Body mounted in front of kick

[all-world1]

Youngster once told me to keep the kick out of the body, that is , mount the rear of the body in front of the kick to give more storage space under the seat. Has anyone done this, and any pics available of the final product? All other plans or historic articles I've seen has the body covering all or part of the kick.

Craig

 

[Keeper]

My body is mounted right at the kick, of course the bed covers the kick.

If you flip through the links in my sig there are some pics in there.

 

[BOB S]

I placed my body the same place (KEEPER) mentioned and I built mine 20 years ago.
Everything electrical is mounted under my seat I have very few going under the dashboard .

bob

 

[409T]

Mine are as Keeper described. I thought that was the norm.

 

[all-world1]

Forgot to mention that I've got an model A rear crossmember so there won't be a bed, just the round barrel-type gas tank behind the body. The kick will be exposed.

 

[Johnny]

Like this?

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Forgot to mention that I've got an model A rear crossmember so there won't be a bed, just the round barrel-type gas tank behind the body. The kick will be exposed.

This is the best pic I have right now of mine in mock stage. I decided to recess most all the upward kick inside the rear of the body. Having no body on the rear or "modified" style, leaves the frame exposed, and (just my opinion) it looked better to hide most of the frame work. From the side mine looks like the upper frame comes straight out of the body. Another thing To think about doing a modified build, is that if you are running 4 bar in the rear, the farther your kick is away from your dif, the longer your bars can be to get the geometry better. Short bars tend to have forward movement with the dif, which just starts to bind things up. Moving my frame in the body gives me about 13" bars vs 10". My frame was way to low to use radius rods so bars were my best choice. I'm also using a body built by RPM that has a ten inch stretch, so loosing a couple inches inside the body was no big deal.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

One more note if you would like some pics of how youngster mounted the A crossmember, I have about a dozen shots of it. If you inbox me an email I will send you all I have.

 

[all-world1]

Thanks, not sure what the frame height will be, front axle is a 3 " drop and I really haven't done a proper mockup.

Incidentally, I got the A crossmember from Youngster with the frame stems already welded in so it was a piece of cake welding it to the frame rails. The setup is exactly like baddawgcustom's.

 

[all-world1]

This is the best pic I have right now of mine in mock stage. I decided to recess most all the upward kick inside the rear of the body. Having no body on the rear or "modified" style, leaves the frame exposed, and (just my opinion) it looked better to hide most of the frame work. From the side mine looks like the upper frame comes straight out of the body. Another thing To think about doing a modified build, is that if you are running 4 bar in the rear, the farther your kick is away from your dif, the longer your bars can be to get the geometry better. Short bars tend to have forward movement with the dif, which just starts to bind things up. Moving my frame in the body gives me about 13" bars vs 10". My frame was way to low to use radius rods so bars were my best choice. I'm also using a body built by RPM that has a ten inch stretch, so loosing a couple inches inside the body was no big deal.

View attachment 10133

Thanks for that pic. I was worried about the look of an exposed kick. Right now, my body is notched for the main frame rails only, and once it gets notched for the top of kick, than I'm at the point of no return.

Just looking at your rear spring, did you mount the spring brackets on the rear end yet? If not, any idea what the width will be between those two brackets?
Craig

 

[SRM1952]

Thanks for that pic. I was worried about the look of an exposed kick. Right now, my body is notched for the main frame rails only, and once it gets notched for the top of kick, than I'm at the point of no return.

Just looking at your rear spring, did you mount the spring brackets on the rear end yet? If not, any idea what the width will be between those two brackets?
Craig

I'm still in the building stages ---but I have a four link with frame bottom 10 in off ground in rear with a four link outside frame 20 in arms.

but front of links mount inside body access under seat on top link and underneath on lower. putting inside together now no good pics of that, but will be sealed to outside. here some other pics. It is working out real good so far.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Thanks for that pic. I was worried about the look of an exposed kick. Right now, my body is notched for the main frame rails only, and once it gets notched for the top of kick, than I'm at the point of no return.

Just looking at your rear spring, did you mount the spring brackets on the rear end yet? If not, any idea what the width will be between those two brackets?
Craig

No I haven't welded on the spring mounts yet. This weekend I'm planning on mounting the spring in the crossmember, then setting the weight of the car down on the spring to see how wide the spring is once it compresses. I have the motor/ trans in the frame and I'm adding about an extra 500 lbs inside the body to simulate the finished weight of the car. This way I can get the measurement exactly right. The shackles should be at about a 45 degree angle at curb weight. This is the only way you can insure you get it exactly correct. I've read a lot of stories of people cutting the mounts back off and changing it because they didn't get the width right, and I would love to avoid that.

This is the rear spring hanger I'm using compliments of Ron at RPM. I did have him make me a custom set, a little wider between the dif and the sping. As you can see it's adjustable in height, and I'm using one similar on the front, to tweak the ride height exactly as I want which is 7" frame to ground in the rear, and 5" up front. I know most people get the frame as a roller before mounting the rest of the driveline, but I chose to wait for the rear until I got the measurement right. I'm using the 36 " T spring from speedway, and they recomend the outside of the shackles should mount 5" wider than the spring eye to eye centers. Maybe before the weekend is out I can let you know if they are correct.

 

[all-world1]

Like this?

Pretty close.
Is your kick in the body or outside? Any idea of the distance between firewall and back of the front crossmember?
Craig

 

[all-world1]

View attachment 10210
This is the rear spring hanger I'm using compliments of Ron at RPM. I did have him make me a custom set, a little wider between the dif and the sping. As you can see it's adjustable in height, and I'm using one similar on the front, to tweak the ride height exactly as I want which is 7" frame to ground in the rear, and 5" up front. I know most people get the frame as a roller before mounting the rest of the driveline, but I chose to wait for the rear until I got the measurement right. I'm using the 36 " T spring from speedway, and they recomend the outside of the shackles should mount 5" wider than the spring eye to eye centers. Maybe before the weekend is out I can let you know if they are correct.

 

[all-world1]

Dale, that's a slick set of hangers. Ron should include those on his site.

 

[Johnny]

Pretty close.
Is your kick in the body or outside? Any idea of the distance between firewall and back of the front crossmember?
Craig

Kick up is outside body. I can get measurement and let you know. It is a RPM body and frame. Real long!

 

[all-world1]

Kick up is outside body. I can get measurement and let you know. It is a RPM body and frame. Real long!

Thanks Johnny. If it's not too much trouble, can you take a sideview pic of your car? I just wanted to see the body and kick at the same time.... still can't get my head around to what the final product will look like.

 

[Johnny]

Yeah, look at getting grief right under this post. That's a pretty good side shot of my T

 

[all-world1]

Yeah, look at getting grief right under this post. That's a pretty good side shot of my T

Ok thanks.