Spent today duplicating the wood parts in 1 1/2" x 3" .188 rectangular tubing. Tomorrow I will begin welding the pieces together. Once that is done I will begin on narrowing the axle and mounting the coil overs and the trailing arms and panhard bar. Ill post pics tomorrow.l

 

Cool beans will be looking for the pics. Good luck!

 

Here is a shot of the 1 1/2 x 3 tubing tack welded in place. I think this concept will work. I need to cut some sheet metal out of the other side before I can install the rect. tubing on that side. Once that is done, I will weld in cross bracing and mounting tabs. After that it on to coil over shock mounts and trailing arms / panhard bar. When that is complete I'll be able to narrow the axle and mount the rear wheels so I can turn it upright and begin thinking about engine and trans install

 

When its all done, are you going to transfer the work to the real car or just copy it?

 

I'm going to transfer these parts to the Panel. I will just tack weld and bolt or pop rivet these parts to the mule.

 

Coming along nicely.

 

I finished with the plasma cutter on the other side. Welded up the rectangle tubing so now both sides are roughed in. Next thing is to grind some welds and make cardboard patterns to get some 1/8" plate water jetted for the gussets and mounting brackets. Starting on the rear trailing arms next. In my efforts to use as many Chevy parts as possible, I am using the bushings from the HHR rear trailing arms and then welding lengths of dom tubing with adjustable urethane bushings on the axle end. Also need to fab some cross members up for the coil overs but I'm out of tubing right now.

 

Spent the day taking 9" out of the Camaro rear axle. 9" is just my best guess, I just tacked each side in 3 places so if I need a different width I can change it. I'll have to pretty much set the whole rear suspension before I'll know exactly the axle width. Tire size, wheel offset and the amount of metal I take out will be the determining factors.

Tomorrow I'm going to cut to size and weld in the two rear cross members so the coil overs can be installed. Pics tomorrow.

 

Looks very nice. Makes me jelly cause ive wanted to do this but dont trust my skills yet... hah

 

Spent the weekend working on the rear axle and suspension. I had some steel parts water jet cut and I started to install them. Mostly mounting brackets and reinforcing pieces. The RWD framing is mostly done now. Just about to fit mounting brackets for the coil overs and cut the rear trailing arms to length. I'm going to have to come up with something pretty trick for the panhard bar since my coil overs will be sitting right where it should go. I'll figure that out once the coil overs are set.