well the holidays slowed me down plus waiting on my metal etc etc etc……

any way got my 1×1 and 2×2 16 gauge chromoly tubing, two sticks totaling more then 40ft dosnt add that much to the over all weight added to the car

my tubing awaiting its fate 😈

now that I had my metal to build the front end I mocked up the front end complete measure out square up and down and side to side

then I added a quick jig holding the front end together square so I can make the body mounts and tie everything together finaly

now I deciced against my sheet metal body mount idea previsouly mocked up in cardboard it just looked well….ghetto 🙄 so I had some large tubing cut so I can make some nice heavy duty body mounts

now here is where I added the main structure tubing from the fire wall to the front structure the 2×2 went right into where the factory main upper beam was previsouly

the inside tubing where thein side of the hood lip is was added there is a slight bend to the body where there isnt any to the tubing this will be taken car of when the finish work to the body will be done

now with the upper tubes in place (everything is not finish welded at the moment BTW)

I added the body suports to the frame mounts to tie in the front end

I decided to use 1 3/4 round tubing to make it easy

now with the front end mounted I took out the jig temporaly holding the front together

and started to work on adding the radiator brakets and upper support

the lower 62 suport was cut for clearence and the only part of the 99 used on the front was the lower tie bar where the radiator mounted was cleaned trimmed and spot welded onto the 62 lower suport

now with the lower in I could add the top suport

with it added and measured in I set the radiator back in and tacked the upper radiator brakets just temporaly to hold the radiator in and also to get a visual how everything will look and fit

then I added some diagnal suport bars to the upper radiator suport these also may be used to mount a trans cooler I plan on running as well

and here is the upper suport with some tape on it to better visualize it better for those who can see it well in other photos

thats it for now like I said everything isnt finished welded right now im going to build nearly the whole front end complete then remove it again to weld up everything on the rear of the fenders so everything is tied in correctly and welded in strong plus to add some strengthing gussets and such 8)