In the 12/25 post titled "Box the frame or not??" there was a reference to "SS frame braces." I thought I finally had a handle on all the differences between SS and non-SS, but I've never heard about these frame braces. Where are they? All years?

-- Tim Mattson

Tim:
The SS (and a few other cars with HP options) came with a bracket/brace to stiffen the rear 4-link. It ran from the bolt at the front of the lower control arm to the bolt at the front of the upper control arm. It helps keep the crossmember that the upper bars are mounted to from flexing back under power. It can be added to any car.
GaryR

My '69 convertible with 350 engine has them. I don't know if they were installed on all convertibles or not, but GaryR's reasoning about crossmember flex makes sense.
Rich

GaryR is correct. I had just removed these in preperation for cleaning and painting. They might be available from Year1, I seem to remember seeing these in the book. If you are looking for the cheap route, fabricate one out of flat stock, bending the ends to mate with the mounting surfaces which hold the control arm fasteners. Then add a back bone of 1/8" to 3/16" thick 1" or 1.5" x 1" or 1.5" angle iron, welded fast with ends as close as possible but still allowing the fasteners to be tightened. The angle is added to "box in" - to stiffen it. The one I took off didn't look very beefy, this would likely be stronger. I seem to remember that one end was slotted, I suspect due to variations in the mounting and that you might want to make one with the holes fairly close to the bolt size.

I beleive that SS's, convertibles, and El Caminos had these braces. My non-SS '69 El Camino has them.

Thanks for the info y'all. I've removed everything from my frame, so it took me a minute to figure out what these braces were and where they attached. I have 'em, and after some reconditioning, they'll be going back on.

-- Tim Mattson

P.S. Ken, interesting fab ideas. I think I saw tubular ones in the PST catalog, so that would be another option.

My '70 Malibu w/ 350 has these braces. The car has no other SS options or equipment.

I posted a question about these about a year ago. The responses I got were that they were found on many different cars and not necessarily an SS-only option.

My 69 SS 396 Convertible does not have these braces, so they don't come on all SS cars or Converts. I thought they were only available on 66 and 67 cars.

Frame Reinforcement Part Numbers and usage:

3869875-6 65-66 with 396, 327 H/Per., Sp. H/Per.

3869875-6 67 with 396, 327 H/Per., Sp. H/Per.

3918061-2 68-?? with 327, 350, 396

Ref: Chevrolet Service Parts Catalog dated 1969

My 69 SS/396 El Camino has these braces, but missed on rear sway bar (has now with spacers) and the boxed lower arms (very soon), welding in plates.