Thank you everyone!
Mechanatech, actually a far less functional reason. The 94-6 Impala/Caprice cars had this terrible look to them where the wheels sat all the way to the front of the rear wheel well. I believe they did it because the platform was used for taxi/police cars so they wanted ample room to install chains. It looks terrible though, extending the arms simply centers the wheels in the wheel well. I really wanted to use Curries "Johnny Joints" for my arms, but their control arm kit didn't offset the clevis which caused the clevis to meet the rear end bushings at an angle when extended which would cause bind/accelerated bushing wear. . I built my own upper control arms to fix the problem using the johnny joints with the own offset clevis.
Removing the frame was a terrible experience in the driveway with no lift LOL. What made it worse was my driveway is on an incline, and at one point I had to move the body onto the lawn to have the driveway redone. This made getting the body off the lawn a nightmare. The way I did it was I welded up a bar that went across the front cowl area and used tie down straps from the factory lift tabs on the cowl/door jam to the ends of the bar. I welded a chain on top of the bar and used an engine hoist to lift the front up. The rear was a little scary. I used a floor jack and a 4x4 across the gas tank support on the rear of the body to lift it a few inches at a time. Eventually I had the jack on cinder blocks for added height. It was not fun, probably a little dangerous (for the car, we all made sure not to put ourselves in any dangerous positions) and took a few people. If it were something like a camaro, I probably could have gutted it and just got 5 guys to lift it lol.
NOVAFREEK, thank you! I wish I had pics from when I worked at the speed shop but I lost all of them in a hard drive crash...my welds were always much cleaner/nicer with the Miller 212 and 175 we had there. I don't really like my 211..but it may be because I am so often welding outdoors with it.
The Challenger is my baby. Crazy story behind it, my father and I picked it up in 2001 for $5,000 from a guy who inherited it from a friend who went to jail (assuming for a long time). The guy wanted to buy the new Toyota Matrix and just wanted to unload this thing at all costs. He didn't even know what motor was in it as it had no callouts. We actually thought it was a 318 till we got it home and checked the casting numbers. Everything has been redone at some point mechanically, but it is a little tired out from lots of track runs. I finally gave up after toasting two built 727's in a month span and found an old 904 for $50 bucks on craigslist, put it in and now I just cruise for fear of blowing it through the floor if I hit the gas too hard lol. There is a lot I want to do with the car someday when I finish the impala project and have the money, and the body/paint looks AMAZING....from a few feet away...but is starting to bubble through with rust in a few spots. I think the car probably needs to be totally stripped/needs a full resto. I look forward to doing it someday, I just hope I can get the paint color right as it is one of the nicest colors I have seen (pics do it no justice).
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