I agree, I cant see the benefit of the hoop over the tank ? Is it there for a reason ?

That is a big lump of horse power you have there there is a stack of weight in a blower and hat isn't there ? I had a 8/71 with bird hat, nearly crapped my pants lifting on and off

Isn't there something in the rule book on protecting the fuel cell? Seem to remember a old friend of mine had to ad some tubing around his front mounted fuel cell to be in compliance .

I have to have 1 1/4 bars in front of the cell, I do. I put the engine and trans in the night before together, it wasn't a big deal with the bar there and that fuel cell is a pain to get out. I should be pushing 2,000 horse with plans on stepping things up the following year. To plant the little 315 tires well, I need the chassis as stiff as possible. I don't have double frame rails I believe tieing it all together on a second level will help keep the front stiffer. I also plan on hanging the front end off it from a bar replacing the radiator support. On the inside will mount my fuel filter. Sorry but I kind of like it and am willing to give it a try

If you like it......that is all that matters, but it DOES nothing. People worry about holding the front of the car together. The MOTOR does that. Some of the nicest pro built cars in the world are pretty floppy up front with no motor. THAT is your biggest structural support. Plus, stiffness out front doesn't matter. To make big power work on a radial, it must be REALLY stiff from the mid plate back to the rear shock mounts

Thank you for your input. I have given it much consideration before putting them in. Most modern day pro mods are switching to double frame rails to stiffen the front end. Maybe it's for another reason? Any ways a single 1 5/8 moly bar is much more solid then the factory frame rail would be. I look at it like a lever, bars close together must be strong, further away not as much. Do I need this? Maybe not, but I'm sure this 3 lbs will stiffen the front end up a ton. I will start tieing in the mid plate this weekend

I added some ears to the 1/2 inch motor plate. Tied them in to the lower frame rail and upper frame rail. I will run some jumpers back to the lower cage structure, then tie in the top back to the dash bar. I will run a bar inside tieing the top together just inside the fire wall (so I can still access the top trany bolts)

Loads of fun TIG-ing it in. Hope it's worth the effort. Hidden cross bar just inside the fire wall making access for the trans bolts.

Nice work................

Thanks, looking to add a few hundred horse this year, and a few hundred more the next year. Getting the ground work done and made room to make some Zoomies. Building the front shock mounts today, gotta hurry, spring is coming.

a single 1 5/8 moly bar is much more solid then the factory frame rail

How do you figure that?

Hmmmm, always heard that. Im assuming it's because round is much stronger, seamless, more carbon in moly (30). I'm headed to the chassis shop to have a few tubes bent right now. I'll ask them

I asked my chassis guy this morning which was stronger, a Mopar factory frame rail or a 1 5/8 moly tube. My Chassis guy didn’t get real technical, but replied probably the moly tube, Mopar factory frame rails are just stamped sheet metal…..sorry that all the info I got

Looking good Jeff! Can't wait to see it make some passes

Randy

Thanks Randy!
Making the shock mounts today, slow but making progress, first race is only about 7 weeks out. I plan on being there

I cut out the lip on the frame rail. Mounted the shock support tubes to a piece of angle iron to strengthen it. Ran a couple cross bars, it seems like it will be strong as hell

So, with your old strut support that you were running, do you feel it was not strong enough. Were it flexing? Never seen anyone tie in the trans bell housing like this(not saying it hasn't been done before just I never seen it)interesting build.

Thanks, I think they were fine with the inner fenders in place. After cutting them out I don't believe strong enough, let alone looking like a complete disaster. This will be stronger and much easier to work around.
I never seen a mid plate mount like this either. I'm not much of a cookie cutter kind of guy anyways. I wanted it stiffer but class rules say I can't move my firewall.

On a high HP car, the mid plate area NEEDS to be an integral part of the chassis or you will have problems. This is still just kind of "hanging out there" and has no side to side support. Those bars coming off the upper strut bars should have been ONE bar that was bent to cross top of trans and then up to other snout bar and THEN tied in to rest of chassis. Plus the mid plate is just mounted on a piece of angle hanging in the breeze off the tubing.

The TWO tubes for the shock support serves no purpose. One would have been plenty. Not trying to be critical here and I applaud anyone who takes on a project like this themselves, but some thought as to what something DOES and what you NEED it to do, needs to be taken into account before you just start welding tubing in where it LOOKS like it needs something.

At this point, car has had a lot of tubing added that doesn't DO anything.

With a "stock firewall" rule, you could have bent the loop the way I referenced, then placed that loop back against firewall or even notched and made it "part" of firewall. Some bracing would have then had mid plate basically boxed and "part" of factory firewall and structure. You could then have moved motor back a touch.

Like this

Inside car