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Bent frame suggestions


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Like Paul said, fenders can stay put, but I'd be real careful opening the doors after you shift the body around like that. The fender may be closer on one side and chip the front edge of the door. Just something to think about before you open the door normally and ruin your day. Go very slow and if it looks like it's going to hit, stop and adjust the front clip accordingly. It may not be a problem at all, but would surely suck if it did.

 

 

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Ok guys so this is where I’m at. I stuck stuck a beefy screwdriver in the “guide hole” and tried to swing the tail of the body to the right to center the rear end to the body. Didn’t move much And I took the car to get aligned. Keep in mind the whole car has Hotchkis suspension besides the springs. That I plan to swap when I lower the car. So here’s some pictures n let me know what u guys think? Normal, bent frame and if bent should I swap or get it pulled???

 

last pis is of the trailing arm braces I took off. The Hotchkis ones the left one I had to extend 1/4 more than the right to fit.

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Did you loosen all the body bushings from the firewall to the trunk cross member? It's ten bushings, I believe.

Moving the body around on the frame shouldn't change the front suspension alignment.

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19 hours ago, Paul Bell said:

Did you loosen all the body bushings from the firewall to the trunk cross member? It's ten bushings, I believe.

Moving the body around on the frame shouldn't change the front suspension alignment.

Yes, and the shifted the whole body to the right as much as I could. The axle is 1/2” to the right. I measured from a point at the front to the center of the rear axle on both sides and the right side also measured 1/2” longer. 

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On 7/30/2019 at 7:34 AM, imr said:

I believe on Montes you have 4 holes. its not a perfect system. make sure you guid rod goes in straight not on an angle.

I’ll check again. I found 2 and used those, but I’ll look for the other 2. The original trailing arm brace was a little buckled as shown in the previous pic I posted, and one of the know upgraded ones I had to extend 1/4 more. That’s why it’s lead me to believe my frame may be a little bent at the rear. 

 

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i believe they are forward of the read wheels in the frame. i dont have a monte here to look at. the trailing arm on the right looks like it hit something but i have not spent enough time to tell you if its bent.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 2 years later...
On 7/25/2019 at 1:54 AM, 420ponies said:

All A- bodies are alike to the pictures you posted. Always the right side tire is out just a bit then the left side. I think your frame is fine. I always check frame to pinch weld on left front by fender and left rear inside of rear quarter panel, then opposite side. Question is : what tire size and what rim width are you running? If they are 7" they will look like that with a p255-p275 tire. to get them "tucked"  under, you will need a 8" rim with a 5" offset (measured form back side of rim to mounting surface). Corvette 8" rims are 4.5" and will kick tire out to fender (not good). I run a p275 -60-15 with wheel vintiques 8" and a 5" offset. no issues with fender, actually it sits in about 1/2" each side .post-259-0-93319100-1480263543_thumb.jpg 

Hope this info. helps you.

The old saying goes "never say never" and I want to inject something different......"never say always" as far as the common occurance of this body to fame mismatching  No offense intended here but my take on this mismatch is a bit different in that I think it can occur on eather side..

My 1972 was the exact opposite of the pics posted above, maybe not to the magnitude mentioned / shown in the pics above but certainly opposite as far as which wheel stuck out closer to the rear fender lip. I bought the car in 1973 after knowing the first owner. No accidents and nothing that would have bent the frame happened since it was a new car, I am absolutely sure of that. I should add that the car has likely been in a climate controlled garage storage for more than half of its life. The car has had a 67 12 bolt for years and I placed 15x8 Vette rims on the rear after learning that the 67 rears were narrower than the 68 / 71.  Never knew that when I was looking for a 12 bolt to replace the original...back in the day. The fender to sidewall spacing was OK to my eye on the drivers side but I never liked the look of the passengers side spacing. Recently I installed a 9 inch QP rear  with 1967 overall width dimensions. The tire spacing was the same as it was with the 12 inch GM 67 Chevelle rear so I know QP got all of it it right. I was not up for the "fun" of moving the body so I had a 15x8 rally rim modified by Stockton Wheel to reduce the backspace (pushing the tire sidewall out) by slightly more than 1/2 inch

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On 3/29/2020 at 11:19 PM, PRJCTMC said:

It’s been a while I was on here but I decided to swap the frame and sure enough it was bent. It’s up and running now though 😁

Very nice 👍 , glad to hear that you have her back on the road !!

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