Body Mounts welded to stainless steel Avanti frame

[grobb284]

Just finished this recently:

*Drilling the two rear body mounts to match the roll bar.

*Drilling the two side body mounts to secure the floor pan at the front seats.

*Fabricated the two body mounts at the firewall.

*Shimmed all the body mounts to the floor pan.

*Bolted all the body mounts to the roll bar, floor pan, and firewall.

After checking all the mounts for squareness to frame and being level, tacking them to the frame.

We then removed the body from the frame, and prepped the frame for TIG welding the body mounts.

Assembled the side pipes, and installed the silicon grommets for noise and heat isolation.

[davidjonh]

Sure looks beautiful. Sort of wishing I would be converting the old front end suspension on my 85 but money and time sort of have a voice in all this. Would this design work as an aluminum frame? Did this eliminate the need for the torque boxes?

Dave

[grobb284]

Would this design work as an aluminum frame? Did this eliminate the need for the torque boxes?

Dave,

1.This may work for an aluminum frame. May require some changes in the tubing dimensions. I have some nice looking aluminum 6061-t6 I-beams that could work well for the X-member. They would approximate the original Studebaker steel welded I-beams for the X-member.

2. So far this has eliminated the hog troughs (Torque boxes). By the way, just about have the drawings ready for production of a hog trough elimination on the original Studebaker Avanti frames. Should take perhaps 1/4 the time for installation of normal hog troughs, and looks pretty decent under the car too.

[davidjonh]

Gene, The reason I am asking is that weight is my enemy when it comes to building my electric Avanti. My project has taken much longer than I had expected but solid progress has been made. I am within one week of finishing all the repair & repaint work I can do on the bare frame, the Corvette rear end is completed, the front end suspension should be completed within maybe 30 days, motor / transmission combination has been completed and I have the adaptors for mounting the Corvette rear end to the frame.

Thinking ahead I need to keep the weight of the rolling frame and body combination to a minimum. I have weighted many components like the rear end, wheels, and front suspension but I have no way to weigh the frame or the body. Once I get the rolling frame I can take it to a local scale to have it weighed and then place the body on it and re-weigh it.

A long range goal would be to replace the steel frame, if possible, with an aluminum frame if the weight reduction would be significant. Are you saying the aluminum I-beams you have could be used to replace the X-member in the steel frame and if so, any guess how much weight would be saved? My contact with Peter over a month ago indicated his existing frame may be toast so he may need to replace the complete frame if he converts his Avanti.

Unfortunately I already have purchased stainless torque boxes and one side has been fitted. But again, long term, I might want to restore another Avanti and having another option would be great, especially the time savings issue.

If you are interested I have some web pages which are slowly being added to:

http://www.nbeaa.org/new_jan_07/heacock/heacock.htm

Dave

[grobb284]

A long range goal would be to replace the steel frame, if possible, with an aluminum frame if the weight reduction would be significant. Are you saying the aluminum I-beams you have could be used to replace the X-member in the steel frame and if so, any guess how much weight would be saved?

If you are interested I have some web pages which are slowly being added to:

http://www.nbeaa.org/new_jan_07/heacock/heacock.htm

Dave

Dave:

Very impressed with your progress. The speed which you are accomplishing things is very good, don't be so hard on yourself.

Typically aluminum is 1/3 the weight of steel, but 1/2 the strength. I was proposing an all aluminum chassis with the aluminum I-beams making the x-member. To have the frame near the same strength, probably a 1/3 savings in weight. If you decided you would not need it as strong, perhaps a greater savings in weight.

Incidentally, stainless is perhaps 30% stronger than mild steel. A similar savings in weight could be found if we reduced the wall thickness of the tubing to correspond with the original strength of the tubing in mild steel.

I like the idea of either stainless or aluminum, aluminum is just a little more difficult to weld, and the welds never look as good.

I have seen numerous weights assigned to the original frame. We weighed one utilizing two scales, one at each end of the frame, was well over 300#, however we found out later that the scales may have been damaged. It still had the clutch linkage, as well as the rear shackles, and part of the front of the rear leaf springs where they had been cut off with a torch. Solanki weighed one and came up with 250#. Our stainless frame came in under 250#. Our X-member was lighter, and the front frame cradle construction was lighter, but I don't know what the original frame actually weighs. We will try and weigh it again when we remove if from the Avanti body that it is now under.

Best regards as always.

[IndyJimW]

Gene, The reason I am asking is that weight is my enemy when it comes to building my electric Avanti.

Dave

Just thought you would like to know. I weighed my '87 Avanti, which uses a '87 Monte Carlo SS chassis, it came in at 50lbs more then a '87 Monte Carlo SS. That's some thick fiberglass.

Jim Wood

[davidjonh]

Gene & Jim, these are some very interesting numbers that are very helpful. When I first weighted my 85 Avanti it weighted 3500 pounds with almost no gas in the tank and no bodies inside. My goal for the finished car is 4000 pounds or less. I was hoping I could remove maybe 1000 pounds and if so the car less engine, drive train, exhaust system, gas tank, coolant system and some other gas components would weigh 2500 pounds? So if the frame weighs 300-400 pounds, which doesn't seem unreasonable, then that heavy body with glass, doors, seats, dash, wheels and suspension weighs 2100?

When I get the rolling frame together I will let everyone know what the weight is along with some pictures.

Again, thanks for the information.

Dave