Page Five

To install the new 16"x6" Fuchs rims with 195/50x16 tires I had 3 choices:
1. Lift it up for clearance and let them stick out (Nope!!!)
2. 2" Wider Fenders (Not on a Cal-Looker)
3. Narrow the front beam 3" (This is more like it!!!)

The welding on the front adjusters had been done when I bought it, it was sketchy to say the least. So I took the front beam out, and decided to narrow it in the middle taking 1 1/2" off ech side of the adjuster and then moving the mounts back to the original location. This is better way beacuse it requires less welding, so less chance of the beam twisting.

Here is the front beam in the car stripped down ready to come out, you can see the Mallory Comp 140 pump and 1/2" lines too:

Here is the beam out of the car and ready to be stripped down:

I then took the front beam apart. I started by removing the tie-rods and then taking the spinldes off. After I loosened set-screws I took the trailing arms off, then loosened the center set-screw in the adjuster anf removed the torsion leaves. After it was completely stripped I cleaned it down with Varsol and a few rags.

My boss is a great guy and let me do the fabrication and welding at the shop on the weekends. Here is the stripped and cleaned beam on the welding bench:

I took a bunch of measurements and wrote them down on a sheet of paper and did all the calculations, after finding the best locations to cut, I laid it out on the beam. I used the bansaw to cut the beam in 2 places 5" apart (the Sway-a-way adjuster is 2"+ th 3" to be removed). I then used the cold saw to acurately cut the original welds so I can reuse the adjusters, they were in great shape. Here is the beam cut with the adjuster and removed sections laying in place:

I cleaned the areas to be welded with a grinder and put a bevel on the edges for better penetration. Here it is all clamped together using a couple lengths of angle-iron, think I have enough clamps on it:

I tacked it all together and checked for staitness, note the nice gaps and the bevels:

I then clamped it back together and welded a few little sections, moving the angle around to keep it clamed as much as i could I welded it all together using a Miller 304 XMT with a 60M feeder (awesome welder!!!!!) and .30 wire. By welding small sections and moving around alot I prevented it warping at all. Here is the welded beam, it looks great:

When it was all welded up I ground off the mounting horns and cleaned up the tubes. I located them in the new locations and tacked them in. I then welded a cople of peices of 3" sqaure tubing level and square to the table to keep it true when welding them up. Here it is clamped to them:

I then cut the shock towers off to allow the beam to be bolted back-up because they would fowl the inner fender. I'm gonna fab-up some new ones later:

I marked the new set-screw locations (1 1/2" in from the existing ones) and drilled them the the drill-press, using the vice and a couple C-clamps to clamp them together. Here is a photo of me drilling them:

After I had the new set-screw holes drilled I cut 1 1/2" off each end using the bandsaw. This was quick and easy!

I took the narrowed beam home and installed it into the car the check the mount locations and to take measurements for the custom shock towers. He is a photo of the end of the beam, showing how the original towers would have hit.

I took a whole buch of measurements and drew out some plans based on some shock towers I had seen on the internet. I then made some templates out of poster-board, and tried it for fit.

I purchaced a piece of 12ga sheetmetal from work and cut the peices out with the plasma-cutter. Here are the pieces and one of the towers tacked together:

Here is the completed towers tacked on to the beam:

Here it is intalled into the car, they fit really good, with 3/16" clerance all the way up, they are about 1 1/2" taller so I can run a longer adjustable drag shock. Just need to weld them up now.

Here is a photo of the completed beam, before I sand-blasted and painted it.

See:
Page 1 - intro page
Page 2 - engine specs.
Page 3 - engine rebuild
Page 4 - new rims
Page 5 - beam narrowing
Page 6 - misc mods
Page 7 - the green limousine
Page 8 - friends rides
Page 9 - 2003 Las Vegas Bug-O-Rama