Once the sway bar is mounted onto the chassis, the sway bar end link is bolted onto the lo
When we brought the frame back to the shop, we set it up on jack stands, turned on the radio, and let the assembly begin! While you can assemble your chassis in any order you want, we decided to start at the front suspension and work our way to the back of the vehicle. Assembling the front suspension is a fairly straightforward process as you can see from the pictures. Once the suspension was together and on the chassis, Art then checked for toe, and camber/caster. While this is a fairly technical part of the chassis buildup, you can get it close then have a local alignment shop adjust it once the car is finished.
The next order of business was the assembly of our bulletproof rear end. Starting with a freshly powder-coated 9-inch housing, we made sure to clean out all of the sandblasting grit before putting it together. We then installed the Strange Engineering nodular iron S-case complete with Positraction unit and our gear choice. After pressing the bearings on we slid the 31-spline Strange Engineering street/strip axles into place. With these top of the line Strange components in place our rear end is capable of handling 850-plus horsepower. Wilwood's Pro Series Rear Parking Brake kit will bring us to a stop in a hurry and has an integrated parking brake for when we need one. With the sway bar and suspension links already installed on the 9-inch housing, we bolted it up to the chassis, checked the wheelbase and that the rearend was square with the chassis. Once the Strange Engineering shocks were bolted up the suspension was complete and we were able to then focus on the brake lines and the Borla exhaust system.
AGR's 15:1 power rack is attached to the front cross member.
While the brake lines were hand made for the GT55 project, Art Morrison Enterprises is in the process of offering a complete brake line kit for the Tri-Five chassis. Like the exhaust, the brake lines have their own through-frame passages so they can run through the frame rather than under it where they are prone to catching or rubbing on any number of road hazards out there. Bolting the brake lines into place is a trouble free task and can be done in no time at all.
The Borla exhaust system is another easy to install, bolt-together project. Starting with the H-pipe and working our way back through the chassis and over the rearend, the exhaust was a snap to assemble. All of the clamps were left loose as there may be a bit of tweaking here and there to get everything to line up with the Borla stainless headers. When we installed the engine and transmission, the headers were bolted up to the H-pipes and the exhaust was tweaked so it was centered in the frames exhaust ports. As soon as we were happy with the fit, Borla's stainless clamps were tightened down to ensure years of rattle and leak free use.
With the GT55 chassis now assembled, the next step is to mount the body and prepare the car for test firing!
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With the rack in place, the tie rod ends are attached to the steering arms on the spindles
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With the front suspension complete, it is now ready for Art to mount the massive Wilwood b
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While we are nearly finished with the front suspension, we have a ways to go before the ch
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Once the rotors are safety-wired and the bearings packed with grease, the massive 13-inch
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Beautiful and functional, the Wilwood brakes are going to bring the GT55 to a stop in a hu
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With the assembly of the housing nearly complete, Art installs the anti-sway bar into the