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I want to do a midyear restomod and I am looking for suggestions and feedback on the many chassis suppliers. I understand custom cars allow for an unlimited amount of out comes and everyone's goal is different. I am a large man, 6' 4" 300# and it's almost impossible to get into a C6 or C7. I want a car that provides more interior room but rides like a late model. I have a C6 Z06 donor car and a new body off 65 restored car. I'd like to use the LS7 engine and front suspension, the transmission and rear end is open for discussion. With that said my criteria is
1. No exterior body changes
2. No low rider look with tires tucked inside wheel wells
3. Prefer better (softer) ride over hard performance steering
4. Extra seat room (length and height)
5. Wide rear tires for HP rating
What frame and/or company would you use? What combination of parts?
I have not built a resto-mod, but I would like to. I always follow the posts on them, and there are many here that do build them that I hope can chime in and maybe build one for you.
One I followed appears that it was built right at SRIII, I am not sure if they still do full builds or not, but it's worth looking into. It sounds like thier chassis is arguably one of the better ones on the market. I am no authority on this subject though on who you could get to build you one of these.
I am still in the process of putting together my car. I am by no means a professional and have received a lot of help from folks on this forum. I have an SRIII chassis and can tell you that it is, "as advertised". Mike at SRIII is great to work with and I have had the chassis for over 2 years, still putting the car together. Mike has always answered all my questions either via e-mail or phone. My chassis has C6 suspension components and I recently got and put on C6 Z06 brakes. Took the car for a test drive a couple weeks ago and all was well. I am building the car because I want a nice classic C2 bodied hot rod with a modern LS3 and 5 speed. Oh and this chassis is made so I didnt have to modify the exterior wheel opeings...fits 345s on the back with the interior tubs. Mike at SRIII will sell you the frame alone, or with whatever parts you want. I will say that I wouldn't use the ZL1 rear end. Its what I have and I believe I could have done better with a quick change or modified 9 inch. So, being a novice at doing this, I can tell you the chassis has been the least of my problems. Here are some pictures....oh and I have your LS Conversion Radiator in "Black Ice". I got it on the advice of Mike...Great Radiator...(lower outlet should be moved up (turned up) about a 1/4 inch)... shows front A-arms and mounting area shows rear A-arms and mounting area full view from rear shows rear area and rear-end "chunk"
Last edited by vjjack04; 01-28-2019 at 04:57 PM.
Reason: accuracy
I have no chassis knowledge, but if you are going to stay with your stock '65 seats, Al Knoch sells seat foam with an option for concave bottom section foam that is supposed to give you two inches more room. I don't know if they sell bottoms and backs separately--might have to buy a full set.
I went with an SRIII chassis as well. C6 front and rear suspension, like vjjack04, but I went with the Ford 9" rear end. As vjjack04 mentioned in his post, Mike is very good at maintaining an excellent relationship with his clients. Any time I left a message or sent an email I would always get a reply. He would also spend the time to go over any questions or concerns that I had/have. There are also no secrets with him, meaning if I had a question about how to do something or what would work, he would tell me and/or would send me pictures. As I have stated earlier, I wouldn't hesitate to use SRIII again for another chassis. Here's some pictures of the Ford 9" setup. I didn't have them powder coat the frame as we will be running fuel lines, side exhaust mounts etc. and will have that done when all of that is completed.
One thing to add, Mike said that the Ford 9" needs a bit more room (width wise for service) then the ZL1 Camaro and the Quick Change differentials. Being that I have a roadster with a functional soft top, he said I could probably get a 305 rear tire with the stock quarters. We're going to verify all of that during this process. Hopefully others will chime in on what they were able to run.
I will say that I wouldn't use the ZL1 rear end. Its what I have and I believe I could have done better with a quick change or modified 9 inch
I don't think the ZL1 was a bad choice, it looks right at home in there. I can't use any solid axle in a vette, especially a Ford part and I don't see anything wrong with using the stock midyear pig. Any comments on that?
Last edited by Tom@Dewitt; 01-28-2019 at 06:58 PM.
I don't think the ZL1 was a bad choice, it looks right at home in there. I can't use any solid axle in a vette, especially a Ford part and I don't see anything wrong with using the stock midyear pig. Any comments on that?
call Mike at SRIII....he can chat with you about all options....
I don't think the ZL1 was a bad choice, it looks right at home in there. I can't use any solid axle in a vette, especially a Ford part and I don't see anything wrong with using the stock midyear pig. Any comments on that?
My reference to the ZL1 rear is because its pretty heavy and it required a unique drive shaft set up...I think it will be fine, just think a quickchange would have been better....a number of companies make rearends that would work. I am sure Mike can position anything in there.
I don't think the ZL1 was a bad choice, it looks right at home in there. I can't use any solid axle in a vette, especially a Ford part and I don't see anything wrong with using the stock midyear pig. Any comments on that?
Tom, I’m going to send you an email as soon as I have a chance. For now, forgive any typos as I’m thumb typing from my iPhone.
There is nothing wrong with a Currie tru trac center. It’s all custom and when combined with CV joint axles and a custom housing, there is nothing really ford left about it...it is all custom at that point. Obviously you don’t want a solid axle and if you went with roadster shop, that’s what you would get without spending an extra 9 grand for IRS.
I have nothing to gain by praising SRIII. I don’t get a discount and I’ve bever met the owner Mike. I simply like his dedication to his product and the fact that he delivers on what he promises. The only downside to his frame that I have found is that it’s hard to install the driveshaft if you don’t fit it before you install the engine and transmission.
With all other frames I’ve used for a C2, there has been significant flex in the rear when put on a lift. The sriii has a full cage in the rear and does not flex at all. Regardless of my dislike of the Northern Alabama shop, I would have continued using their frames if they were worth it. However, I spent several extra months correcting driveline angles, steering rack problems, and other issues associated with their chassis. Maybe they have corrected those issues since then, but...I know a builder in North Alabama that complained about their most recent C7 chassis the last time I saw him.
Last edited by 65silververt; 01-28-2019 at 10:19 PM.
My reference to the ZL1 rear is because its pretty heavy and it required a unique drive shaft set up...I think it will be fine, just think a quickchange would have been better....a number of companies make rearends that would work. I am sure Mike can position anything in there.
The quick change rear is notorious for being noisy, not sure if the newer stuff is any quiter. The OP may be opposed to running the Ford 9" IRS, but when it comes to strength, differential and case options it was a no-brainer for me to go this direction with a high HP engine. He could opt for the C4 rear to keep it "GM". Like others have mentioned, call Mike Stockdale @ SRIII (815-462-4138) and I'm sure he would be happy to discuss options with you.
Building a custom car is a game of compromises. There's going to dozens of conflicting requirements. You'll never get everything you want, so you have to decide what's most important to you and what is not. Wide low profile tires conflicts with having a soft ride and a C2 corvette conflicts with a roomy interior just to name two right off the bat. Any chance we can talk you into maybe starting with '69 mach 1 body or some other larger size muscle car?
The most common complaint I hear about restomods is the harshness of the ride. People get drawn into the look of the low profile tires, cool 18,19,20" rims and low stance. These attributes all conflict with having a soft comfortable ride. One of the misconceptions is if I bolt suspension from a new car onto a new chassis, its going to drive like a brand new car. Simple not the case. Automakers spend years and tens of millions of dollars engineering and designing a new car where every part is designed to work with all the other parts and to optimize the performance all as a system. Taking some of these parts and integrating them with other aftermarket parts simple doesn't give you the same level of performance. If an original car performs as a 1 and a brand new car as a 10, you may get a 6 or 7 doing this.
Its impressive and fairly cost effective to say you have C6/C7 suspension on your car, but the caveat is you need to angle your coilovers at 25+ degrees off vertical which means you need to use a fairly stiff spring. The more expensive chassis makers make their own upper and lower control arms which allow for vertical springs and thus lower spring rates and a softer ride. The quality of the shock is important too. You can spend $900 for a set of shocks, or $2500. I've used the $900 set from Viking 3 times now and have had to change them out for customers who want a softer ride. I still used Viking, but they have a softer version for $300 more. You get what you pay for.
You say you can't fit in a c6 or c7 now, but I would think they offer more room than a c2 How do you fit in the car now? You can drop the floors about 1.5" and use a low profile seat bottom, but that means less cushion so not as comfortable. Dropping the floors will make exhaust routing more difficult if you are going out the back. You can push the seat back maybe an inch by reconstructing the bulkhead behind the seat. You can extend the firewall and lower foot well to push the pedal forward and gain more leg room there. How about a Dan Gurney bubble in the roof? He was 6'4" too. I'm 5'11" 155 and feel cramped, but then I've been driving a minivan for 15 years.
You didn't mention cost, which frankly shouldn't be an issue IMO. This is a car you're keeping to enjoy the rest of your life. C4 suspension setup is out because the wheels won't fit, unless you are willing to use narrower wheels and sell of the suspension you already bought. That leaves C5,6,7 (Sriii, streetshop or Jamison) which would allow you to use the suspension from your donor car. But I don't this will give you the best comfort for reasons I mentioned above. So that leads to AM or Roadstershop and a bump up in price. AM is coming out with a new chassis designed specifically for a C2. But they have their own suspension setup. Cost for a rolling chassis is in the $27K area and that's a straight rear axle. Roadstershop is also priced in this area with a straight axle and up around $33k for an IRS. But I think these two chassis would give you the most comfortable ride.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. There are so many details to be considered when building these cars. Planning and designing can take just as long as doing the actual construction.
Fire away with any more questions.
Last edited by Ken Sungela; 01-28-2019 at 10:45 PM.
Building a custom car is a game of compromises. There's going to dozens of conflicting requirements. You'll never get everything you want, so you have to decide what's most important to you and what is not. Wide low profile tires conflicts with having a soft ride and a C2 corvette conflicts with a roomy interior just to name two right off the bat. Any chance we can talk you into maybe starting with '69 mach 1 body or some other larger size muscle car?
The most common complaint I hear about restomods is the harshness of the ride. People get drawn into the look of the low profile tires, cool 18,19,20" rims and low stance. These attributes all conflict with having a soft comfortable ride. One of the misconceptions is if I bolt suspension from a new car onto a new chassis, its going to drive like a brand new car. Simple not the case. Automakers spend years and tens of millions of dollars engineering and designing a new car where every part is designed to work with all the other parts and to optimize the performance all as a system. Taking some of these parts and integrating them with other aftermarket parts simple doesn't give you the same level of performance. If an original car performs as a 1 and a brand new car as a 10, you may get a 6 or 7 doing this.
Its impressive and fairly cost effective to say you have C6/C7 suspension on your car, but the caveat is you need to angle your coilovers at 25+ degrees off vertical which means you need to use a fairly stiff spring. The more expensive chassis makers make their own upper and lower control arms which allow for vertical springs and thus lower spring rates and a softer ride. The quality of the shock is important too. You can spend $900 for a set of shocks, or $2500. I've used the $900 set from Viking 3 times now and have had to change them out for customers who want a softer ride. I still used Viking, but they have a softer version for $300 more. You get what you pay for.
You say you can't fit in a c6 or c7 now, but I would think they offer more room than a c2 How do you fit in the car now? You can drop the floors about 1.5" and use a low profile seat bottom, but that means less cushion so not as comfortable. Dropping the floors will make exhaust routing more difficult if you are going out the back. You can push the seat back maybe an inch by reconstructing the bulkhead behind the seat. You can extend the firewall and lower foot well to push the pedal forward and gain more leg room there. How about a Dan Gurney bubble in the roof? He was 6'4" too. I'm 5'11" 155 and feel cramped, but then I've been driving a minivan for 15 years.
You didn't mention cost, which frankly shouldn't be an issue IMO. This is a car you're keeping to enjoy the rest of your life. C4 suspension setup is out because the wheels won't fit, unless you are willing to use narrower wheels and sell of the suspension you already bought. That leaves C5,6,7 (Sriii, streetshop or Jamison) which would allow you to use the suspension from your donor car. But I don't this will give you the best comfort for reasons I mentioned above. So that leads to AM or Roadstershop and a bump up in price. AM is coming out with a new chassis designed specifically for a C2. But they have their own suspension setup. Cost for a rolling chassis is in the $27K area and that's a straight rear axle. Roadstershop is also priced in this area with a straight axle and up around $33k for an IRS. But I think these two chassis would give you the most comfortable ride.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. There are so many details to be considered when building these cars. Planning and designing can take just as long as doing the actual construction.
Fire away with any more questions.
You pegged on some good points, but I can’t remember what chassis or chassis’ you used in the past. I liked the ride quality of the roadster shop frame, but then it flexed a lot in the rear...way more than it should have!!! Was it worth the 10k extra? Maybe for the name in the end.
Building a custom car is a game of compromises. There's going to dozens of conflicting requirements. You'll never get everything you want, so you have to decide what's most important to you and what is not. Wide low profile tires conflicts with having a soft ride and a C2 corvette conflicts with a roomy interior just to name two right off the bat. Any chance we can talk you into maybe starting with '69 mach 1 body or some other larger size muscle car?
The most common complaint I hear about restomods is the harshness of the ride. People get drawn into the look of the low profile tires, cool 18,19,20" rims and low stance. These attributes all conflict with having a soft comfortable ride. One of the misconceptions is if I bolt suspension from a new car onto a new chassis, its going to drive like a brand new car. Simple not the case. Automakers spend years and tens of millions of dollars engineering and designing a new car where every part is designed to work with all the other parts and to optimize the performance all as a system. Taking some of these parts and integrating them with other aftermarket parts simple doesn't give you the same level of performance. If an original car performs as a 1 and a brand new car as a 10, you may get a 6 or 7 doing this.
Its impressive and fairly cost effective to say you have C6/C7 suspension on your car, but the caveat is you need to angle your coilovers at 25+ degrees off vertical which means you need to use a fairly stiff spring. The more expensive chassis makers make their own upper and lower control arms which allow for vertical springs and thus lower spring rates and a softer ride. The quality of the shock is important too. You can spend $900 for a set of shocks, or $2500. I've used the $900 set from Viking 3 times now and have had to change them out for customers who want a softer ride. I still used Viking, but they have a softer version for $300 more. You get what you pay for.
You say you can't fit in a c6 or c7 now, but I would think they offer more room than a c2 How do you fit in the car now? You can drop the floors about 1.5" and use a low profile seat bottom, but that means less cushion so not as comfortable. Dropping the floors will make exhaust routing more difficult if you are going out the back. You can push the seat back maybe an inch by reconstructing the bulkhead behind the seat. You can extend the firewall and lower foot well to push the pedal forward and gain more leg room there. How about a Dan Gurney bubble in the roof? He was 6'4" too. I'm 5'11" 155 and feel cramped, but then I've been driving a minivan for 15 years.
You didn't mention cost, which frankly shouldn't be an issue IMO. This is a car you're keeping to enjoy the rest of your life. C4 suspension setup is out because the wheels won't fit, unless you are willing to use narrower wheels and sell of the suspension you already bought. That leaves C5,6,7 (Sriii, streetshop or Jamison) which would allow you to use the suspension from your donor car. But I don't this will give you the best comfort for reasons I mentioned above. So that leads to AM or Roadstershop and a bump up in price. AM is coming out with a new chassis designed specifically for a C2. But they have their own suspension setup. Cost for a rolling chassis is in the $27K area and that's a straight rear axle. Roadstershop is also priced in this area with a straight axle and up around $33k for an IRS. But I think these two chassis would give you the most comfortable ride.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. There are so many details to be considered when building these cars. Planning and designing can take just as long as doing the actual construction.
Fire away with any more questions.
Hey Ken, if he uses the C6 rear suspension (on an SRIII chassis), is he limited to using the Camaro or Quick change differential in order to run the Z06 wheels he has with the factory quarter panels?
Building a custom car is a game of compromises. There's going to dozens of conflicting requirements. You'll never get everything you want, so you have to decide what's most important to you and what is not. Wide low profile tires conflicts with having a soft ride and a C2 corvette conflicts with a roomy interior just to name two right off the bat. Any chance we can talk you into maybe starting with '69 mach 1 body or some other larger size muscle car?
The most common complaint I hear about restomods is the harshness of the ride. People get drawn into the look of the low profile tires, cool 18,19,20" rims and low stance. These attributes all conflict with having a soft comfortable ride. One of the misconceptions is if I bolt suspension from a new car onto a new chassis, its going to drive like a brand new car. Simple not the case. Automakers spend years and tens of millions of dollars engineering and designing a new car where every part is designed to work with all the other parts and to optimize the performance all as a system. Taking some of these parts and integrating them with other aftermarket parts simple doesn't give you the same level of performance. If an original car performs as a 1 and a brand new car as a 10, you may get a 6 or 7 doing this.
Its impressive and fairly cost effective to say you have C6/C7 suspension on your car, but the caveat is you need to angle your coilovers at 25+ degrees off vertical which means you need to use a fairly stiff spring. The more expensive chassis makers make their own upper and lower control arms which allow for vertical springs and thus lower spring rates and a softer ride. The quality of the shock is important too. You can spend $900 for a set of shocks, or $2500. I've used the $900 set from Viking 3 times now and have had to change them out for customers who want a softer ride. I still used Viking, but they have a softer version for $300 more. You get what you pay for.
You say you can't fit in a c6 or c7 now, but I would think they offer more room than a c2 How do you fit in the car now? You can drop the floors about 1.5" and use a low profile seat bottom, but that means less cushion so not as comfortable. Dropping the floors will make exhaust routing more difficult if you are going out the back. You can push the seat back maybe an inch by reconstructing the bulkhead behind the seat. You can extend the firewall and lower foot well to push the pedal forward and gain more leg room there. How about a Dan Gurney bubble in the roof? He was 6'4" too. I'm 5'11" 155 and feel cramped, but then I've been driving a minivan for 15 years.
You didn't mention cost, which frankly shouldn't be an issue IMO. This is a car you're keeping to enjoy the rest of your life. C4 suspension setup is out because the wheels won't fit, unless you are willing to use narrower wheels and sell of the suspension you already bought. That leaves C5,6,7 (Sriii, streetshop or Jamison) which would allow you to use the suspension from your donor car. But I don't this will give you the best comfort for reasons I mentioned above. So that leads to AM or Roadstershop and a bump up in price. AM is coming out with a new chassis designed specifically for a C2. But they have their own suspension setup. Cost for a rolling chassis is in the $27K area and that's a straight rear axle. Roadstershop is also priced in this area with a straight axle and up around $33k for an IRS. But I think these two chassis would give you the most comfortable ride.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. There are so many details to be considered when building these cars. Planning and designing can take just as long as doing the actual construction.
Fire away with any more questions.
I've used 2 SRIII chassis on convertibles, both C6 z06 wheels and have a third (C7 I think this time) about to start being built next week. Inner fender lip to inner fender lip measures 65" on my car (until yesterday when removed the original quarters). Now Mike says he can build it using a quickchange or camaro diff. to a 57.5" hub to hub width (C6) (not sure if that includes rotors). c6 Z06 rear wheels (59mm offset) with a 325 tire stick out ~4.5" past the mounting surface, so 57.5 + 4.5 + 4.5 = 66.5" which is 1.5 inches more than 65", so by my calculations, no they wont' fit without installing wider quarters. I think my calculations are correct, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. If Mike says it can be done, then maybe I'm wrong somewhere. But now AM claims they can get 56.5" width in the rear so shaving the lip of the fender just might work and Roadstershop can do 54.5" rear width (not sure if that's straight axle or IRS).
One more thing regarding C6 z06 rear suspension, I remember Mike telling me to get base or GS rear control arms because the Z06 ones have an extra lobe on them which interferes with his frame. Maybe he has overcome this by now, but better check with him if you decide to buy his frame. Be careful with SRIII regarding lead times. I was given a 4 month lead time last spring, 6 months latter they still weren't ready to build which blew my build schedule to make it to scottsdale. I put things on hold till December and was 2 chassis away from being next up, now 6 weeks later I'm up, I'm told.
All frames are going to flex. When I put the 67 convertible with SRiii chassis up on a 2 post lift, I can't close the doors because the door gap has opened up. This is probably typical of most if not all frames.
I've read some good reviews of the Chassis Concepts frames on this site. Possibly another option to consider...although I think his newest frames are designed for C7 suspension parts and a C5 diff.
01-28-2019, 09:25 AM
C2 Restomod Chassis Reviews
been thinking of building one also...
