Brad-SixTsix

Hi all,

I've got a 66 that I started tearing apart a few months back. Lately I've been tinkering with the idea of an aftermarket chassis with c4 suspension.

My first question is, my frame is in good condition with only surface rust. If I sold it as a rolling chassis what price could I expect to get?
(car is a SB coupe without original knock offs). Would restoring the frame be worth it in order to sell it at a higher price?

Also, those of you that have done aftermarket frames, what unexpected problems/expenses did you have?

rick piras

Brad,
I had a rust-free California frame. It had some nice options/upgrades (3.70 rear end gearing, Bilstein shocks, nice 17"x7" wheels and tires, etc.). I sold it for $5000 on the forum and it sold within a day. Probably could've gotten more but I wanted to sell it in one shot and move on. If the frame is clean, I wouldn't restore it, I'd let the new owner do it the way they prefer.
I used an SR III frame, and spent some extra money on the Dana 44 rear so I wouldn't have to worry about the amount of power going through it. The "basic" SR III frame now uses C5 front and still uses the C4 rear.
ASSUMING you already have the drive train sorted out, you'll end up spending extra money on a 66-67 big block core support to clear the front sway bar, a couple of hundred bucks on steering column u-joints/adapters, and new steering column if you go that route. I was fortunate to have the stock telescoping column which I wanted to reuse. You'll end up needing to redo the back end of the exhaust system unless you're running side pipes. Wheels and tires CAN be done for about $1500, but if you go custom you'll probably end up spending about twice that number. Unless you're talented with fiberglass fabrication you might want to use the rear floor pan that SR III can connect you with from a shop in Arizona. That was about $600. You'll probably want to 'glass in the inner fenderwell openings for a cleaner look.
It's a pretty steep learning curve on the first conversion, if I did a second one it'd take 1/3 of the time. I have zero regrets about the time/money/effort it took me to do everything. With the exception of the alignment and exhaust I did everything, with some help from buddies. My car now drives like a 430 HP slot car. The suspension, brakes, steering now match the power and it's a total blast to drive.
I used an LS6 (all aluminum motor) and ended up at 2885 lbs, with a nearly perfect weight bias (50.2% front/49.8% rear).
Mike Stockdale is a joy to work with, and there's some VERY knowledgeable guys on this forum (way smarter than me) that can give you lots of advice and recommendations.

65silververt

-I don't think it is worth your time or expense to restore the chassis and then try to sell it. You can probably get around 4-6 grand for it unrestored. Restored you might be able to get 7-10 if you are really lucky. There is a guy currently looking for a 66 frame or chassis in the parts section.

-To answer your second question...that depends on what you are going to use for an engine and transmission. I've had issues with the tko 5 speeds rubbing the trans tunnel, so i raise the tunnel by 1/4" now. Exhaust is also another major factor and expense if you use an LS motor, especially if you go with under car exhaust, which i would recommend. Wiring is also a major time consuming aspect of a restomod. You will want a custom harness such as one of the american auto wire harness and it can take close to 40 hours to fully wire one of these cars correctly.

I've never used the Jameson frame, but they seemed to be more geared towards the C1s. I've used SRIII twice and having nothing but praise for their full chassis'. I have a 67 currently with a roadster shop chassis and while it is very nice, it is very heavy when compared to the SRIII chassis.

Hope that helps some!

jkinton

Rick,

Did you sell the engine and trans separately?

If so, do you mind sharing what you had and what you got for them?

Thanks!

John

rick piras

Hi John,
The engine in my '65 when I bought it had been replaced by a 350 crate motor, so it didn't have any special originality. But I sold the engine with all of the accessories/brackets/ignition covers, etc. with the correct 4 speed and bellhousing for $2,000. That was about 4 years ago.
Hope this helps,
Rick

jkinton

Thanks!

Brad-SixTsix

Thanks for the replies everyone. I thought about going the aftermarket chassis route before but thought the cost would be higher that it is. The Jameson frame is 7k, and I'm seeing full front and rear C4 suspension online for less than 2k. If I could get the rolling chassis for less than 12k I think I'll go that route.

My only fear is getting things started then realizing I need a few thousand more just to get things going.

As for my current chassis, I have all the front suspension removed and have been blasting the control arms in my blast cabinet. So, some work has been done...

mark6669

I have built 4 Jamison chassis's and just ordered a 5th one, 3 Midyears and 2 Cokebottles, 2 C4 suspension and 3 C5 suspension. John and Kerry are great to work with! Time from order to delivery 6-8 weeks.
Mark

richscorvettes

I'll second the recommendations to go with the SR III frame. Mike Stockdale was great to work with and his workmanship was top notch. His responsiveness, both before and after the sale, and his willingness to make whatever changes you might want was great. He delivers on what he promises and his communications were always prompt and responsive.

A couple of suggestions would be to have Mike TIG weld your frame and to have the brake lines installed. While running the lines is something you could do yourself Mike knows the best routes to take and it's one less job you would have to do yourself. You might also want to consider having Mike paint or powder-coat the frame to save you another step.

As mentioned in other posts Mike uses the C5 or C6 front suspension and you have the choice of using the C4, 5 or 6 rear suspension. If you go with the C4 rear using the Dana 44 would be a good idea.

On page 10 of our web site you will find the links to several articles we wrote when building our 63 coupe which should be of help. One of the articles addresses why we chose to use the SR III chassis.

Best of luck with your project.

Rich

FastEddy

Jamison frame - if you stay old school with the motor you will loose the ability to run mech fuel pump - no room. You also loose he ability to run mech cooling fan - hits the steering rack. They will provide provisions in frame for factory side pipe hangers, but not the hooker ones - I created my own before powder coating. No rear sway bar setup - I had to fabricate my own. Front sway bar setup is race car torque tube type, and didn't come with the frame when I got mine many years ago. Suspension geometry is pretty good without the rear one, but not at the level I needed. Can't run any of the normal side pipe headers or factory pipes if using old school motor - frame sticks down 1.5" lower right where pipes normally cross under - I made custom over the frame headers, etc. Dana 44 rear is a must if you plan on driving it hard - and that rear brings a nice premium now over the 36 at the scrap yard. There is no torque arm used for the rear, but instead a horizontal frame member crossing the top of the differential - I pushed that right up into the body, and ripped the diff away from where it has a frame attachment at the bottom of the diff - SRIII is MUCH better design at the rear if you are going to be hard on it. "His Place" near Thurmont, Md has made changes to the J design that uses a torque arm and also allows the use of rear fiberglass springs which might give a better ride, and now sells their own frame. The Jameson frame allows for stock track width, so you can run stock wheels if you wish on a C2 - it's what I did to retain the old school 60's look. SRIII you must go with modern wheels, with no "dish" to them. Jameson also mounted the front c-4 suspension in more of a stock 60's camber/caster position, so you can't get the same caster/camber settings you can on a rear c-4 car... Your left running settings closer to the stock ones (not enough caster or camber available for modern settings). His Place has corrected that on their framesas well. I ditched the spare (never needed one, so why carry it?) and mounted my battery there instead. So make sure you've got everything worked out as far as changes before you powder oat it. Some of this is only stuff a nut like me would care about, but I still wanted to share

Brad-SixTsix

FastEddy,

Thanks for the reply and info. Beautiful chassis btw.
I appreciate the info as I do want to retain some of the stock look. I am also planning to flare out the fenders and install some deep dish wheels to get the look I want. One thing I really want to change/upgrade is the brakes which have been a problem in that car for years. Also, I'll be keeping the side pipes as well. Never liked the look without them.

FastEddy

If you want the stock track width for running deep dish wheels, then I'd contact Bill Kuhn at His Place in emmitsburg md. Both His and Jamison's frames are assembled by a race chassis shop just north of Bill in PA. If I'm not mistaken, they are the only custom tube frames with stock track width. Newmans creations may still do a beefed up, cleaned up version of the stock frame with C-4 pieces.

http://www.hisplaceautorepair.com/about

chgc267

I was in the same position when I started mine. I sold my engine, trans, chassis on e-bay for $6100 about 2.5 yrs ago..a lot more than I expected considering the frame was cut just before the rear axle and fused w/ a different one due to an accident from the rear (all dislosed on e-bay of course) and I also had many pictures. The engine was a worn out 350 from a camaro or something and I think the 4sp and rear posi axle were original. I had the aluminium rims w/ red line tires too. I also agree with the others that said it's not worth your time restoring it. Let the person who buys it do what he wants with it.

I went with the SRIII chassis with c5 front & c4 rear. I wanted to keep the body stock so I used the tubs that SRIII has as well. (SRIII is doing my build.) Using this set up let me use the tko600 in the stock location. I'm pretty sure if you want to use a 6 speed or c5, c6, c7 set up all around you are going to need to work on the trans tunnel. Mike is great to work with and I'm sure he would answer any questions regarding what you set ups you want or mods you would need to do to make them work.

I would also expect for unexpected ...things will come up and you should probably plan on spending more $$ than you think you will. My project went from "Hey Mike, can I drop off my car in fall and pick it up in spring w/ a new chassis and motor installed" to a full blown restomod build 3+ yrs later Once Mike started working on mine we discovered all kinds of hidden issues from previous work and they needed to be fixed correctly.

Hope that helps.

bobman

Is sr111 still in business?

67's

Call them and find out, only one member in this thread is still active

vettebuyer6369

Posting 6 years later is not the way to ask this question.