Hey guys. I have a 1952 Chevy truck that I am FINALLY going to start building. I let some clown that called himself a hotrod builder chop the front off of the frame about 8 years ago to weld a clip onto the front and basically he ruined the frame. Don't ask me why but I think he welded a Pontiac front clip onto the truck...see photo. I think what I want to do is just start fresh with a ready to go chassis and I am looking for suggestions. I looked at Fatman and No Limit Fab. Do any of you guys have a suggestion or any thoughts considering the current state of my frame? I am just going to keep the truck rusty and old school probably on airbags so I don't want to dump too much into the truck. Also any thoughts on vendors for transmission and crate motor would be appreciated. Thanks
As much as I hate to admit this, the new Speedway rails and crossmember for this truck are very nice and reasonably priced. They sell the rails as a home bolt together setup. I am a picky, generally pain in the ass chassis builder and I think these rails are real nice. Cheap, safe and easy way to a decent frame. As a thought, why don't you just cut the clip[ off and add some fabbed rails to the front. You could retain everything else and wouldn't even need to lift the body off if you didn't want to. This would be the most simple and economical way to go and is easily accomplished by any reasonably competent shop or a good home builder. You wouldn't believe how many clips I take off in a years time. This would make it easy to do the bags as well. Just my 2 cents!
Cleetus, that sucks! I can't comment on what aftermarket chassis to use, but if you have decided to replace it (as opposed to repairing it like Koz suggested) might I suggest you check my build thread over on Dogfight. http://www.dogfightmag.com/forum/showthread.php?1544-4200-Jimmy-swap May not be what you want to do, but it's an option that would allow buying the chassis and drivetrain in one fell swoop. If that isn't acceptable, check some of the older GM cars (Impaula maybe?) to see if they would fit. Easy ride and you should be able to wind up with a whole drivetrain, instead of piecing it together (I gather you don't want to put any more money in it than you have to).
Try JWrodgarage. My buddy bought his chassis from them and it was really nice and reasonably priced. Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Thanks for the help guys. It looks like some good options. I definitely don't want to drop Art Morrison money but I am not opposed to spending some money on this thing to get it right finally. Thanks again
So I did some research and it looks like Porterbuilt makes a pretty nice kit for 1955 - GM trucks that would basically bolt right on and replace what has been cut off my chassis IF they made a kit for the '52. Does anyone know of such a kit? Porterbuilt doesn't make a kit like this. Thanks
So I think I have decided to just buy an aftermarket frame with crossmember and brakes ready to go. Does anybody have any experience with Fatman or Speedway chassis?
I have a Fatman crossmember in our Anglia, good stuff, but HEAVY. No worries about breaking it though. You might check out what Welder Series has.
Greetings! Easiest and cheapest would be to re-clip the front with G-body front frame stub (78-85 Malibu, Monti-Carlo, Buick Regal, ect), is 2-3" narrower than the oft used Camero/Nova and comes with coil springs so it's easily converted to bags. The next cheapest and easiest alternative is to find a replacemant frame and start over.
There has to be someone in the Dallas area pulling a decent stock frame out from under one of those trucks to put an S-10 chassis under it that will make you a deal on the stock frame. Cross members for a stock frame run from what Welderseries asks for his weld it yourself one through the top of the line Scotts or other top end setups. The 78/85 G body frame stub would also be a good way to go.
I think Art Morrison makes an entire chasis, not sure of the cost and not sure if you want to spend the money!! Just an idea!!
I've done the advertising for FatMan for almost 20 years. They have been the "working man's" suspension company for 27 years now and make well engineered, great riding chassis for AD trucks. Their head fabricator drives an AD to work every day. And I have owned several chassis from them too. They supplied the chassis for the last two Street Rodder tour cars built by Hollywood Hot Rods and Honest Charley's. 25 thousand hard tour miles and no issues. I think you can get the whole deal for around $8000. Call for Brent and discuss.
Please forgive the "sales pitch" here, but here at Fatman's we offer something that I think will work nicely for you. Many guys have bought the front 1/3 of a complete chassis in order to fix a botched subframe installation. It will have all the bumper, radiator, front cab and sheetmetal mounts on it to fit your truck. We make it long enough to slide inside your old rails and replace the subframe installation no matter where they made the joint. Like the guy says above this will save a bunch of $$$ over a complete new chassis while still solving your problem in a clean and easy way...Brent
Morrison has a chassis ready to go. Their shop truck was their test mule and it's the owner's daily driver. YouTube has a video on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtcYw8xVY14
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