Bolt on frame connectors 111” wheelbase

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Hey midnight Swinger, If you come up with some that you want welded in, I can come down there and do the job for ya. I work for compliments and candy. Or get the thing running and bring it up here and Ill put them in. No problem Brah!

@MidnightSwinger
Watch out for his van... The one with "Free Candy" painted on the sides... :)

Nice offer and definitely take him up on it. One issue with the bolt ins, after time, the holes wallow and they become less effective. Welding them in is really the best approach.
 
@MidnightSwinger
Watch out for his van... The one with "Free Candy" painted on the sides... :)

Nice offer and definitely take him up on it. One issue with the bolt ins, after time, the holes wallow and they become less effective. Welding them in is really the best approach.

Definitely going to take him up on this offer, just gotta tell him to keep his hands on his own welder.
 
It is easier to do it up north here for me of course, but I have a 220 extension cord I made and can bogart off a dryer plug. I bet with 30 min of practice you could weld the darn things in yourself. MIG is a hot glue gun essentially. Very forgiving.
 
you will be soooo much happier with the results of welded in connectors. I looked at the link for the ones that you were considering and having installed multiple sets, I don't understand how those would go in the car. Usually the front end has a flat plate that welds to the transmission/torsion bar crossmember opposite to the front subframe rail, and the the back end has two long vertical sides, extending from the subframe box, that fit on either side of the rear subframe rail.

One other piece of advice: make sure that you have the body/frame how you want it to be forever. Use levels to make sure that the subframe rails are all level to each other before the connectors are put in place. It's really easy to lock your frame in place in a twisted shape. The reason you are putting the connector in place is to get rid of the flex in the unibody between the sub frames. If you jack it up or put it on a lift any old way you could flex the body and lock it in a twisted configuration until you cut the connectors out and fixed it.

If your welding savior has installed connectors before he can guide you to get it set up straight before welding commences. Someday when you are replacing carpet anyway and have stuff apart, you could get farther toward the USCT style by welding some metal in between the floor pan and the subframe connectors in various spots so that they are more tied to the unibody and further stiffen the car.
 
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you will be soooo much happier with the results of welded in connectors. I looked at the link for the ones that you were considering and having installed multiple sets, I don't understand how those would go in the car. Usually the front end has a flat plate that welds to the transmission/torsion bar crossmember opposite to the front subframe rail, and the the back end has two long vertical sides, extending from the subframe box, that fit on either side of the rear subframe rail.

One other piece of advice: make sure that you have the body/frame how you want it to be forever. Use levels to make sure that the subframe rails are all level to each other before the connectors are put in place. It's really easy to lock your frame in place in a twisted shape. The reason you are putting the connector in place is to get rid of the flex in the unibody between the sub frames. If you jack it up or put it on a lift any old way you could flex the body and lock it in a twisted configuration until you cut the connectors out and fixed it.

If your welding savior has installed connectors before he can guide you to get it set up straight before welding commences. Someday when you are replacing carpet anyway and have stuff apart, you could get farther toward the USCT style by welding some metal in between the floor pan and the subframe connectors in various spots so that they are more tied to the unibody and further stiffen the car.

It’s supposed to be an interference fit I believe. The boxed portion slips over the rear rail and you grind the front portion to have a snug slip fit, then weld directly to the torsion bar cross member. That is my understanding from reading about them online.
 
C/E3652 -A-Body Mopar 110" W.B.

I just keep looking at the photos at this link and what they show doesn't make any sense to me. Take a look at the Hotchkiss and direct connection connectors and I think you will see what I mean. If there is no plate. I would suggest that you shape a piece of metal and weld it to the crossmember before you but the connector to it and weld it to strengthen that member. You are going to put a bunch of stress on it.
 
Well I found some, bought from an 88 year old mopar legend. I think he has had them for 40 years, check out the year!

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i run the same ones and while i bolted and welded them, i've installed a bunch and just bolted them.

run the thru hole on the frame a little bigger and use a spacer in between so you don't crush the frame out something terrible.

also, if you want to weld them after the fact, you can quickly mark the frame with them, wire wheel the nasty off and then swing by a muffler shop and have them zap them up.

also, i added a small hole in the "pocket" where it encases the rear rail for drainage "just in case".
 
Just buy a mig and practice. Its easy. stay away from fluxcore if you can. Not impossible, but it makes it a bit tougher. Welding is part of life man.
 
Just buy a mig and practice. Its easy. stay away from fluxcore if you can. Not impossible, but it makes it a bit tougher. Welding is part of life man.
I got my brother down here who used to be a ship fitter. I’m gonna buy a welder and have him help me weld them in.
 
I got my brother down here who used to be a ship fitter. I’m gonna buy a welder and have him help me weld them in.

There you go! Not sure I'd go so far as to say bolt-ins are worthless but welding structural members on a car chassis is definitely the way to go. I made my own subframe connectors for my Duster out of 3/16" wall thickness 2"x3" steel box tubing and 1/4" steel plate, iirc. One afternoon to measure and cut out the tubes and plates to go onto the t-bar crossmember and another afternoon to MIG weld them into place. Half of the welds look like trash but that's only because I didn't properly clean and strip the factory paint and primer on the car and didn't sand the paint along the edges of the tubes well enough where the welds were since I spray-painted them with black chassis paint the day before. I also should have used more C-clamps to clamp the sides of the tubes closer to the framerails. Oh well live and learn, there's still plenty of weld to hold everything together and they've held up fine for the past 4 years or so I've had them in. They did make a noticeable difference in chassis stiffness. Overall I think I put less than $100 into the whole project, plus the roll of MIG wire I gave my friend as payment for using his welder.

I agree with the other comments about MIG welding though, it's quite easy to learn and get the hang of in just a few hours tbh. I took an Intro to Welding class in high school where we tried all different forms and compared to TIG, stick/arc, and especially gas welding (super old-school, not really used anymore) MIG is a cakewalk, just need to get the voltage and wire-feed settings right and use good shielding gas (I like 75% Argon, 25% CO2) which also isn't very hard. Welding is just fun as hell too and super satisfying. Watching the steel melt and glob together is mesmerizing.
 
Just buy a mig and practice. Its easy. stay away from fluxcore if you can. Not impossible, but it makes it a bit tougher. Welding is part of life man.
I did it! I spent less on the Mopar frame connectors and welding set up than I would have buying new connectors. Now I just need to practice!

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