Got it together as one piece. Felt it needed more reinforcing around the ring itself to cope with the torsional forces it would see.
Fits around the tank and the driveshaft nicely as well as over the exhaust. Has 20 mm clearance over it.
Making now the bracket out of some 6mm RHS as it had the same corner radius as the fuel tank strap. Has end caps at each end as well as another gusset in the middle to go around the edge of the pipe. I am also combining a centre body mount in the bracket as well using the old mount under the floor that the strap used to bolt to. I am using rubber mounts as prefer the better isolation they give and less strain on the mounts as well. Bought a kit to suit 64-67 Chevelle convertible. Came complete with bolts and washes but bought flanged nyloc nuts to go with them.
The recess in the bush locates it in the mount. You will also see two additional holes that will take the shear load away from the mount to hold the strap in place.
Strap being held in place by the extra bolts but will have the rubber bushes each side hold in down as well. The strap remains solidly mounted like the rest of the straps. Can also see the under floor mount where the strap used to bolt that will now serve as as extra body mount in the centre.
First photo shows how the tank strap originally bolted on to the up turned floor. While the tank was out I could weld in the cross member as well.
Plenty of clearance between the cross member and the exhaust. I also added some gussets between the upper control arm brackets and the cross member. It also allowed me to seal it off as I couldn't get a weld in under the cross member as was too tight.
Decided to add in a K member to comply with Street Rod Registration requirements in case I should go on club registration later on. It ties in nicely with the control arm brackets. The K member stops the frame from trying to turn into a parallelogram under hard acceleration. Can't compress a triangle after all.
The triangle plate further reinforces the junction but also serves as the middle mount for the fuel tank. With the tank back in can see why the bends were necessary to clear the higher portion of the fuel tank.
Rounded off the outer corners of the first cross member to make it look more cohesive with the rest of the bends. This finishes off most of the frame now with only the very first cross member still to be added once everything is in place that could interfere with it.
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