Frame / Springs: custom chassis

[colt45sa]

Has anyone here actually purchased a custom square tube chassis for a C/K that they were thoroughly satisfied with? Was it with or without suspension and how much did you have to pay for it. I promise I won't tell your wife. LOL~!

[PackardV8]

No, but I did price out an Art Morrison build for a potential customer. Complete with brakes, steering, rear axle and ready to install, it was $25,000.

https://www.artmorrison.com/2006cat/...catalog_LR.pdf

jack vines

[3x2stude]

I have an AM knocked down frame not yet assembled. I will post what I bought and the cost tomorrow as well as some alternatives.

JK

[junior]

forum member ralt12 has a 53 stude with a custom chassis, art morrison if memory serves. haven't seen any posts from him a a while, but he did have a website with the build featured. cheers, junior

[Dan White]

This is getting to be a fairly competitive business and the price to build these chassis has been coming down. A friend of mine just had a nice custom chassis done for his '56 Chev with Ford rear and 4 link for $10K.

[Noxnabaker]

This aint expensive custom info:

In the late 60's there was a -55 Starlight here in Sweden on a -55 or -56 Chrysler frame that they drag raced some, I've seen bictures of the car, but if they would have gone for a -57 Plymouth they would have gotten a better front suspension but now they got the Hemi.

(I'm just mentioning this because I find it interesting since I've thought about it myself.)

& now back to reality...

[48skyliner]

I am not familiar with the 53 chassis, but if the longitudinal bending stiffness is an issue, a custom chassis is a good idea. If the primary concern is torsional stiffness, it may be relatively easy to add some diagonal bracing as we did in my 48Champion, as seen in the photo. Not an actual X-brace, but does add significant torsional stiffness. My chassis is short because it bolts at the firewall to a different front end.

I am a believer in using factory parts wherever possible. My car has Nissan independent suspension, steering and disc brakes front and rear and I doubt the Art Morrison chassis has a better combination of ride and handling. My total cost for the project including engine, trans, suspension, wiring, body and paint work is only a few thousand more than the price quoted above for the Art Morrison chassis. Of course this includes my own labor at about a dollar an hour.

[jpepper]

Jw's Rod Garage in Belgium, WI makes a complete C/K chassis. They have also built an Avanti Chassis. They are good guys who do excellent work. http://www.jwrodgarage.com/
Their mail forte is the hotrod comunity but they can make a chassis for nearly anything. The C/K chassis used a factory frame as a sample. It is a direct bolt in piece.

[firestoper 25]

New chassis

Jw's Rod Garage in Belgium, WI makes a complete C/K chassis. They have also built an Avanti Chassis. They are good guys who do excellent work. http://www.jwrodgarage.com/
Their mail forte is the hotrod comunity but they can make a chassis for nearly anything. The C/K chassis used a factory frame as a sample. It is a direct bolt in piece.

I have been watching this thread unfold and was going to mention JW's, I have been to their place and bought items. Always a pleasant experience. Wish I had a use for the C/K frame. Jim, I didn't know about the Avanti frame....lets hope I never need one for R1089, that would be a late in life surprise! Sherm / Green Bay

[colt45sa]

No, but I did price out an Art Morrison build for a potential customer. Complete with brakes, steering, rear axle and ready to install, it was $25,000.

https://www.artmorrison.com/2006cat/2018_ame_catalog_LR.pdf

jack vines

They are insane~! About 3 years ago I spoke to a fellow in the upper mid-west who had built 3 C/H chassis. Bare they were about $4500. When I further suggested Corvette suspension and steering the price went up to about $7800. I can find and install the Ford 8" rear with disks. There are a lot of people who have run off potential customers with their greed. I told the local Ford dealer that there were quite a few things I would like to have done on my car but I wasn't having them done at his place with his outrageous prices. He charged me $674.26 for an A/C compressor and I can buy a Motorcraft brand compressor from Rock Auto for $256.79.
T

[colt45sa]

My brother did some heavy customizing work on a K making it into a C, fabeicating floors and firewall, and installing a Viper V-10. Best of all was the "custom chassis" with no suspension that the customer had paid $13K for. And the body would not fit on the chassis. So in addition to the $13K the customer had to pay additional monye to have his "custom built" chassis modified so that the body would fit on it. Caveat emptor~!
Thank you JPepper. I think they are the ones I actually talked to~!

[3x2stude]

I have formed rails front & rear, front cross member with control arms, all the rear clip arms with brackets for a triangulated set up with a Ford 9" bare housing, front and rear sway bars with shock mounts from Art M. less than 5K with shipping. I can fabricate the straight stuff, sleeve the cross members and put it together, so I can save the coin. I need some flexibility in my build. If you want a direct bolt on the JW venue is worth looking at.

JK

[kxet]

So if you put a new chassis in an old car is registered as a new car or can you go by body tag number?

[PackardV8]

So if you put a new chassis in an old car is registered as a new car or can you go by body tag number?

Yes, No, Maybe. In most states, Studebakers are registered by body number tag and in a few others by engine serial number. Avanti did have the number on the frame rail.

jack vines

[tsenecal]

I built a 1979 pickup, with a chassis from one, and a body from another. When I took it to be inspected, they made me register it with the chassis serial number. I had the title for both, so it didn't matter to me, but the vin# in the windshield, no longer matched the title. That was in Nevada.