Saturday, August 27, 2011

The F250 Bumper!

I told you I'd post some completed shots when our customer dropped by again!  Even though it was lunch time once again, I stuck around to make sure I could deliver on my promise:

This bumper is designed to clear factory suspension mounting points while also providing more wheel clearance than the factory bumper, allowing for unlimited lift kit and wheel/tire options.

We'll be offering several options for winch mounts, auxiliary lighting, powdercoat color/finish, and much more- contact us at info@bcfab.com or (916) 944-3916 for a quote and with any questions!

Shop Vehicle Updates

By the time you read this, the shop's Dodge Charger should be fully painted!  They were getting ready to mask everything off and lay down the base when I took these shots and got out of their way!

Aaaaaand here's a teaser of the new color:

Meanwhile, our '69 Chevelle is patiently waiting for some free time- yes, it still needs some love in the bodywork department, but it's come a long way from whatever lake they dragged it out of!

Here's the latest on the '55 Chevy 210 build:

The body is back on the frame for panel fitment and final bodywork...

...and the frame and suspension are completely assembled and waiting for a set of custom wheels- I think our customer has finalized his decision, so now we just need to get them built!

More updates on all of these vehicles as we get more done!  And as always, if you need help making progress on YOUR custom ride, visit us at www.bcfab.com, call us at (916) 944-3916, or send some email our way to info@bcfab.com!

'67 Caddy Coupe DeVille - Air Suspension Installation

We had a customer drop off his '67 Cadillac Coupe DeVille earlier this week for an airbag kit.  I made sure to get some shots of the installation so you can see what's involved.
Here's how it rolled in:


Looking great already, but we can get it dropped a bit lower on those big wheels!  With the car up on the lift, the stock coil springs and shocks come off at all four corners.  There's plenty of room out back to put the air bags in place of the coils, but up front some trimming of the factory spring pockets is necessary:


We used a set of coil cups top and bottom to position the airbag away from the sway bar and steering:
Out back, a set of coil cups up top, with a plate bolted to the lower spring perch, and we're all set!


After some plumbing and wiring, our customer was ready to hit the road in style!


There's NOTHING wrong with tucking rim on a classic Caddy!  These cars just beg to be dropped, with coil springs at all four corners and lots of room to work with.  

We'd be happy to drop your ride, too- from 60's land yachts to modern sport compacts, we've done just about everything, so check us out at www.bcfab.com, call us at (916) 944-3916, or drop us a line at info@bcfab.com!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Back To School

Since most of you are either dealing with kids going back to school this week (and some of you are going back to school yourselves!), today's lesson is installing airbags on the front of a 92-96 Chevy Impala SS!  This is one of the easier vehicles to work on, since it has a full frame and coil springs at all four corners, but I'm going to share some tricks to show you how to get one dropped the right way!

The first step, as with any suspension work, is to jack the vehicle up and support it safely.  FYI, just leaving it on the jack without jack stands is STOOPID- don't do it!  I lost a dear friend years ago when a jack slipped while he was working under the car- learn from other people's mistakes.  

Okay, enough preaching.  Take off the wheels, then start taking the suspension apart. You'll want to use a spring compressor to... compress.  the.  spring.  What else did you expect the spring compressor to do for you?  Pick your favorite ball joint to separate- upper or lower doesn't really matter, but since you're working on a 20 year old ride, why not take this opportunity to put new balljoints on both?  Unbolt the sway bar, too- you won't be using one anymore, so get it out of your way.

With the ball joint separated, you should be able to drop the lower control arm and slide the coil spring out of the pocket.  If everything has gone properly, here's what you should be looking at:



From here, you will need to do a bit of trimming to ensure that the airbag doesn't touch anything- when bags rub, they leave you stuck somewhere, and most people don't like being stranded with a broken car.

If you've lived a charmed life, then you have access to a plasma cutter.  If you're not as fortunate, you'll need to use a grinder, sawzall, or a cutting torch for the next part.  If you go the torch route, there's a lot of stuff around the spring pocket that can burn and cost you lots of money to replace, so be careful.  This next photo shows how much was cut out of the pocket:

Basically, the idea is to remove the lip and a bit of material around the back of the pocket as shown.  Don't worry about structure- I've seen people HOP Caprices with more cut out than this, and I've never seen a frame crack at the spring pocket.  Clean up all of your cut edges with a grinder or your sister's toothbrush, then move to the next step:

The lower control arm will hit the top of the pivot point and keep you from dropping as low as you'd like.  Cut that pocket up about an inch to an inch and a half, and you're golden!

Now you can slide your airbag with cup brackets into the spring pocket and lower control arm.  Only one last thing to address!

See the tie rod turnbuckle?  Loosen it and slide it around so the bolts are below it as shown.  This will keep them from hitting the frame and damaging anything.  Sound good?  Good!  Now hook up the rest of your air suspension and put your car back together!



BOOM!  You just bagged the front of your Impala!  These modifications will lay out a 20" wheel with a low profile tire to the point of putting the front air dam on the ground.  Getting lower or laying a larger wheel is just a matter of adding drop spindles and cutting the wheel wells out.

If you have any questions about this vehicle, or any other custom ride you're working on, drop us a line at www.bcfab.com, Facebook, or email us directly.  Class dismissed!

Shop Updates

Some quick updates in the shop today- it's been too long since my last post once again!

The F250 front bumper is done.  Looks killer.  Do want one for my Excursion!  Customer took off before I could get pics with powdercoating, but I'll post them when he comes back.  Until then, here are a couple in raw finish!
We added a top bar and some nice lights, and the black powdercoat really made it look great!  So, I stepped out to grab some lunch, and before I could get back to take some photos, the owner came and TOOK it!  He's a friend of the shop, so I'll be sure to snap some good pictures next time he's here.  

The past couple weeks have been full of small projects and minor repairs, but nothing super special.  This Toyota Pickup came in last week for a set of rock sliders and a bit of suspension work:




Like I said, nothing major, but clean solid work as always! 

We DID just roll out a 90's Impala SS for a customer, and I grabbed some pictures before he left- but I'll save that for the next post!

As always, visit us at www.bcfab.com and drop us a line here or on Facebook!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Shop Projects - A Quick Update

It's been a whirlwind of activity here at the shop, and between assembling some long-term projects, some quick repair jobs, and fulfilling customer orders I haven't had time to lay down some bloggage!

So here's a quick update on the goings-on at BC Fabrication:

One of our good customers recently damaged the front end of his F250, so rather than just put a new stock bumper on there, we decided to make sure the front end NEVER gets damaged again!
With brackets CNC cut from 3/4" steel, and the entire bumper formed from 3/16" plate, this thing won't be getting bent!

Brent's getting the center lined up and welded- I'll add pictures as the sides and accessories come together.  If any of you Super Duty owners are interested in one of these bumpers, we may go into production on them, so keep checking back!

Joe's Pontiac is on the lift for some plumbing and wiring.  The engine is almost done for it, too, so we should have that back in place within the next week or so.  I'll get some of the build pictures together on this for a future post- it's come a LONG way!


William's '55 Chevy is showing some progress, too- the frame and suspension parts came back from powdercoating a couple of weeks ago, so we're starting to get everything reassembled.  The body has had a TON of work done, and just needs a few more touches before it's ready to mate back up to the frame.



Ford 9", 4 link, tubular front control arms, drop spindles, and big disc brakes all around- and with an LS1 under the hood, this thing should move as good as it looks!


This is another car that needs a full post devoted to it- but that's for another day!

Finally, the shop Charger is almost prepped for its new paint job.  We're hoping to have color laid down by next weekend, then just a bunch of smoothing and reassembly and it'll be on the road!

If you've got a project in your workshop, be sure to visit us at www.bcfab.com for any parts you need.  See you next time!