One of the great things about being a member of CO is the people. I have met quite a few members and seen quite a few builds. Today I want to show you a chassis built by a friend I of mine here in Alabama who I met .
A few months back I sold a frame to a local fellow building a 1970 GTO. He needed a frame fast so he could send it to one of the major aftermarket suppliers. It seems they needed a fairly nice frame to use as a mock up and development platform for an LS6 swap. As a benefit for allowing them to use his frame he got to keep the proto type mounts for the LS6 engine and T56 6-Speed transmission.
Here are a few pictures of his work.
Along with the engine and transmission mounts he boxed in the frame, narrowed the rear frame and added tons of performance upgrades. The fabrication work turned out beautiful. Great welds! And after everything was sorted out it was all taken apart and powder coated.

 

Wow very nice.

 

Is that Toms frame?

 

That's gonna be a beast! Post pictures of the car when finished if you can.

 

Looks good, I did a lot of similar things with mine.

 

Mike,

Yes it is.

 

The narrowed rear frame is very interesting. I'm guessing the cross bar and triangle supports added on each side at the top make up for the narrow frame rails at the rear tires. Seems like the back seat would need to be altered to clear the wheel wells. If I may ask, Is it big money to fabricate the rear axel area of the frame for the wider tires?

 

If you're not capable of welding it up yourself then it's going to be big money. There are a lot of hours in the frame. Another factor to consider is the frame was put into a jig to hold it true prior to boxing it in.

There are kits available for use when boxing in a frame. There are also kits available for the engine mounts and transmission mounts. You just have to weld them all in.

The rear arch has been reinforced with thick plates on both sides. It's quite solid. The triangle supports are another tool used to keep the frame from flexing.

My friend Tom gave me this book to read on A-Body suspension upgrades. I'd recommend it to anyone planning of going to this extreme.

I'm still using factory style boxed in control arms with a factory 442 rear sway bar out back along with a 1 inch Vista Cruiser sway bar up front. Very old school. LOL

 

I was @ my buddies shop where they did the powder coating when he picked it up. Very nice work,Tom has done a lot of LS conversions that I have seen.

 

If the body is as impressive as the frame this build is going to be magazine cover page worthy. The kind of thing every veteran should have. Wish you the best with this build.

 

Nice work, serious mods. The Nittos look Kool and are a great all around street tire.

 

Is that wide of tire on front going to require modification? The wheels are perfect with the tires. Have you decided on a color for the car yet?

 

It looks like the Hellwig boxing kit and ABC Performance narrowing kit, and possibly more.
Its very cool i think. I have an extra frame i would like to do this to some day.

 

Sweet baby Jesus I want that frame! Lol

 

I know... Right

 

The rear frame rails are not moved in just notched and reinforced so moving the inner fender in 1"-1.5" would be minimally invasive to the interior. I have had 17x11 wheels with 315 tires on the back of my 72 442 for almost 12 years so with a notch like this a 70-72 Cutlass would take a 12"-13" wheel and tire. I have 335-35-20's on 12" wheels on my Pro-touring 69 Camaro, would be mean looking with this size or larger in the rear wheel wells of a Cutlass!

 

The body is going to appear stock. Well, as stock as it can with the new stance and aggressive tires. The interior will have newer bucket seats up front front with a matching modern rear seat. Basically, it's going to be a 2017 GTO with a 1970 GTO body. LOL
I'll post more pictures as they become available.

 

I don't know how "maxed" it is, but it is nice. That's a funny spot for the radiator.

LS, PFFFT!

 

Yeah, I was thinkin' the same thing. Ground clearance will be a b!tch. On the bright side, with the driveshaft running right through the middle of the radiator he won't need a safety loop.

 

Make that X3 ^^^^^^^^^^

 

Beautiful work and tastefully done. Much better than those $15,000 after market chassis's advertised everywhere.

 

Yeah, I wish I would have moved that darn radiator before taking these pictures. Seriously, It's funny how something like that can really ruin the pictures. LOL

 

I don't think that's the ABC Performance kit. It looks much different than mine but then again mine is a 66 and not a 70. Looks nice either way. Congrats

 

Better? I'd say Apples and Oranges. I just went on a tour of Art Morrison and although I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a 15K frame the technology and craftsmanship is 1st class. Super impressed as well as Art is a super nice guy. The digital imaging, the tooling as well as the product. One of the coolest 2 hours I've ever had.


Not taking away anything from the frame on this thread. (very cool!)