Custom Chassis ?

[anlauto]

Anybody ever install one of these ? Pros and Cons ?
https://www.schwartzperformance.com/chassis/1970-1974-e-body-challenger-cuda-chassis/

[7212Mopar]

Been available for some time. They have Youtube channel updating builds every month. Change a unibody car to a frame car but they claim weight reduction. This is an expensive option to go IMO.

[anlauto]

I have a potential customer asking if I can do it....but he's waiting for a cost estimate of the chassis still....I think the idea will be off the table once he gets that estimate...

[Bullitt-]

  I checked the least expensive options that added something to the basic $10K frame to see what the least a complete setup would cost & got $20K+.... 

EDIDT/corrected: Redid the estimate online & price was considerably less than I thought I got the 1st time...

[70vert]

is there anything close to $30k of benefit to a "frame" verse unibody? I am sure there are a lot cheaper ways for weight reduction. I am guessing also some structural rigidity improvement?

[Brads70]

Just my opinion, but to me it would devalue the car? Keep in mind I'm pretty far from a purist also.
If you had 2 cars side by side with everything the same ( drivetrains etc..) one with original type suspension and another  with a "custom chassis" which car are you going to take?
I don't think anyone would be able to recoup the money to build and install a custom chassis in the sale down the road. Not money well spent IMO...
Maybe if the original car/chassis was damaged, wrote off or rotted away beyond repair it would be do-able...? 
I'd build my own chassis before I spent any where near 10k or 30K like what was mentioned. 
You do know , even with todays steel prices there is not 2k worth of steel in that chassis.

I still have my " irons in the fire" if you will with a local guy that has a Daytona clone and if I ever get it I might build a chassis for it if its too rotten 

[Dakota]

Alan,

There's a full build of a 70 Challenger from the TV show "Detroit Muscle" involving a Schwartz chassis available through the YouTube link below.   The chassis part of the build is covered in the first 40 minutes of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmEuHGKJu3E

[Filthy Filbert]

That would be a hard no for me.

I could probably get a unibody chassis stiff enough to match the handling performance of a car with that "add-on full frame"  Subframe connectors, torque boxes, some cross members here and there, stiffer torsion bars, bigger sway bars, properly valved shocks, my own big brake conversion...

[anlauto]

Alan,

There's a full build of a 70 Challenger from the TV show "Detroit Muscle" involving a Schwartz chassis available through the YouTube link below.   The chassis part of the build is covered in the first 40 minutes of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmEuHGKJu3E

Thank you very much for that link...

[soundcontrol]

Alan,

There's a full build of a 70 Challenger from the TV show "Detroit Muscle" involving a Schwartz chassis available through the YouTube link below.   The chassis part of the build is covered in the first 40 minutes of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmEuHGKJu3E

Very interesting, looks pretty easy also.
I don't think I would do it though. But I do like the suspension, they seem to have a good sturdy construction for front coilovers.
The kits I see for that looks weak.

[anlauto]

Requires a lot of additional sheet metal work

[YellowThumper]

Requires a lot of additional sheet metal work

Yes...
Somewhere awhile ago I read it also intruded into the car's floorboards.