Frame Stiffining W/torque Boxes And Beyond

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blue missile

blue missile

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If I have this correct the torque boxes go where the nuts connecting the leafspring plates are by the back of the car. There are also two similar pockets by the front wheel wells. Has any body addressed those? What have others done to stiffen the front frame members that extend from the fire wall to the radiator? It seems to me that this is where the most of the movement would be in as much as these are two free floating relativly unconnected pieces of the frame. I know that the stock Kmember serves to stiffen and connect those frame arms, but I will be using an Alterkation front end And I have no idea how effective that is towards that end. ANY information here would be greatly appreciated.
Andrew
 
Their are both front and rear torque boxes. Convertibles have both from the factory.
 
If the Alterkation is tubular chromoly, it's probably going to be as strong or stronger than the stock stamped mild steel k-member.
 
Andrew, I boxed the frame rails and sectioned them up for better ground clearance (where they go under the cab). A cleaner look and much stronger.

Moving the AlterK member up into the frame (which leads to a bunch more work,fyi), cage down bars, a radiator support bar......all good stuff.
-Rob
 
Rob,
nice to hear from you. Please tell me about the radiator support bars.
It seems to me that the frame members at the radiator are subject to the most torsional movement because of the location of the motor mounts. As the motor torques to spin the rear diff that movement is resisted by the essentially free floating ends of the front frame. Am I perceiving this correctly?
Now some people say that the radiator stiffens the front. While this may be true, not only dont I want to rely on the radiator to perform this function,but I feel at the power levels were dealing with it was never designed for that.
Again hopefully you are getting something done
Andrew
 
FWIW, a few years ago I put subframe connectors in my car. Before if jacked a front wheel off the ground at the subframe torsion bar intersection I couldn't open the door or if the door was open the latch and striker would be off by 1/2". After the connectors the back wheel would come off the ground shortly after the front and opening and closing the door was easy. The connectors also dramatically reduced the rattles and creaks.

I plan on welding in front and rear torque boxes this winter.
 
I made the front torque boxes last night and will get them installed tomorrow,
I will post the pics after completion.
Andrew
 
Here are the front torque box plates, the space they went into and the finished welding job. As I said they were about $10 worth of 14Ga steel.
Andrew

frame connectors 009.jpg


frame connectors 010.jpg


frame connectors 011.jpg


frame connectors 012.jpg
 
14 gauge seems a little thin to me.. but I guess the strength comes from the box effect. Anyone know what the factory ones were?
 
According to the autorust site the factory used 18Ga @.049" for the torque boxes, and their stuff is [email protected]". my supply house had [email protected]". Let me tell you with only a hammer and a piece of I-beam for a dolly and no Brake to use,bending 14Ga accurately is a *****. Dont know if that helps, but to put it in perspective your body sheetmetal is [email protected]" and most of your frame members are boxed 18Ga.
Andrew
 
Often th sides of fridges and stoves are made from very heavy steel. I've no idea what the gauge is,but it also has a baked enamel finish which might throw off the measurement anyways.

Sound like you need a small sheet metal bender. One could be made from angle iron.I've got a small 18"bench top bender that Im going to pattern my big one from.

Torque boxes also need drain holes.I would open up the middle of it.You will still have stiffening from the perimeter of your torque box.
 
The factory put torque boxes on the 340 4 speed Demons also. I don't know if the auto cars had them but, all 3 of the 340 4 speed cars I have owned had them. Just my 2 cents
 
blue missile said:
Let me tell you with only a hammer and a piece of I-beam for a dolly and no Brake to use,bending 14Ga accurately is a *****.
Click to expand...

Take a piece of angle iron and a couple C-clamps or vice grips, and clamp the angle to the top of the I-beam, flange upstanding, to sandwich the sheetmetal between the two pieces, that'll make bending it accurate, and a lot easier.

-Brad
 
Yes Needsaresto,
in the last picture you can see a couple of 3/4" drain holes. Thanks for all the replies.
Andrew
 
i used the xv front frame brace and i love it it looks way cleaner than the old factory stamped steel
 
blue missile said:
According to the autorust site the factory used 18Ga @.049" for the torque boxes, and their stuff is [email protected]". my supply house had [email protected]". Let me tell you with only a hammer and a piece of I-beam for a dolly and no Brake to use,bending 14Ga accurately is a *****. Dont know if that helps, but to put it in perspective your body sheetmetal is [email protected]" and most of your frame members are boxed 18Ga.
Andrew
Click to expand...

Yeah Sorry about that... I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking of 14 gauge when i said that. Thanks for the other specs though! And nice work!
 
By the way... Do you have a picture from the other direction (looking towards where the camera is now)?
 
BJK,
I do not have such a shot, but when it stops raining here in Texas, say on Sat Ill take one for you.
Andrew
 
BJK,
the first pic is the view you asked for of the front torque box.
The rest are of the rear torque boxes. Now before anyone says anything about there being no holes in the rear ones, I popped the studs out of the leaf spring supports, and bolted them back in place, then welded the washers and nuts in place. When I'm done using the leaf springs to locate the rear end I will just unbolt them and the washers and nuts will stay put never needing to be accessed.
Andrew

torque boxes 005.jpg


torque boxes 001.jpg


torque boxes 002.jpg


torque boxes 003.jpg


torque boxes 004.jpg
 
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