Hey guys, gotta do the big cut now to start repairing the unibody on the 1959/60' that means cutting out some structural bits. I've got a whack of 3 and 4" square tubing that i'm intending to use to brace up the body. I'm just trying to figure out where to put it.

I'm thinking right now, between the A pillars where the dash was, between the B pillars and then a brace between them and to the large hump behind the front seats.

any suggestions/tips/tricks? I'm fairly certain i'll be rebuilding the inner structure of the rocker panel too, so it will have to last a while like this. I will also add in the 3/16" Plate for a roll cage and for my suspension mounts as well.

May have a line on the 540i rear end now too!

That sounds beefy. Articles on "top-chops" I have seen 1" tubing from door jamb about 1/2 way up and where you are attaching. There is a ton of lateral bracing in these things, I rolled a 59 back in high school, torched the top off and drove it w no bracing for 6 months w no problems.

I would like to hear more about the front suspension you have mounted on those frame horns-Wow. How to mount the struts?

The suspension is from a MKIII toyota supra (widens the track a LOT), struts are going to be mounted on a 1.75" tube that will run from a 3mm plate welded onto the bulkhead at the fender line down to the front frame spars with a similar 3mm plate welded onto the spars with a 3/16" plate and probably torch-bent 1" tubular bracing around the strut mount/plate itself. I think i will likely have to shorten the struts about 2" or so.

I ended up using some scrap 4x4" bunkbed rails and went a-pillar to a-piller, b-pillar to b-pillar and then one between the two and one to the mount on the floor behind the B pillars, and then across the top of the frame spars (since i AM cutting out 90% of the firewall)

Your ride will be something else. Keep us posted with pics. Keith

My plans before heading off on my next co-op work term for school:


hopefully i'll get the rockers rebuilt
the A pillars/front inner fenders on the "cab" repaired
the firewall finished being trimmed out
motor mounted and bulkhead under the corners repaired
All before fort mac.

I'm feeling rather ambitious.

So the first guys who were going to build my frame rails/tranny/driveshaft tunnel are out, damn.

Now, i'm hoping to get the rockers/outer body structures repaired asap (with generous reinforcement)
Thinking about tacking some conduit along inside the rockers to run wires all hidden and such too, especially since the rockers will get the high density polyurethane foam treatment once the floors are in.

I'm also hoping to find my lincoln rear end/subframe before I get the rails made up because some minor revision on the design/placement could save me a fair bit of fabrication and help improve strength (placing rails along dimensions of mounting points at rear and running them to the frame spars w/ some reinforcement.