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My new Bucket Build

If you still have the flat plate steering arms shown in your 1st photo, you can heat & bend, either just down, or in an elongated "S" to clear the frame. Possibly add a little caster [lay the steering arms] back could give some additional clearance... just some thoughts

dave
 
Zack said:
Dave, I am going back with a stock steel GM pan. The tie-rods is under the arms already plus a 1" spacer. I need 3" total drop to make it work. I think RPM can fab those for me. Yes, I have room to move the rear upper shock mounts to the bottom side of the frame rail. I am thinking that is my best option.
Click to expand...
I know Pete & Jake makes 2 sizes of drop steering arms and also makes a standard steering arm thats I believe 1 1/2" longer.
 
Dave is right. You could heat and reshape those arms. The thing that bothers me about most bolt on arms like SB is the blind hole to mount them. The ones like you have with the bolt AND nut appeal to me more. If you want something a little nicer looking, check out Chassis Engineering arms. The are forged, can be bought plated and come in 2 different drops.

Reshaping your arms will not change your castor or camber.

Ron
 
Front spring spacer is your best bet to get more engine clearance as it looks like the front perch is a little high or you can fab up some taller mounts for the engine crossmember, if the trans tunnel will allow.

T-Test
 
Zack, I think my frt. end is at 7* , there doesn't seem to be a problem , tracks straight , turns well , been like that since I built it in '01 , if it will get you clear, be simple enough , also easy to change back.. like t-test said, a spring spacer is a good idea , again, easy to change

dave
 
If you cut the pan, Make a wider sump like this [___].

Adjusting to &degrees will work too as 2o2f suggests. It will also improve handling at highway speeds.

Ron
 
I ordered a stock pan which is slightly shorter tan what i have. I will install that, build my new shock mounts for the rear and raise it. Once get that done i will have a better idea for how more if any i need to raise the front to get oil pan clearance. I am gonna have to fix the tie-rod/frame clearance problem regardless. If i still need more i will probably just add a spring spacer as suggested.
 
I had to use steering arms dropped considerably to get my steering to work properly with my 6" dropped axle. I used the 37-48 3-3/4" dropped arms from Speedway (yes, with the blind holes!). They worked great for my application even with it being a cross-steer setup. I imagine as you said, RPM can hook you up once you figure out what drop you really need. Here's the best shot I could find showing my arms and tie rod. Photo credit to T-Odd:
Ben27Dayton1.jpg
 
Hey Ben, I have a 6" dropped axle as well and it looks like 3" dropped arms will do the job for me. Ron is making them for me and i should good to go. Your tie-rod setup looks the same as mine Geometrically speaking.​
​
On a side note, the drivers side rear freeze plug is now dripping. Man, it seems like all i am doing lately is taking 1 step forward and 3 steps back. :mad:
 
The father and son team has turned out a great T! You guys to wonderful work! Can I send my order in?

btw - I will be making several trips to Shreveport over the next few months so let me know if I need to help you with anything.
 
Well, i started out last night going to change the oil pan. So, after trying to get my aluminum pan out i quickly realized it would not come out because of the stupid cross-member that the PO installed. So, I decided to put a block (4x4) under the harmonic balancer (as i have done hundreds of times before on other cars) and slowly jack up the engine. So i did and i was still short about an inch. Before i could even start to figure out what to do the engine slipped and feel off the jack crashing back down into the car. So, i am now ready to burn it to the ground :mad:. The front header tube got scratched, the frame scratched up and who knows what all else. This was 9pm last night and i was in no mood for finding more damaged stuff. After getting the engine back up and stable and my temper now in overdrive i swiftly broke out the torch and cut the cross-member off just clear of the motor mount area on both sides. Needless to say the pan came out right away. So, after installing my new steel (stock) pan with a skid plate that i welded on i still gained 1" of clearance. Now, the new issue is i am not real confident in the motor mount situation. I will try to get some pics of what i have left this evening so maybe some of you can offer some suggestions. I do not want to pull everything back out, strip the frame down and start welding in new supports and all that stuff. I will be looking for ideas on how to reinforce what i have.

I gotta tell you guys, I love this car more than any car i have ever owned but it is really putting a strain on my temper. I can take so much but after a while it gets to the point of being ridiculous. For every step forward i take 3 steps back and i don't understand why. I have been building hot rods all my life and yet this one looks as if it is going to kill me. If the hands of fate don't start dealing me a better hand every once in while on this i may have to take a longggggggggg if not permanent break from it. This car has fought me every step of the way.:thumbsdown:
 
Well,as they say, now you've stepped in it! Short of fabbing new mounts, maybe you could fab a couple plates per side that would go from frame to the mount tube , or some short sections of the appropriate size tube that you could slide over the tube you cut{like a repair coupling in plumbing] to weld the crossmember back together ???

dave
 
Maybe you could weld plates over the places you cut and then bolt the plates together? make a bolt in crossmenber?
 
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