Details details details...
I'm a rotten overhead welder, so the only way to get to the Suprang's naughty bits is to rotate the car. I bought a couple of engine stands from Harbor Freight, and modified them to fit the bumper mounts on the Mustang rear and the ummm.... Supra front. It's starting to dawn on me that I've done something seriously freaky.
It really is a Suprang now. No doubt about it. Even though I get less than 1/16th inch chassis deflection on the rotisserie, it's time to stiffen up the frame for competition, and fill in all the gaps.
Note: Captions are on top of photo renditions
Getting the car to rotate on it's center axis was a dramatic moment for me, so here is a dramatic picture. Notice my new ummm... distraction in the background. It's getting cluttered at Sean's house.
Here's a full on view with the distraction removed:
As you can see, I'm adding rails to tie the front subframe to the rear subframe. The rails go through the rear floorboards, which I think looks kind of neet. You can also see some sheetmetal sculpting to get the Supra and Mustang to meet cleanly at the seams.
First I welded the frame rails to the front. I tried to make the beads as neat as possible since I will be grinding them down to accept 1/8" plate gussetts.
I'm welding the frame rails to the floor pans where it is possible.
You've been left out of the show for a bit. Let me explain: The rear frame rails are offset from the front frame rails by 2 inches. So, I made a support wedge out of 2" tubing and welded it to the frame of the Supra. That's so that there is something solid for the frame rail to be welded to, thus.
Then I made a plate to bind the rear subframe to the subframe connector.
And voila'! The subframes are officialy connected!
Now let's take care of the front subframe. Clamp the gusset in firmly.
And weld around the seams
Then turn the car around on its axis (rotisseries are so cool!) and weld the other side.
Let's gusset the rear frame rails as well.
Hmmm... looks good.
I suppose now I'll have to sculpt the drive shaft tunnel and weld up the cowl. See you next time kids!
