My 38 has Nova front suspension thanks to the last owner, which is a safe and square but ugly install in which they spliced the sub frame from the nova to the old pickup frame, so i feel no shame in further cutting away at this frame.
I do NOT want to cut the body though, which is why i am not channeling the body. why tamper with a cab thats survived 70 years without my plasma cutter just fine.
to the point:
I wish to Z the frame 6 inches front and rear. My issue is determining HOW i am going to accomplish this while keeping the frame square, but that is not what is giving me a headache.
The trouble is the frame is shaped like an A. if i cut the rails at an angle (see
IMAGE of Z --TOP-- IMAGE)and stack them, overlapping the 6 inch high rails by 8 inches i'll keep the 6 inch height through the Z.
but the frame is once again, shaped like an A so the rails will be wider that will go on the bottom in the front so i have to figure out how i want to "smooth" them together while keeping their strength. I am thinking I can just stack them even offset (
Top View Picture) like they will end up being, and then box them in. I want to box the entire frame anyways before the truck is done.
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Frame Another Pic)
Now I DO work for a very capable fabricator, have access to top grade wielders who could use a little money in their pockets so the quality of the wields is not a concern, but I will be doing all the prep work, cutting and clamping everything up, etc.. but they do not work with modifying automotive frames and something of this sort is out of the norm for them so I am put in the position to source knowledge from other places and see if there is a normal or standard way to deal accomplish what i am looking to do, and to make sure this truck is safe to drive when all is done.
oh and yes i intend to shorten the truck, so stacking the rails is the known preferred method for what i am doing. I do not have a bed and plan on making a basic small flat wood bed for it to make do for a while.. eventually I will make my own bed from scratch.