Extending existing frame

[Rat]

Car: 1960 austin healey bugeye sprite tub
1. Install stock ford 8.8 welding brackets to mount to current 4 link factory set up, run 30" mickey thompson tires 16" wide on rear
2. Extend cowl forward to front wheel openings, install new firewall, about 20".
3. Cut exsisting straight front frames, place home made extended frames in place and weld all back together.
4. Clean up front suspension section removing all sheet metal, car has rack&pinion steering coil springs with cool looking dampners for shocks.
4. Drop in V8 , put on old ford radiator chrome lights, etc...
5. End result places front axle in front of radiator headlights with exposed motor, car shell would be in style of 32 ford.

Question, sounds simple, is the frame extention do able?

And what style of rod do you call a body with open engine area and radiator headlighg combo set behind front axle

 

[21willys]

Anything is possible, and it's called cool lol. I don't know if theirs a term for it, never heard of one.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Looking at the car's structure, I say no. According to the info I found, the car was originally built with 42 HP and 52 ft lbs torque. In my opinion, a V8 with fat tires will tear the lightweight unibody to shreds, not to mention the added weight up front.

Similar to modifying a Fox body Mustang, some serious chassis re-engineering is required so it doesn't eat itself alive. Here's a picture and a link to the source for a good look at the structure and the challenges it provides...

http://www.motorcar-garage.com/gall...bugeye-sprite-restoration-dec-2005-june-2007/

 

[TIMOTHALE]

uni body mods

I had a unibody that had been raced SCCA , laugna secsa in calif. I had all the body panels welded up and a 1600 engine. That tub is not strong inough for anything bigger. Build a new T bucket style frame from 2 X 3 188 tubing and set the shell down on that, new floors, firewall etc.

 

[donsrods]

This is a subject I know a little about. When I was about 18 I swapped a 289 Ford into a bugeye Sprite. Basically, I ruined a nice little car. It would scoot pretty well and smoke the tires at 60 mph, but it cornered like s*** and rode really rough.

I didn't go to the extremes you are talking about, when my hood (bonnet to be correct) was down you didn't know it wasn't stock. To do it the way you are talking about you would be way better off putting a whole new frame under the car as it really has no true frame now. It is just a unibody and the rails are not much more than 16 gauge box steel. The car was designed to handle 50 hp so that tells you something.

I would build a typical T bucket style frame for the car and mount the body on that. Then you can securely put any front and rear suspension on it that you want. To do it any other way will be a disaster.

Don

 

[Rat]

Thanks you all for advice.
I was hopping to rag together with parts I have and save big bucks.


Plan b find frame

 

[21willys]

I didn't realize it was a unibody!

 

[donsrods]

I didn't realize it was a unibody!

Yep, everything on the body is welded to the boxed sections that serve as the "frame". You would be surprised how thin the front frame rails are. We had to cut them loose and move them from the 12 inches apart they were to 20 inches to make room for the 289. When we cut them a hacksaw went right through them like butter because they were not much more than thick tin.

The whole car is just one big welded unit, as you can see in the picture above.

Don

To get the Ford in there I had to remove all the sheetmetal inside the blacked out area in the picture below. Then I moved the frame rails out 4 inches per side all the way from the front crossmember to the transmission crossmember. Then I made a new metal doghouse to cover the engine where it laid under the dash.

Because the engine was so wide inside the cockpit, the old brake pedal became my gas pedal and the old clutch pedal was now the brake pedal (C 4 automatic trans). It was the hardest engine swap I have ever done.

 

[Rat]

I have another 58 bugeye that has a 289 with C4 trans and 57 shorten Oldsmobile rear end. The conversion is old, the 289 has a generator instead of a alternator.

It was done the same way you explained, rails seperated, etc. I have never driven the car, got it because it was odd. Figuered it needed to be updated before driven hard.

Back to rod project....I am thinking now of running a heavier boxed frame from rear 4 links to my front suspension. How do you figure size? Is round better?

 

[donsrods]

Gotta ask, does that 289 have an aluminum intake and Holley carb and Cobra valve covers ? Sounds very familiar.

Don

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Gotta ask, does that 289 have an aluminum intake and Holley carb and Cobra valve covers ? Sounds very familiar.

Don

Wouldn't it be something if this is your old car, Don? I think we need some pictures Rat... [P[P[P

 

[Rat]

No has a wiedman and no carb. Done in Texas I heard.

 

[21willys]

I think I would need pics just to make sure.

 

[donsrods]

I don't want to hijack your thread, but I too would love to see pictures. That one sounds TOO close to mine. It had a generator as it was a 64 289, and the guy who bought it from the guy I sold it to put another rear under it because the stock Sprite axles were good for about 2 burnouts.

If you want to keep this thread clean, please post the pictures on a separate thread. A clue to mine was that we built the battery box on the passenger side, right where that pedal cutout was if you ran the steering on the right side as in England. It also had a Ford crossflow radiator and a homemade shifter with a T handle. Seats were black rolled and pleated pebble grain vinyl. It had stock exhaust manifolds with drop downs that went into lakes pipes out the side.

Wouldn't that be something. Maybe yours didn't come from Texas but from Pennsylvania.

Don

 

[33fire]

4 link rear

Ok I'm trying to set up or build my own rear 4 link set up. I found a set up on e bay for 185. bucks but I'm trying to do as much myself as I can. I'm using a S10 rear end and the car is a 33 Chevy if anyone can up that would be great oh and explan it in a way I can understand. Thanks

 

[Rat]

Battery mounted behind seats, dead give away would be how they replaced the rebound cavas straps on rear axle. They used steel cable looped.
Car is red with sun tach, home made long tube headers that are made terribly.

Do not know how to post photos from phone. Laptop trashed.
My first post, "the rat from galivants ferry" has one photo
.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Pics from your first post...

 

[Rat]

Thanks for moving them.

 

[Torch]

22r or a 3.0L or larger mercury marine would be nice

 

[Bamamav]

Pics from your first post...

Mini Shelby Cobra!