Here's my progress after day 4 of frame building. The remaining major crossbars have been cut and tacked in place and the steering rack/lower control arm mount has been cut. I think I'm ready to start the final welding of the frame at this point. This will be the moment of truth to see how much welding skill I've retained over the past few years away from it. Also, side note, I've decided to use flux core for the final weld. A couple of reasons... first, I don't have to get a tank and get it filled. Second, I can run at a lower amperage which gives me a little better of a duty cycle and less down time waiting for the welder to cool down.
Below are pics of the steering/lower control arm mount. I used the factory unit and just cut it to fit my frame. The idea here was to minimize the effort in getting the steering positioning perfect by utilizing the factory geometry for the steering rack and lower control arm. This crossmember was also where the engine mounts were fixed but the new engine position will be farther to the rear and so new mounts will have to be custom made.
I started with a template with geometry and rough positioning from the CAD drawing of the bottom of the frame. With the template printed I marked the crossmember on both sides and started cutting. It's not pretty but it will get the job done.
The crossmember after cutting...
...positioned in the frame...
...and with the steering rack.
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