I am in the process of installing AMD's 3-inch wider inner wheelhouses. I've never done this before but so far has been pretty straight forward. I thought some pictures of my process might help others. Questions or criticisms are welcome.
AMD 3 inch wider inner wheelhouse installation (mini tub)
- Thread starter Green72
- Start date
j-c-c-62
Well-Known Member
On my A body years back, I went old school and just added the typical 3"? strip solution, before AMD offered this solution, which i would have chosen if available, but unfortunately for me, they don't have an offering for 62 B bodies, and for my e Body they are nearly double the cost, so 3" strips are my destiny it appears.
Regardless, I like your solution.
Regardless, I like your solution.
Worked on drivers side today. It went tremendously better as I was able to make templates from the passenger side. Also had to move around the bracing. You will see in the pics that the trunk hinge is in the way about every way possible. Even the spring where it protrudes needs to be trimmed, You will see that the corner of the bracket that the spring slides on also needs the corner trimmed off. I then used some Por 15 aircraft stripper to clean up the floor around the perimeter. A member on this site recommended the spot weld cutter and the body splitters both cam in very handy.
The area that I struggled the most with was when I attempted to separate the inner wheelhouse from the outer wheelhouse. It's not spot welded but more of a continuous "rolled weld". I choose to use a body saw and cut the inner wheelhouse as close to the seam as possible. I then ground the flange until I had a clean smooth surface. This does leave a slightly thicker flange to mate the new inner to. The thickness did not affect fitment, and I believe the extra metal will be easier to weld. Thats my theory anyway, we shall see.
I have made some progress on my mini tubbing project. When I cut away the floor back to the frame rail it requires you to cut the flange on the frame rail. I was worried about compromising the strength of the frame rail in that area. So what I came up with was to open up the floor to gain access to the inside of the frame rail. This allowed me to bend up some sheet metal and create a new flange on the inside of the frame rail. Once I had it fitted how I wanted I then plug welded the new flange to the frame rail and the floor. The next step was to massage the floor and frame rail so that the gap between them was minimal. Then I welded the entire length of the seam. I am a long way from a great welder but having the internal flange to back up the welding of the seam really worked out great. I couldn't be happier with the results. The welding is tedious and slow. I hope this info is useful to someone, this site has helped me so much I feel like I should try to give something back.
azblackhemi
Well-Known Member
A couple months ago I did this on an E body for a customer. Was a lot of time/work but not too difficult. Second side did go a lot faster for sure. I hope you realize you'll also have to relocate the leaf springs to put wider tires on. At least on an E body.
azblackhemi
Well-Known Member
Here's after the springs were moved.
Yep, I will move mounts inboard. I'm going with a 4 link
Prepped the wheelhouses for final installation and welding. I used aircraft stripper to remove the coating in the areas to be welded. Then I drilled all the holes for plug welding. I covered all bare metal with weld thru primer. I paid extra attention to the areas that can't be accessed after installation. After fitting them in the car for the last time I secured them with self-tapping screws. Other than a couple gaps that are slightly larger than I would like the fit is really good.
On my 65, I started out using the weld thru primer on the SFC's. Cleaned, roughed up, cleaned again before spraying. When I moved them off of the stand, I bumped the units in a couple of places with my fingernails. Primer came right off. WTF, no bond! Most likely due to California compliant material. Since then, I've prepped the bare metal with Ospho and any weld areas get sprayed with the internal frame coating, polymer one, from Eastwood. Bonds very well. On one of the supplied multi spray angle wands, I cut the tip off and slipped in a 16ga or so butt connector, minus insulation of course, crimped the protruding end some and use it as a nozzle to jet in the coating in the laps/seams/back areas etc. Makes a mess but those areas get coated for protection now. After that stuff has cured, I whip out the seam sealers. On the still bare but Ospho treated areas, I'll rough them up with some Scotchbrite and coat with some POR15 or similar as an underlayment then top coat with something else. Paint, Raptor liner, Lizard Skin etc.
6PKRTSE
Well-Known Member
Looking good. I made my own tubs when I mini tubbed mine due to the larger radiused edges of both the inner and outer wheel housings still will not allow the maximum tire size without rubbing the inner edges if the car sits low enough. Which I do like it low.
I finished fully welding the tub in. It went really well. Now to fab up pieces to reattach the trunk hinge supports and the X brace support. I have spent entirely too much time in the trunk!!!!
6PKRTSE
Well-Known Member
Looks good. Nice work.
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