When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
With the complete unibody design of the third gen, a tubular front end needs to be a custom fabrication. Chop everything off forward of the firewall and start fabricating. You would need to completely change the front suspension with something from the aftermarket. By the time you're done, it will be cheaper to make a tube chassis car.
The strut front suspension and inner fender design to hold the struts makes a simple tubular front end design difficult compared to first and second gens which have a simple bolt on front subframe that everything attaches to.
You can make a tubular framework to attach and hold the top of the struts just so you can remove the minimal metal from the inner fenders. You would also need to fabricate a removable front end (nose and fenders) to make engine access easier. There are complete fiberglass front ends available but they're more designed for track use only.
The front frame rails which hold the sheet metal, engine and suspension are all part of the unibody car. To simply cut them off and replace with tubes means a lot of design work. Attaching it to the rest of the body to maintain strength really means you need a cage in the car to add the rigidity required. Like I said, by the time you're done, a tube chassis car would be easier.
I've not seen a kit/product for front halving a thirdgen, but several on this forum have examples of completed inner fender deletes while retaining the stock unibody framerail. It's fairly straightforward fab job but the geometry of the surrounding area makes it a bit tricky technically to do it right. Coilovers only complicate the situation as you'll need to design tons of margin in the system.
If you're doing this for purely aesthetic reasons and have the fab skills, go for it. But functionally you're probably better off leaving them be. The amount of dirt, road-grime, rocks etc, that the inner fenders catch is substantial. Don't mean to be a buzz-kill, but that's the reality of it.
With the complete unibody design of the third gen, a tubular front end needs to be a custom fabrication. Chop everything off forward of the firewall and start fabricating. You would need to completely change the front suspension with something from the aftermarket. By the time you're done, it will be cheaper to make a tube chassis car.
The strut front suspension and inner fender design to hold the struts makes a simple tubular front end design difficult compared to first and second gens which have a simple bolt on front subframe that everything attaches to.
You can make a tubular framework to attach and hold the top of the struts just so you can remove the minimal metal from the inner fenders. You would also need to fabricate a removable front end (nose and fenders) to make engine access easier. There are complete fiberglass front ends available but they're more designed for track use only.
The front frame rails which hold the sheet metal, engine and suspension are all part of the unibody car. To simply cut them off and replace with tubes means a lot of design work. Attaching it to the rest of the body to maintain strength really means you need a cage in the car to add the rigidity required. Like I said, by the time you're done, a tube chassis car would be easier.
Classic mustangs (64-70) are the same unibody as a thirdgen, and there are tons of kits available. Seems like the same effort to do a thirdgen.
Here is what a classic mustang front section looks like with fenders off:
You still have to cut it off at the top and bottom, weld plates to the top as attachment points, etc.
ya im kinda looking to delete just the fender wells and making mounts for the struts i saw a guy on here making a flip up front end his was tubular but i can't find it again for pics
ya im kinda looking to delete just the fender wells and making mounts for the struts i saw a guy on here making a flip up front end his was tubular but i can't find it again for pics
I think his whole car is caged and he does all his own work or has friends that own shops that can do something small for him. If it's the guy I'm thinking of, look at his garage and you will see he is on a different level than 95% of the members on here.
If you just want a tubular front end because it to make your front end look better just buy a tubular K member and A arms and then plate off the firewall, front trays and sides of the front trays. It's what I've been doing. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...oming-aka.html
Not a complete tubular front end as I kept the main frame rails. also I swapped in a 4th gen front suspension and moved the wheels 5" forward but the proces would be the same.
If you cut the front end off and go tubular, its opening up an extreme can of worms!! Just way too much work. I had that brilliant idea a long time ago to do this and its still not out. I spiced into an aftermarket k member and kept my strut tower locations stock.
12-09-2015, 02:51 AM
