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| Chassis Plans
Plans for Dutchman's New 57 chassis include a "fabbed from scratch" new chassis. Randy, at Street Rod Chassis, is supplying the rails fully welded with the center cross member and Heidts front cross member installed. Reworking the original chassis would be a ton of work and we still wouldn't have the same smoothy look of these new rails. The rails are awesome, to say the least, follow the same basic contour of the original frame, and have all the stock body mounts jig welded in place. Trickness, high techness, and of course-some Dutchman overkill will come into play with this project. Aftermarket front & rear independent suspension systems will fulfill all three of the above, and how better to show off our new 12 bolt independent rear (Chevy in a Chevy). At this point, the details may include;
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- Street Rod Chassis frame rails.
- All new Dutchman 12 bolt independent rear end assembly, polished with every last option including inboard mounted air springs. (Same as our 9" Ford independent except a 12 bolt center section instead).
- Heidts Super Ride 2 independent front suspension featuring polished stainless upper/lower a-arms, drop spindles, and a ceramic coated sway bar for added handling.
- Power rack & pinion steering.
- Front brakes: Wilwood 13" crossdrilled/slotted/and zinc washed rotors, 6 piston calipers, & billet aluminum hubs up front.
- Rear brakes: Wilwood 11" crossdrilled/slotted/and zinc washed rotors, & 4 piston calipers (Mounted inboard on the 12 bolt IRS center section).
- Air Ride Technologies "ShockWave" air suspension on all 4 corners.
- Colorado Custom 18" Front & 20" rear wheels.
- BF Goodrich Rubber.
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Its a Start
Well, we officially started our project a couple of months ago. We have been ordering & collecting parts, and even though we've been very busy keeping up with our work load, we've managed to get to the point of the above pictures. Now that fall is here, we're hoping to make decent progress. The chassis is fully welded and cross membered and has the Heidts front end installed. Our next move will be installing the motor & tranny mounts and our independent 12 bolt rear. Hope to have some more info soon.
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LS6 Motor Mounts
A little computer aided design, some laser cut pieces, and some fab-grinding-and fitting, we now have our motor mounts tacked in place. Notice the nice flowing radius transitions-thats Dutchman all the way. The LS6 adaptor plates that bolt to the block are Street & Performance & the billet motor mounts are Chris Alston Chassisworks. Boy, does that combo look great or what!
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12 Bolt "IRS" Rear Installation
Designs for the rear include mounting the air springs inboard (activated by a rocker arm and push rod from the hub carrier). This has slowed us down a little as this is a 1st for us. A new design tubular cross member and lots of thought, design, and measuring have gone into our project and now we are ready move forward. We started the rear installation by gathering a few necessary measurements (ride height, wheelbase, and pinion angle). The ride height was determined from a previously built car which we happened to have on file in our trusty reference notebook (it pays to keep notes). The front hub to rear hub measurement (wheelbase) was taken from a stock 57 and double checked by some technical info we have on file. The pinion angle was taken from the motor & tranny combo (you simply match the engine angle). In order to center the center section & hub carriers, we set a reference bar across the tops of the frame rails (set up on spacers for needed clearances) and positioned 2 plumb bobs to give a visual reference point to set the center section 1st, then the hub carriers 2nd. Once the bar was clamped in place (you can bet we will measure twice and cut once on this project), we proceeded to set the center section. The cross member was cut to length to fit between the frame rails and a floor jack was used to "ballpark" position the housing. We cut 2 pieces of angle iron and clamped them to the inside of the frame rails to serve as a shelf to set the cross member tubes on. This is very helpful since you will be adjusting 3 positions; the pinion angle, ride height, and front to back (fore & aft). If a little adjustment was needed, we simply bumped the shelves as needed with a rubber hammer. Once satisfied with the placement, we tacked the cross member and removed the angle iron shelves. We will weld everything later after we are satisfied with the look and stance of our project. Note the bar running from side to side. We turned up a pair of centering donuts and slid the bar in the housing to serve as a visual line up aid when centering the housing to the previously set plumb bobs.
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More "IRS" Installation
A little sneak peak action here. How about another 1st by Dutchman, our new billet trailing arms. Won't that look hot through the Colorado Custom 20" wheels. Can't wait to start setting this together. The hub carrier installation is as simple as pie, assuming you measure twice and cut once (we did). The jack stand holds the hub carrier in place and you shim as needed for centering to the plumb bobs. As previously stated, the plumb bobs serve as a visual to set the up & down (ride height) and front to back (fore & aft). Simple and straight forward if you think about it.
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We have a Roller
At this point in the IRS installation, we would have set up to install a pair of coil over shocks. Not on this unit. We decided early on to do something a little out there and mount the “ShockWave” air springs inboard. This involves a push rod, rocker arm assembly, and center-mounting bracket to hold the ShockWave. After consulting with the crew at Air Ride Technologies, we settled on using a front ShockWave at the rear. We will be able to use the stiffer front air spring in the rear since we will overpower it with the 1.5 : 1 mechanical advantage rocker arm assembly.
After much thought and various mockups, we designed the pieces on our computer and had them laser cut out of mild steel plate. Two alignment fixtures were also made to 1) mark the cutout spots on the frame rails, and 2) line up both rocker box’s (to each other) and hold them in place while we tacked them with the wire feed. The picture shows a prototype laser cut steel rocker arm. Once we are satisfied with the design and function, we will whittle a pair out of billet aluminum (Dutchman trick & overkill). Note the temporary tube struts, they are used to hold the chassis at the predetermined ride height. In the near future, we plan on setting the body on the chassis to check the “Look” of the project. As you well know, the car has to have the right look and stance (not too low, and not too high).
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| Colorado Custom Billet Wheels;
18" Front
These wheels are awesome to say the least. The classic look of the 5 spoke combined with the modern high tech billet construction make for 1 nice piece of rolling stock (A modern classic).
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Colorado Custom Billet Wheels;
20" Rear
In the front we are running; 18x8" with 245/40ZR18 BFG G-Force Radials (25" total tire dia.). In the rear; 20x 9 1/2" with 275/35ZR20 BFG G-Force Radials (27" total tire dia.). These wheels are so cool, they're fun to look at all by themselves.
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Body Mock Up
Well, this is exciting! A first look by doing a mock up of the body. Our primary reason for doing this is to check the all important stance of our project vehicle. The questions that have to be addressed are: How do we want the car to look and sit at ride height (the level at which we will drive the vehicle)? Will the car have no rake, a little rake, or massive rake? Of course the car looks better lower, but is it too low? Will it be impractical going over speed bumps and driveways? The combination of great looks and function have to be balanced, but in our case, air suspension enters into the decision making. We can afford to set the car up at a more practical ride height since we will be able to slam it when we show it. Isn't technology great! We have also decided to give our project a little rack. Not too much, but just enough for that bad pro touring look. Now that we have crossed this bridge and like where the cars sits at ride height, we will feel comfortable doing the final welding of the components that have been tacked.
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Exhaust installation-click here
Front Shockwave installation-click here
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