I have been gathering as much information about building my '32 frame as possible but I still have a few questions for you fellas. When you are building a frame with or without a JIG, When is the appropriate time to box your rails? Would you box them before the Cross Members and X-members are in or would that be the last thing to do? Or would you box the rails after you "tie" the two rails together with the crossmembers? Would the heat tweak the rails before making it difficult for the crossmembers to be welded in correctly? My logic is that if this was done on a Original '32 frame, the Boxing plates would be the last thing to weld in because everything was already there. Any sense to this?
I like to box is after I put the front and rear cross members in so I can weld the cross members inside the frame. You wont warp or tweak the rails if you skip around when you're welding the boxing plates in. Tack them in every coupe of inches down the frame first, then go back and weld the length of beetween the tacks, alternating from side to side and back to front.
I am seeing a trend. HOTRODPRIMER, do you weld the X member to the inside of the rails like the Front and Rear Cross Members? I had thought that they were welded to the Boxing plates but it would make sense now that you said it because there were no boxing plates originally huh? So I guess I would trim the boxing plates around the X member as I saw fit right?
Don't forget to routinely measure as you weld to make sure nothing shifted! The slightest bump could shift 1/4" or more and won't be recognizable to the eye.
First frame I modified, made the mistake of welding the top portion, then went back and welded the lower boxing plate joints...frame took on a lovely sweep, or damned curve upward, depending upon your point-of-view! So now I alternate side to side, front to back and above and below.
The Jalopy Journal
