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It would be nice if someone with the proper tooling, a shop and the skills, could make up a few of these and sell them through the forum. I don't have a shop or the tools needed to make one and would purchase one that I could weld into place.
It would be nice if someone with the proper tooling, a shop and the skills, could make up a few of these and sell them through the forum. I don't have a shop or the tools needed to make one and would purchase one that I could weld into place.
The time I had into mine with just using a bandsaw and a press would make them awful expensive. If a person had a waterjet or laser to cut the material and then had a heavy duty roller to shape it, the time per piece wouldn't be too bad.
It would be nice if someone with the proper tooling, a shop and the skills, could make up a few of these and sell them through the forum. I don't have a shop or the tools needed to make one and would purchase one that I could weld into place.
If you were referring to the cross member, Zip Corvette sells the repair piece and a kit to repair the cross members:
If you were referring to the cross member, Zip Corvette sells the repair piece and a kit to repair the cross members:
Repair part:
Kit to repair lower cross member dents:
The piece I made is to reinforce the cradle and to weld to the bottom a-arm pivot mounts. If you've ever seen photos of torn off lower a-arm mounts, you'd have see the bottom of the cradle rips like paper. The piece I put on is thicker and a stronger grade of steel. It also shouldn't dent by lifting the car there with a floor jack.
I'm not sure if OldCarBum was looking for a repair piece or a stronger reinforcement like mine.
For a restoration project, the pieces you showed would be nice, but cutting the old cradle bottom off would be a big job. A lot of welds and spot welds to grind off.
I have had to do that along with having to replace the lower cradle part like what was shown that Zip sells. It all depends on what the customer cares about and or wants. And trying to pull the dents out ...which I know I can do...that also depends on the integrity of teh steel and if the cradle is rusted up and not worth repairing it that way.
Either way...it takes time and effort....and if someone is expecting it to be cheap...the only way that it is going to be cheap (in regards to money) is if they did it themselves and save the labor costs.
What I'm referring to is a plate like v2Racing and 69ttop made that will reinforce the cradle area and supply a thick piece of steel where a floor jack could be used. When I get into my project and have the bare frame exposed I plan to have someone with the tooling make a cradle support like v2Racing and 69ttop did. I've also been throwing around an idea of something like the cobra's have which is a jack point attacked to the frame that replaced the bumpers, only on our C3's they could be attached to the frame but concealed behind the grill or come through the grill for easy access. I've seen a few here on the forum where guys will extend a nice piece through the grill which they use as a tie down and they look really clean when done right. Just some ideas.
Last edited by OldCarBum; Oct 7, 2017 at 11:08 AM.
OK, this is the third time I've wrote this. I disappeared twice already!
I boxed in my motor mounts today. I used the same .125" steel plate I used on the cradle. I ran it all the way back to the seam where the two pieces of the frame come together.
I think this is much stronger than the gussets called out for in the Powerbook. They strengthen in the direction of force. The engine twists in the frame. The gussets in the Powerbook strengthen for fore and aft movement. It helps spread out the load, but I think my fix is much better.
