chevyracingrox

1" square tubing w/ 1/4" thick walls (I've got plenty and its free)
6013 rods, Arc welder
any links are welcome. need advice on where to mount and basic fabricating tips. search didn't yeild many useful results.

my current plans consist of connecting the trailing arm part of the rear subframe to the front subframe by one bar running the length of the car beside the side skirt and reinforcing my connections by welding another connection somewhere along where the tranny crossmember bolts on.

BMR Sales

There's no need for .250 wall sfc. Why add all that weight, just because its free?

You must not have searched that well because a simple "Subframe Connectors" image search on google yielded a couple hundred images of them on and off the vehicles.

As far as tips, youre trying to connect the front and rear subframes together, find a good spot on both that you can weld to and start fabrication. Have you ever done this type of work before?

chevyracingrox

actually I haven't done any on car welding before but I do love to weld, I took a year-long class in welding last year.
I'm not concerned about adding weight. I'm on a very tight budget, otherwise I'd buy subframe connectors. It seems a bit excessive, but I'm not trying to build the worlds fastest car. I'm just trying to make up for an inherent flaw in my f-body without spending a lot of money. besides, it still won't be as heavy as a full frame would be.
I'm also building my own wonderbar out of the same tubing.

chevyracingrox

your sfc's have given me the idea to create a triangle with the support near the crossmember and the base subframe. very good idea.

double checked my thickness. its actually 5/32 (.15625") a little on the thin side if anything actually.

BMR Sales

Nah that's better than .250 wall. Ours are .120 and that's more than sufficient for their job.

chevyracingrox

thats good. I'll see if I can get some metal from my school tomorrow. attaching the rear of the sfc's will take some metal. good thing my ag teacher likes me

chevyracingrox

really, no input from anyone else? am I doing something wrong?
seems like only a few people reply to my posts no matter what the forum, subject, I just can't get more than a handful of people to reply. come on people, something is better than nothing.

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

Well If you search for "double Diamond" sfcs i think thats the best design. ill find a pick quick.

Here try to make these, although not what i was looking for https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...connectors.jpg

chevyracingrox

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...uare-kbdds.jpg

never heard of double diamond, it looks much more complicated though. whether it's better or not I'm not sure, it looks like a good concept. I think I'll follow the BMR sfc's. right angles should be easy to build, the dd has a lot of strange angles in different locations.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

what other input do you want? they are subframe connectors, pretty basic idea there.

Weld a flat plate to the tubing you have and weld that to the rear LCA mount, you can drill a hole and hold it on with the LCA bolt too if you so desire. Tie the tubing into the front frame at the base of the firewall, and for best results, run a piece to the trans subframe as well. Look some pics of ones that companies make and see what aspects you can copy.

A mig welder will be a lot easier than a stick welder if you have access to one.

AlkyIROC

1" square seems a little small. 1-1/2" square x .120" wall is better.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

and keep in mind, the DD's in that link are for a 4th gen, so they are a bit different that what you would need for a 3rd gen.

chevyracingrox

really? I like the 1" because it fits so snuggly behind the side skirts, but I agree there is most likely a reason aftermarket venders use bigger.

I guess I was looking for a few links that were more helpful than what I could find. maybe if my plans were good or bad, getting some feedback would be helpful. maybe I could have a little more confidence welding on my camaro then.
I might be able to get access to a mig welder, I didn't want to say I had definite access to one though. I might have to use a stick welder, it'll work either way though.

good catch. still gonna stick w/ BMR's basic design.

lowflyr

you can see the hotchkis sfc's clearly on the botom of my GTA. They are simple to construct. The driver's side is straight to allow the exhaust to clear for factory routing.

chevyracingrox

thanks, thats a really nice underbody. its really easy to envision when I see it like that. why is your car on its side anyway?

lowflyr

When I am doing a resto, I put the cars on a rotisserie to do any work underneath. It makes the work incredibly easy compared to crawling under it, and the end job just turns out better. I'll add another picture of a sandblasted camaro underside for you. It will give you a clear view of the underside so you can plan your connectors. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures that show the underside with the driveline, exhaust, etc in place to show you what to avoid. I could get one in about 3 months though...lol.

chevyracingrox

3 months might be a little to late. I was shooting for this weekend. lol. thats an amazing underside. I'd love to weld vertical or flat, but for me that might be asking a bit much.
thanks.

chevyracingrox

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...tors-pics.html
finally found the thread I was trying to remember. I'm suprised I couldn't find it in the search. well, not really.

1987ZTPI

My own i made for free

chevyracingrox

those are very helpful. how you hooked up the rear sub frame was very good thinking. I might go with that idea. how about the front? how and where did you weld the very front of the sfcs?

1987ZTPI

Some ob the tubing isn't level i kno but the sfc still work awsome.
I stitch welded them the netire length of the car and then to front and rear sub frames.

1987ZTPI

more

1987ZTPI

oops

1987ZTPI

more

96Iroc

Wow. Can you make me some????? Your welds are impeccable.

*18436572*

here my two cent's I am guilty like you "that's all I had I used it!"(I am broke too bro) my advice don't do it!!!!!! wining the race start's garage (be sly) here what you do you get a much of 1" as you can keep two stick's(for later) dump the rest on craigs list or go to your local welding shop railing builder and sell it to him or trade him for some 1 1/2 dom (drawn on mandrel seemless tubing) or 2" .120 square tube.if you arc weld It will turn into a pretzel!!! way to much heat.the 6013 and 6011 is ucky rod and u will not get layed using it! If you cant hook up on a mig/tig than use 3/32 7018 and jump around in differnent area's go slow and cool it down with a blow gun to get rid of the heat. may the force be with you!!!

*18436572*

also you get that small rod at wallmart ,harborfrieght,tool king,sears,lame autopart stores,hell I might have some I could send you! welding the 1/4 wall 1" square tube with 3/32 rod is marginal on one pass,you should work hard on getting bigger stuff,after all sfc's are for making the unibody ridgid. your weight to rigidity factor will stink with 1 inch tubing

*18436572*

???The bigger the blob the better the job????

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

^^^^^^Yea those welds are not very good. looks like it's just dropped on there. Remember to get good penentration and i always go as big as the thickness of the steel.

chevyracingrox

yea, now i have a job and my budget has expanded some. i never built those sfc's, i'll do it before i fix the rust, for more structural integrity. so can you all help me decide on dimensions and thickness? I've seen a couple numbers thrown around, how much will this stuff cost me (about)? I might as well leave the 1" tubing for my power wheels project. here's a rough draft of my idea.

*18436572*

I was welding on mine I was getting into some zinc, like was fricken galvanized or something and i hit good with sanding disc down to clean metal but I manged to keep from looking like bird sh*t

chevyracingrox

i need to practice overhead welding a little bit, it's just hell though!

*18436572*

cool p! i like the way you set up plan on that photo.that would work.later on you could tie the frt sub frame to the rear directly the cross brace into what's on the photo.as for steel prices now is to best time because the are low china has buying from us and prices have dropped.I would recomend going down to steel yard a get some price's most steel yard's have approx 20' er's my steel yard will do half stick's 10' or so I dont think you will pay more than $2.00 a foot

chevyracingrox

amazing, so lets get the final dimensions and thickness decided quickly. 1.5 x 1? .12" thickness?

chevyracingrox

^yep, that's what I'm getting. going to a local metal yard once i get the time.

EDIT:lowflyr your picture was super helpful

VAN454

I'm planning on doing mine next weekend (if the wife and kids give me the time lol) there is some good info and ideas in this thread.

1987ZTPI

I made mine for $10 total investment, and yes the welds dont seem the best but i asure you theres plenty of penetration there. i had the sphon installed previously by a profession and they were **** to say the least. i was gonna weld in small patches along the pinch weld for a better surface to jack the car up but they were so easy to cut out i decided to put these in and they are alot stronger and stiffer then the spohns ever were. i would only reccomend the shohn sfc for a road race car because they are nice and light, but they still need improvment over the current design.