[nheine]

Hey Guys,

I started writing this post last night and forgot to finish, went to submit it this morning and it had timed out and then I lost the whole post I had written! I have been reading all the 1st gen mini tub threads that I can find. Here is my issues.

Anyway, I am currently in the middle of mini tubing my '63 SS before sending it off for paint this winter. I wanted to thank 62civa & GNNOVA for their posts. I know there were more that had good posts, but I can't remember their screen names.

Current State:

I have gotten the inner wells cut out and cleaned up. I cut the floor out between the original well in to flush with the frame rail. I then duplicated the front and rear curvature for each well to blend the openings back in to use the original cut out wells.

It wasn't until after I cut the wells wider to the frame rails when I realized that the frame rails start to flare out near the rear wheels. Here is a quick visual as to what I am seeing (wheels and frame rails):

front of car
.O | | O
....| |
....| |
.O / \ O <----- flare out of frame rails
...| . |
rear of car

Now I can see why people are choping the rear part of the frame rails and thinning them! I have been going back and forth over the last couple days whether or not I am going to chop the frame rails or leave them. Here are my issues:

Questions!:

Should I narrow the frame rails or just mount the wells at outsides of the frame rails?

What width of tire can I fit in each case above? From what I have read, people have been runing 275's with the wells at the frame rail edges, and 295-305's with thinning the frame rails.

Is there much of a traction difference is there between 275's and 295's? Or is the difference here more for the visual of having wider rear tires?

I have gotten 62civa's front leaf spring perch drawing for moving the front of the leaf spring in, is there an equally easy way to move the rear leaf spring in? I see that he did move the rears in but I can't seem to follow how he mounted his sliders.

What has everyone done for the leaf spring and shock mount on the axle? Do people just cut the pad off the axle and move it in?

To add to the question above, is there a concern for changing the shock geometry or needing to move to a shorter shock absorber for moving them in?

I have been taking pictures as I go but I am on a different computer right now. I can post pictures later today if anyone is interested.

 

[nheine]

Another question.... Anyone out there have mini tubs on a 1st gen AND an explorer rear end?

 

[65ChevyIINova]

nheine,

I did exactly what you did, I followed GGNova and 62Civa's threads and photobucket instructions.

I moved the front hangers with 62 Civa's plans and I moved my rear leaf-shackles in by using sliders. In order to move the sliders in I welded a box to the inside of the frame rail and to the bottom of the trunk pan. IThe back of the box was a 1.25" .125 wall tube between the back of the frame rails. (just like 62Civa). I positioned the slider/box so that when the weight was on the wheels the slider had plenty of room to move in both directions with plenty of room so that the slider wouldn't hit the end when the springs were compressed with a 200 lb person standing in the trunk, nor would it hit the other end when the weight was taken off.

In order to move my leaf perches I bought a completely new set and cut the old ones off. I don't think you could get the stock ones off without destroying them! In order to keep my rear end spacing the same I completely moved the passenger leaf in first and then moved the perch on the passenger side. I repeated this for the drivers side. By doing this. I always had the original spacing reference of the drivers side and the rear end stayed centered.

For the minor change in my shock geometry I am not going to worry about it. By moving my leaf springs in 2 inches it changed the shock length by less than 1 inch and made the shock stand up a little straighter... no worries.

I did not notch my frame rail and I will be able to fit a 275 with plenty of clearance but this does not leave room for error in my back spacing.

I can't comment for traction differences, but if you are running a lot of power on a drag car I bet you could get better times with a 305 vs a 275.


Hope this helps
Cheers
Bret

 

[63 Convertible]

I just finished doing mini tubs on my 63 convertible. I tubbed to the frame rails. Personally I don't like the Idea of cutting the frame rails b/c it weakens the structural integrity of the car. I am running 285's on the back with 1/2 inch clearance from the top of the tire to the frame rail.Wheels are 18in with 5.5BS. Im not using leaf springs though, im running a 4 link with a Panhard bar. I would like to see pics if you get time to post them.

http://s1048.photobucket.com/profile/Dan_Holiday

 

[nheine]

nheine,

I did exactly what you did, I followed GGNova and 62Civa's threads and photobucket instructions.

I moved the front hangers with 62 Civa's plans and I moved my rear leaf-shackles in by using sliders. In order to move the sliders in I welded a box to the inside of the frame rail and to the bottom of the trunk pan. IThe back of the box was a 1.25" .125 wall tube between the back of the frame rails. (just like 62Civa). I positioned the slider/box so that when the weight was on the wheels the slider had plenty of room to move in both directions with plenty of room so that the slider wouldn't hit the end when the springs were compressed with a 200 lb person standing in the trunk, nor would it hit the other end when the weight was taken off.

In order to move my leaf perches I bought a completely new set and cut the old ones off. I don't think you could get the stock ones off without destroying them! In order to keep my rear end spacing the same I completely moved the passenger leaf in first and then moved the perch on the passenger side. I repeated this for the drivers side. By doing this. I always had the original spacing reference of the drivers side and the rear end stayed centered.

Where did you get your sliders and perch's that mount on the axles?

Also, what about moving the axle back at all? When I put the 5.3L and 4L80E, I will need to get a new driveshaft anway. Do people do this just to help clear bigger tires or is there any sort of added value in doing this?

 

[nheine]

Anyone know where to get the stuff I mentioned above?

Anyway, I decided to NOT cut my frame rails. This weekend I plan on cutting the filler metal and hopefully getting everything welded in! Here is what I have right now. I tacked the drivers side well back in to determine how big to make the filler strips. I am about 2.5" wider!

Pattern for cutting curves:


Bump stop removed. Do I have to have one?:


Well tacked back in: