I'm doing a frame off on a 72 chevelle. I want to put either a 454 or a 502 in my car. I have noticed a lot of aftermarket frames with extra supports in places. I just recently pulled the body off the frame and found a large amount of rust. There aren't many cracks but they can easily be welded. I am asking if there are any other support modifications I should consider adding. I want my car to be around 620hp with 600 ft lbs. of torque. Do you think my stock un-modified frame will hold up, or should I seek in getting some kind of modifications?

My son had a 1970 chevelle with a fast times 502 stroked to 540, it dynoed at 600 horse, then he put a 125 shot of nitros, 373 gears turbo 400.

He ran it at the drag strip maybe twice a year for five years, it ran 11.2 best et.

He had traction bars and a ten inch drag radial.

We noticed that the drivers side trunk and wheel housing was pulling apart, we didn't look it over for anything else.

Your stock frame is plenty strong enough.

I would suspect some other twisting was going on with the body, we never got under it and looked it over.

He had headers with 3'' exhaust and always run through the mufflers flowmasters, he had to rebuild a couple of turbo 400's to stand up to it

My advice, stay in the 450 to 475 horse range, we put in two fuel pumps and 1/2'' fuel line.

Thats the package, hope this helps you out.

Rob

One other thing, from two rivers wi. to lagrange ill. two tanks of gas one way.

One more thing, I would stick with an automatic, on a new concrete road, where it could really hook up, it would get right into the other lane.

Alex, the frame are fairly stout, but there are things you can do to help. You could box the center section like a convertible/El Camino has. You can do this with 1/8" sheet metal or equivalent or get hold of a convertible frame and use it. There are a couple members who have reinforced their frame. Maybe they will come in.

Check out some of the frame mods done here:

www.einstyn.com (http://www.einstyn.com)

BYW - he's the moderator of the station wagon forum on this site.

Thanks soo much for the help guys. I had a friend tell me that I should box the frame up but I was thinking he was just talking out of his a$$. I noticed my frame rails aren't perfect 90 degree angles. They taper in a little bit.

I used 2 1/2" tubes with 1/8" thick walls. With a little trimming, they fit in nice and tight. (half tube in, half out) I welded them in. All body bolts fit in.(the center hole dosent have a bolt) And looks pretty trick.