hi : took the body off the frame this last year and had the frame blasted and sprayed chassis black . while that was being done i crawled under the body ( the well supported body i might add ) and sprayed that with black undercoat . i ordered a body mount bushing kit from OPG ( #SBO514 ) and after doing some brake line , fuel line , suspension tinkering i am about ready to drop the body back down - three questions - (1) bolt torque specs if any - can't remember if i've ever come across that info (2) the kit comes with 10 bushing assy's but the frame requires 14 - 10 w/bolts plus 4 ( 2 pop-ins just ahead of rear axle by lower control arm front mount plus 2 pop-ins near rear top shock mount ) by using the original ( compressed ) pop-ins should i maybe shim them a little to make up for the height diff or will the new bushings compress enough to not worry about that . just don't want to have a dead spot mid-ship (3) the #3 mount ( b-pillar area ) apparently uses a little shorter bolt ( no problem ) and also a smaller frame hole for the bushing to fit into and the bushings in the OPG kit are all the same ( larger ) size ? trim the frame hole ? ( rather not ) or trim the bushing ? ( easier ) - or is there another bushing kit out there that addresses these last 2 questions ? this isn't a restoration so i'm not concerned with oem correct look etc , just want it to be solid and trouble free . thanks for any info . del
update am now in process of dropping body back on frame - well - actually the body is on the frame , am actually in process of aligning up the body with frame holes , centering it , etc . looks ok . i think i will have to shim up the "drop in" mounts a little . an old truck mud flap cut into 2 inch squares looks like it will work fine , and cheap . 1/8 inch or maybe 1/4 inch max , although the driver side looks like it will need less shim ? i trimmed the #3/b-pillar mount to fit into the hole and that took a few minutes , not pretty but its not gonna show and looks to be centered and pretty tight . found my 1965 chassis manual and the various torque specs but not finding any specs for body to frame mounts ? have to go through that book a second time . del
Del, the torque spec for body mount bolts on a '66 is 30-45 ft lbs. Take look at the mounts you bought, and the original pop-in's ....you should be able to use the top half of the replacement mount assembly for a pop-in. They are the same size. Maybe you can buy a few more Some venders sell 'convertible kits' that already have the extra mounts. The body mount kit from CARS has 14 bushing assemblies. It doesn't have original-type pop-ins, but gives you extra mounts to use there. 'Ground-Up' is another good source. Someone else suggested Ames Performance. Restoration Specialties has pop-in mounts that look correct in the catalog...
thanks walt ( hey - didn't i send you some nailhead gaskets ? work out ok ? ) . the torque specs will be a big help . what i have set up now is gonna be ok i think . already cut a couple of these up - no return credit there . good company info for someone else though . i'm not even sure if frame to body clearance at "pop in" location is same as other locations ? maybe not supposed to be similar . thats worth checking i guess . del
fyi - forgot to include the fact that i took some 7/16 threaded rod and cut a couple of 6" and 9" pieces off of that . beveled the top end and cleaned up threads on the wire wheel on grinder and used the grinder to flat-spot the lower end so i could use a 5/16 wrench if needed . i installed the 9" er's up into a couple of the front locations and the 6" er's into a couple of the back locations . the lowering/centering operation seemed to go a little easier that way , used 'em as a guide when lowering . del
body back on frame and bolted down last night . had to shim the right side pop in mounts with a piece of 3/16 rubber on each - left side looked pretty good . only pain was i had to take out the 6 rear bolts so i could use my 6" and 9" "guides" in the back locations to get the mid - trunk mounts to line up enough to start the bolts without forcing them ( the OPG mounts use a smaller center hole which is probably better but doesn't give ya as much plus/minus as far as alignment ) . dropped it back down with the guides and looked 'em over and measured a few places between the body and frame to dbl check and then torqued them down to about 40 lbs . end of excuses - time to start puttin it together . hope all this rambling helps somebody out . del
