[Tigers] Actual Frame measurements - don't think I need to replace the front clip.

[daniel doornbos]

All,  after being suggested to get a donor car and splice in the FE I instantly started looking for said donor.  But after thinking about it for a bit I decided I should quantify the issue and made my own measurements.  Car went up on jackstands, FE off with body set to level.  I used a plumb bob and marked the garage floor, then remounted the cross member and moved the car out of the way and measured and triangulated and calculated the front x-member positions left/right/forward/aft relative to the rear end front leaf spring mounts.  The key assumption here is the rear end front leaf spring mounts as the reference points are true and square.  I think this is a good assumption.  two photos here of the plumb bob and final floor marking:  https://goo.gl/photos/aKccfJmt2aQ166bM9


Based on the measurements I made to get to a perfect state I would make the below adjustments.  At this point they might all be in tolerance, but they could be a little better.  A good frame shop should be able to make these adjustments I think.  I don't think this level of offset demands a full front clip replacement.

  *   Frame adjustments needed
     *   Front passenger frame x-member mounts need pulled 0.3 forward.
     *   Rear passenger x-member mount lower by 0.2 (front no change in elevation)
     *   Driver front x-member mount position move 0.25 toward passenger side and passenger side move 0.35
     *   Driver rear x-member mount position move 0.2 toward passenger side and passenger side move 0.5
Body as measured

  *   Front x-member mount width is 24.19 vs spec of 24.32 (delta 0.13)
  *   Rear x-member mount width is 22.25 vs spec of 22.56 (delta 0.31)
  *   Engine mount width 22.25 vs 22.34 (delta 0.1)
  *   Both Driver/Passenger distance between front rear x-member mounts 6" vs. spec 6"
  *   Driver x-member delta height front minus rear mounts 0.31 vs. spec of 0.48
  *   Passenger Delta height front x minus rear x-member 0.125 vs. spec of 0.48
  *   Rear wheel spring to front x-member mount;  driver side 71.31 passenger 70.95 delta 0.36
  *   Rear wheel spring to rear x-member mount; driver side 65.35 passenger 65.08 delta 0.27
  *   Width spacing rear spring mount inward to x-member front mounts; 5.8 passenger and 5.2 driver delta 0.6
  *   Width spacing rear spring mount inward to x-member rear mounts; 6.8 passenger and 6.0 driver delta 0.8

The car was wrecked and looks like the repair was pretty good. It visually looks worse than it is by my measurements.  I also did this full process twice.  After the first time I thought I could be more precise with both plum bob placement and measurements.  Both were very close to each other but these measurements I think are accurate.

dan






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