Getting Framed - Building Your Own Chassis: Part II

In the first part of this story (November '06) we showed you what it takes to start from the very beginning with a pair of 'rails and worked up from there, building a simple frame jig to get that frame totally square. We discussed how to get the front and rear crossmembers into place and then get the straight axle frontend mounted up. All of the principles we went over would work under any brand of early hot rod and were meant to be used as a guideline to be interpreted to many different projects. The main goal was to show that it's easy to build a square and solid platform for your hot rod without breaking the bank to get there.

In this installment, we continue along the lines of the first story with a few tips that are good to remember when building a car from scratch with loose components. The biggest thing to remember is to check that ALL components fit and work together before committing any component to finish welding. And since you are only tack welding or clamping the components in place, do not be afraid to make changes if the first setup does not work. You will be driving this car, so beyond making sure it looks cool, make sure all the chassis and driveline components work well with each other; more importantly, make sure you can fit comfortably in the car once those components are in place.

Now that you know how it's done, get busy turning that pile of tin in the garage or backyard into a hot rod!