Thank you everyone! I was thinking the bars needed to go outside the rails. There is a support under the upper shock mount. I'm thinking I can remove it and be okay with just a 1 5/8" bar. Doug and Jerico did you guys remove yours?

I'm thinking if the bar is high enough I'll be okay on tire clearance. I'd like to avoid putting the front suspension back together until all of the fab is done.

Advice for anyone working on old car floors : If possible have everything sandblasted! Welding on old tar-embedded pans sucks!

Off I go to hackity hack