the job but it leaves a furrow that look like a farmer's planting row.

Remember that the sub frame is out of a 3700 pound car that has about a 60% front weight bias, that's about 2200 pounds, and in hard braking that weight is increased on the front wheels. Try not to exceed that weight. Manufacturers do not spend money over-designing parts for what we might do with the stuff later. Most vehicles we put these in are a great deal more top-heavy than a Camaro, so even at the correct static weight it could be overloaded in a corner.

This is a super conversion, the improvement in the ride, stance and steering are worth the effort, and depending on your shop's capabilities it can be done in short order. If you're doing this in a driveway my heart goes out to you but it can still be done. It just takes longer when you have to set up and put everything away each time you want to work on it. Any other questions can be directed to Larry at morsruby@peoplepc.com. Feel Free.

Larry Jennings

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