Gettin' Jiggy - It's now time to get the car on the jig! We'll take everything we've made up to this point and piece it all together. This includes cutting and placing the framerails as well as centering the front and rear clip with the framerails. We'll attach the front and rear clip to the framerails, we'll attach the crossmember, and of course the truck arm mounting points.
OK, we've cut the framerails...
OK, we've cut the framerails and we've got the front and rear clip on the jig. Now it's time to center the clips with the framerails. We do this by running a centerline down the middle of the jig and centering everything with it.
This might be the most crucial...
This might be the most crucial part of building the car because if your framerails aren't straight, you'll always have difficulty aligning the rearend of the car. Remember, you align the rearend by squaring it to the framerails. *NOTE* Notice how Andy welded two straight bars to the very front and the very rear of the front clip? This will keep the front clip from warping under the extreme heat it will experience. Once we're finished, we'll have to cut those bars back out.
Once we have the framerails...
Once we have the framerails and the rear clip square, we start on the front clip. To ensure we get our correct wheelbase of 105 inches, per series rules, we have attached a special lower control arm that will locate our wheelbase for us.
Now it's time to put the crossmember...
Now it's time to put the crossmember into place and attach the truck arm mounts.
Notice the block we put under...
Notice the block we put under the right rear framerail. This will increase our chassis ride height on the right rear, but also gives us the room for the exhaust we need to ensure it won't rub out the right side.
Finishing the Rollcage - It's now time to attach the 'cage to the framerails. One thing we don't want to forget is since we have raised the framerail on the right side, we need to cut the 'cage down on the right rear to ensure that it will sit on the framerails level. In addition, we will attach the secondary lead rail on the inside of framerail.
Steve places the 'cage 1 inch...
Steve places the 'cage 1 inch farther back than he usually does to give me a little more legroom.
We have added half of an extra...
We have added half of an extra framerail to the left side of the car, which attaches to the crossmember bar. This will give us another weight box for our lead.
We need to finish attaching...
We need to finish attaching the 'cage to the framerails.