NEW PROJECT FC UTE

[JB]

Where did you get the rear clip from? I’m interested in who can bend the 100x50 to make a chassis

[Mal W]

JB the chassis clip is from McDonald Bros Racing and its 75 x 50 x 3 box.

Mal

[Mal W]

Let the fun begin, fitting the new chassis clip.

Now to get the old rails out. There wasn’t much left to cut out due to having already cut out the entire floor and inner wheel arches.






Before removing the original rails, I had to work out how to relocate the new diff into the original location once I'd cut everything out. As I didn’t have a chassis bench to attach the car to , this is my method. I welded 2 - 25x25 box sections across the top of the rear section, side to side and then welded another 2 pieces on each side going down to create a V section under the original diff housing. Once I removed the original diff the V sections would stay there for the new diff housing to sit in to get a location, while I fitted the chassis clip in where it should be. This would get it pretty close to where it should be and with the new top and bottom control arms being adjustable, getting it spot on would be easy with a wheel alignment.








Not a lot of work getting the old rails out, only 3 spots where I had to cut to get each rail out.

Front



Middle



And rear where the chassis meets the body




Then to do the same to the other side, after that just a matter of cleaning up where they were spot welded to the body. I have been tending to grind the spot welds off rather then drilling. It may take a little longer but at least you don’t have a ton of holes to tend with.






All out and no turning back now






Then I lifted the new clip up close to where its going and with a bit of trimming it looks like its going to fit in quite nicely.









Mal

[camxsmith]

wow alot of work done in a short period of time. That rear is looking good

[Luke Healey]

Love it

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[Mal W]

Continuing on with fitting of the rear suspension clip.
With everything old cut out there was really no where to secure the rear of the rails to so I ended up cutting a bit more of the rear tail panel out and made a frame to secure the chassis rail ends to.

To start with I had to do some rust repairs to the panels beside the spare wheel door.













With that done I stated on the frame. As I’m no longer going to have a spare wheel door this area would be all filled in by making a new outer panel to blank off the opening.
First the frame, this is made out of 30x30x3mm box section














Now to make the new outer panel. The old spare wheel door was pretty rusty along the bottom and would take as much work to fix that to use as it would just make a new one.
I made the new panel out of 1.2 sheet.











With the general shape there I used 8mm rod to strengthen the top and side edges, also something with a bit of thickness to weld to.
 







With the round section in place I used 30mm round tube cut in half to give the curve to the edges.








With all that welded together it just was a matter of cleaning it up before welding into place.














Now to start welding it in.








And all done










 Next to fit the inner frame panel to secure the chassis to.

[Errol62]

Outstanding work. Most people would have left it flat or welded in a donor section. I’ve retained the door in my ute but it is one I picked up that had been bogged and painted. I have a couple of others, I’m doing an EK van as well, but they need a lot of work. But you’ve practically made a door from scratch. Well done.


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[2brite]

awesome stuff

[Mal W]

Thanks guys. Was a lot of work but worth the effort I thought. I’ve since got the rear clip all welded in now and will post up some photos soon. Am currently having problems with photobucket not working properly.

[ekute]

Great work Mal, if you use the Tapatalk app it’s easy to post a photo, just use your phone!


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[Mal W]

So I got the rear clip all welded in and looking pretty solid







Now I started on removing some rust from the floor pan .....








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[Errol62]

That’s a lot of rust


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[FireKraka]

Looks great Mal fantastic work I'm loving this build mate.
Neil

[my8thholden]

Brilliant mate ,just great work ,if Holden starts again you will be CEO ,,,and what a car would be produced if all the blokes on this forum were on production team ..Vern

[JB]

Where are you thinking of running the exhaust?

[Mal W]

Thanks guys, JB not sure on the exhaust as yet, just making it up as I go...

[Mal W]

Got the connecting rails in this arvo, will have to do a few modifications to the Tailshafts loop





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[Errol62]

Just lower it six inches mal.


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[Mal W]

Yep lower the top and and add a bit into the bottom

[Errol62]

I was being flippant, meaning just lower the whole car, not serious.


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