Hi, I'm new to the forum and I have a ?. I just got a 41 Chevy Sedan that had been wrecked in the front and the frame was damaged, It had a Mustang II front end but it is damaged beyond repair so I was thinking of Camaro subframe . Has anybody who has done this tell me what years subframe would be the best for this car. If there is a newer model full frame that would go under the car without cutting up the floor in body I would like any input on that as well (Don't mind cutting on frame to make it work).
If you decide to run a MII front end....just cut the frame rails off at the firewall and build a frame stub with your new MII crossmember....
Thanks Guys, I was trying to go with a subframe for cost reasons being that I have access to some subframes. This car will be a nice driver and not a show car. If I put to much money in it the Wife will want me to sell my 57 Chevy truck in order to finace this project. (she likes the car better than the truck)
...just did a Camaro sub in a 41 Chev coupe for a friend; we used a 68 sub which is rear steer, fit the frame and fenders really nice. Try to go with a drum brake front as they are a bit narrower. The sub to use is a 67-9 Camaro or 68-74 Nova or clone. PM me your email and I'll send a few pics to you.
I've got a stock 41 frame. Springs are junk from someone heating them to lower it. I'm in Michigan as well. We just pulled the body (coupe) off last weekend and have about 19 pictures on my photobucket Danimal_9395 if you need it.
Still the best way to do this car is a Mustang 11. Lots of people have done camaro subs on these, but they are just too wide. This is an argument that has raged on this board forever. A Mustang11 isn't expensive or hard to do. Just buy the front clip from a '74 or later Pinto, Bobcat, or Mustang11, trim the crossmember out of the clip, fit it to the rails, weld it in, and put it together. On your car, You don't have to do a tubing sub frame, you just remove the stock front end, clean up the rails,fit the crossmember and go. this is LOADS easier than cutting the frame in half, fitting the two together, fish plating everything, rehanging the front sheet metal, making a radiator support that clears the steering box, then finding out that you can't drop the car down where you want it, or can't hide the steering box, or can't keep the tires from rubbing. Early chevys are the easiest cars to do the Mustang11 deal with as well... I've even done them with the engine in place. My .02 I know, but I've done a few both ways.
Just remember if using a stock trimmed Pinto/Mustang II/Bobcat front crossmember/suspension that the bottom of the crossmember should be parallel and level with the road when installed.
I have 2nd gen Camaro clip on mine (bought it that way) and they did a pretty good job. It is extremely tight inside the engine compartment with the 350 in it and they cut away a lot of the inner fender. If I had a clean frame to start all over, I would use the Chassis Engineering kit which is all bolt in M2 stuff and everything fits like a glove. I've seen it on many cars and it all goes together well. These are not solid C channel steel frames (shortage of steel during the war years) and are harder to weld on and best left to someone that knows their welding stuff.
My 41 came with a late (79-81?) clip. Looked fine without the fenders on it. With the fenders on and a spring removed, I ran the suspension through the travel. On the bottom rebound bumper (like when you hit a bad bump) the only way the wheel would point was straight ahead. In other words, if you were going around a corner and hit a bump, the fender would have been severely damaged. The steering box occupies the same space as the radiator lower left corner. So you have to completely redesign the core support, horn baffles, splash pan, radiator support, etc. With all of the worn out parts which needed replaced, the complete redesign and rebuild of the sheet metal, the narrowed a-frames from fatman, and the wierd offset wheels, it was easy to see that buying a 41 frame and putting a MII was far cheaper. I checked out a friend who used a rear steer from the 1 gen Camaro / 2 gen Nova. He cut two inches out of the center of the crossmember and the center link. Worked pretty good.
The Jalopy Journal
