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Old 03-30-2021, 10:05 AM
DM3 DM3 is offline
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Default Tire Hitting Fender / Subframe Alignment Issue

So I am 4 years into this rebuild. The car is finally far enough along that it can be driven.

So, while driving, if I go over a larger bump, I started hearing a loud metal banging sound, only every once in a while. Well this weekend it hit so bad it cut the tire and bent the inside of the drivers side fender on the front side.

So the back story, I had all the body work done at a muscle car shop. My buddy picked up the car with his trailer and took it to his house where we proceeded to install the motor, trans, brakes, exhaust, etc... to get it road worthy. After welding in the frame stiffeners, he happen to check the frame bolts, they were ALL loose. So if you look at the pics attached, the alignment holes do not line up, drivers side is worse than pass side. So we assume when the car was loaded onto the trailer, the subframe was tweaked a bit since the body shop didn't tighten down any of the body mounting bolts. Weird thing is the fender and door gaps are good.

So, has anyone else ran into this with a car fulled loaded up with motor, etc... I realize we will have to cut the welds on the subframe stiffeners, loosen up the body bolts, exhaust, gas lines, etc.

How did you move the subframe with the motor in the car?

Any help and/or suggests would be greatly appreciated.

Dirk
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  #2  
Old 04-28-2021, 06:12 PM
punkin punkin is offline
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I don't have anything to add but I was wondering if you got resolution on this.

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  #3  
Old 04-28-2021, 06:16 PM
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amcmike amcmike is offline
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Fender and door gaps wouldn't be affect by the subframe position as it doesn't attach to them.

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Old 05-01-2021, 07:58 AM
1968firebird455 1968firebird455 is offline
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Cut the frame ties loose, Confirm all body bushings are new and in proper locations. Align with dowel ( I believe its 5/8". I have machined dowels I use but you can dig through and find a deep well socket that will work). Also make sure the frame doesn't have collision damage. When you are done, take some cross measurements as shown in the chassis manual to confirm you have it located properly.

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Old 05-02-2021, 08:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1968firebird455 View Post
Cut the frame ties loose, Confirm all body bushings are new and in proper locations. Align with dowel ( I believe its 5/8". I have machined dowels I use but you can dig through and find a deep well socket that will work). Also make sure the frame doesn't have collision damage. When you are done, take some cross measurements as shown in the chassis manual to confirm you have it located properly.
There are some other things to consider. While the fenders aren't attached directly to the subframe, they are attached to various brackets / gussets that attach to the upper part of the radiator support. If you aren't going to re-adjust the fenders, you may need to loosen the lower radiator support to subframe bolts as well and / or possibly the upper front fender bolts and things they are attached to..

Also keep in mind that your exhaust system "might" need to be loosened up a bit so it too can reposition at the hangers / and or the exhaust manifolds. The full length metal hard fuel line may need to be "unclipped" from the clips that hold it to the subframe as well. I may be forgetting other things as well.

Also remember that the body weight of the shell is helping to compress the front springs. I rolled a fully loaded subframe with engine and tranny on it under my 68 convert shell and bolted it up a long time ago. The engine does most of the loading on the springs, but the weight of the body still made them compress further. When I did my bolting, I had the shell supported at the front of the rocker panels and subframe supported at the back, then bolted them together. You need to consider safety when doing this and figure out if and how to properly support things. Keep in mind that my car didn't have a front clip on it, so it was a different scenario.

Good luck and remember to pay attention to safety. I'm not the guy to tell you how to do it the safe way. Just a guy who has had a few close calls because of mistakes I made.

OJ

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