Photos by: GBodyParts and Rick Seitz
Thanks to GBodyParts, You Can Get a Wider Wheel/Tire Combo on Your G-Body without Sacrificing Frame Strength
You want a lower stance and wider tires, but you don’t have the clearance to do so, great. You wish there were a way to get bigger meats under your G-Body so your powerhouse can have a chance of hooking, but it’s just not working out. We’ve been there, and found a solution — now we’re hooked, both figuratively and at the track. Our answer came from our friends at GBodyParts. They’ve recently released a frame notch kit that allows for wider rear wheels on your lowered car, or just wider wheels period since these cars can only take about a 10” wheel without maxing out.
Frame notching is not a new concept, but in the past, it’s been pretty difficult to perform on G-Bodies at home, and usually sent owners into shops to get custom fabricators to handle the job for them due to the unique challenges. And who can really blame them? The idea of hacking up the frame of your car can make your hands a little shaky when you’re trying to determine where and how much to cut.
Sure, you could just cut and weld the frame the way you’ve seen done in so many YouTube videos, but have you ever noticed how some of the high horsepower cars are rocking dented quarter panels? Well, they went the “old fashion” route and notched the frame like a true YouTube mechanic. These dents are a sure sign that the frame notch was done improperly, or the frame just isn’t strong enough anymore since G-Bodies don’t have that much strength in this area to begin with.
Like with any frame modification, maintaining all of the dimensions by keeping the rails square is a huge concern. This is where things can go horribly wrong if you decide to go at it alone. Keep in mind what you’re cutting away from, this is no truck frame here. Which brings us to the second part of the problem is that the frames on these cars are not terribly substantial, so hacking into them is a risky endeavor.
This frame notch kit has been something that many people have been asking about and searching for due to the concerns we mentioned. With this kit, you have real 1/4” plated cold-rolled steel on your side that’s more than twice as thick as the factory frame that you would use to weld back in to make a notch kit.
On top of that, additional rear frame bracing is included from GBodyParts, to really lock the notch kit in. It welds into the inside of the frame, on both sides, and ties not the bottom of the rear spring housing, as you can see below.
These kits are made for strength, but also for a straight-forward installation. You can see the step-by-step instructions on their site here, but basically, you will need to trim to fit since the parts come with extra material (better too much, than too little!), and then you weld the pieces in place to replace the factory pieces you cut out.
Another handy product we are sourcing from GBodyParts during our frame overall is their Body Bushing to Frame Repair Washers. Since a lot of the G-Bodies we run across have damage from three-four decades of road salt, rust, and body flexing, frame mounts are not doing so great on a lot of them. Moisture has long since settled in, and is slowly eating way at the metal of the frame, surrounding the rubber body bushings. This typically causes the body mount holes to be enlarged, resulting in weak mounting points and poor-fitting body mounts.
While installing the notch kit, this is a good time to go ahead and use their Frame Bushing and Washer Repair Kit to fix those issues, found here. Simply weld-in the spacers while you’re working with the notch kit, and you’ve fixed two problems during one project thanks to GBodyParts.com.
Elizabeth is a hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
