how much to tub a car?

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

was just wondering how much would it cost to Tub a car with all metal work done???-MATT

[253862656971]

How come you want to give your car a massage?

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

i dont own one quite yet but i was looking at a autoscale mag awhile ago and i saw this tubbed out pro-street 1969 charger daytona with removeable fibreglass trunk lid and hood and a blower stick outta the hood it looked really sweet so i was wondering on how much it would be to tub out a second gen charger for future reference when  ido have enuf $$$ to buy a second gen charger-MATT

[Blown70]

was just wondering how much would it cost to rub a car with all metal work done???-MATT

You talking a 3inch   mini tub or full blown Tub?   Also, if you have a stock suspension you can only move them very little with out doing a leaf spring re-location.....they do have a kt but moving the rear end pads has to be done.

Unless you are racing only dont bother....

Tom

[derailed]

Unless you are racing only dont bother....

Tom

I agree, besides one of the nice things about chargers is you can get some really wide meat under them with the right rims and still not stick out of the wheelwells and look stupid

[dkn1997]

295 50's in the back, still room for more with a better backspace on the rim.

[dkn1997]

another

[moparguy01]

By the time you have enough money saved up to buy a car and afford to get this stuff done, it's gonna be a different price then now.

so I'll answer it this way.  $50 an hour x however long the damn thing takes.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

i want to tub the car enough so that it wil still be some-what driveable but also trackworthy(not just spring re-location,cuz i want wider then that)-MATT

[toplescuda]

you can buy a rear clip for lil over a grand  then what ever you want to spend on wheels/tires    you can do it your seld  and if shop right have it all done for around a thou   i did my car(70 cuda) all but the actual welding my buddy did it for me   its not that big of deal   also i would throw the leaf spring as far as you can(best thing i ever did) 4 link with coilover set up   plus a four link is lot more forgiving driving on the street then a ladder bar

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

i want my car tubbed like this much-MATT(the link is below)


http://www.geocities.com/rb_dodge_charger_rt_1969/

[Blown70]

i want to tub the car enough so that it wil still be some-what driveable but also trackworthy(not just spring re-location,cuz i want wider then that)-MATT

Well make up your mind,  As one will have to be done differently than the other,  Ya wanna see a charger that can take HUGE TIRES.... GO the picture thread and find my car.  Narrowed Dana, Disc brakes,  ALSTON chassis back half, with a four link,   Complete tube chassis, Strange Front end WHICH will NOT work on the street..... YA KNOW HOW MUCH IS IN THAT CHASSIS ALONE......

LET ME TELL YOU,  BETTER START SAVING YOUR LUNCH MONEY......  and true as said above most shop rates are 50-100 per hour.... IT IS NO weekend job either.... Expect to spend 1-2 grand to install if it is done right.

Tom

[toplescuda]

if you just want a rear clip(back half) a car   you can do it in a weekend if you have everything  i have a chris alston rear clip(4 link coil over) in my 70 barracuda  and except for the floor it was done in the same day   and that even include the 8 point roll bar    we did it our self  and its top notch    the tubbs and floor will take a day to do
the cuda had no floor from just behind the front seats back to the tailight paner and from rocker to rocker   if you or a buddy has a plasma cutter or even a torch and a welder   can read a level and a tape measure   then there you go   i would buy the back wheels and tires you will be running before you do anything else   that needs done first ass every thing needs measured off of them   and if you keep the tires under 31 inches  prob wont have to strech the wheelwells   if you have any ???s just drop me a e mail    challengerbabe@aol.com

[Blown70]

NOW that is cool....

[Blown70]

if you just want a rear clip(back half) a car     you can do it in a weekend if you have everything   i have a chris alston rear clip(4 link coil over) in my 70 barracuda   and except for the floor it was done in the same day     and that even include the 8 point roll bar      we did it our self   and its top notch      the tubbs and floor will take a day to do
the cuda had no floor from just behind the front seats back to the tailight paner and from rocker to rocker     if you or a buddy has a plasma cutter or even a torch and a welder     can read a level and a tape measure     then there you go     i would buy the back wheels and tires you will be running before you do anything else     that needs done first ass every thing needs measured off of them     and if you keep the tires under 31 inches   prob wont have to strech the wheelwells     if you have any ???s just drop me a e mail      challengerbabe@aol.com

BTW give MATT an Idea of the ALSON chassis cost..... in addtion, to the welding, cutting etc..... I should have said if you can do it yourself yes you can save $$ but you also do not want a car the DOG trails.....  Not too good at the track....

[Ghoste]

And not generally a job to do as one of those first automotive projects.  I do NOT want to ever discourage anyone from trying anything on a car.  That is how you learn.  However, backhalving and related operations are pretty big deals and there have been a lot of projects given up in disgust when somebody got a few thousand into it and ran into bigger problems than they could deal with it.
Having said that, go for it.
Hell, when I was twenty I wanted to change my Charger into an altered wheelbase thing with some kind of aftermarket chassis and a glass flip front end.  Thank God, I never tried it.

[phat69charger]

Hey there,

On the last site before the name changed I had posted all of the information I had as far as my charger being Mini-tubbed and we all know that a lot of the references and information was not recovered from the old site, well here a quick reference for 69 Chargers that you can probably moved to the Tech Archives or it can just stay here because its about suspension and chassis.

Here's some pictures of my charger and the pictures have been edited with color lines in various points on the pictures to highlight an area that's a reference in my wheel tubs of my charger, I used the MP spring relocation kit $90.00

Like Toplescuda, stated get the tires and rims you want, they become your point of reference for measurements, get yourself two plum bob's to take measurements it's the easiest and most accurate way to measure points on the underbody of the car.

First thing measure your car up before you take anything apart, I didn't do that and I had no point of reference for what measurements where before I started.

Get some big pieces of cardboard for making templates to trace old shapes and transfer to new spots.

This first picture is the rear hangers you need to weld these in place first, the instructions in the kit said to weld the tube for the rubber bushing on the bottom of the frame rail where the red markings are, well the problem with that is that raises the suspension a little higher than it was and I didn't think that would be that strong, if you look above the area of the new tube you can see the old hanger location, it still has the old rubber bushings in, so I put the new tube in-line with the old hanger point, weld the new tube to a 1/8 " plate that's about 2  ½ " x 4  ½ " first then put the rubber bushings in the new tube and use a long ½ " bolt through the old bushing hole through the new hole for alignment, then tack the first plate down in place, pull the rubber out then weld another plate to the other side of the frame rail to the tube, the reason to weld the rear hangers first is they are points on the frame that are part of the original frame and there center spacing measurement is the center measurement for the front hangers and the leaf perches so that you have parallel and aligned rear leaf spring hangers, the center measurement for my leafs where 35  3/16 ".






This picture is a shot of the rear hangers installed with a highlighted line showing the center point of that hanger which should be the same center point for the front hanger.





This picture is a shot of the front hangers there center points should be the same center points as the rear hangers, I used the old hangers mounting point as reference to drill the holes in the front kit bracket, just mount the old hanger in place use a longer bolt through the hole mark it and drill your holes.






This picture is a shot of both centerline points for both sides paralleling each other.





This picture is a shot of the leaf perches on the rear end with the same center point alignment as the front and rear hangers.






This picture of the wheel tubb is after everything was welded and sealed up, the top green line is the frame rail where I should of moved the inner tubb to, the yellow line is where mines is at, it's a difference of ¾ " which caused me to have to trim the outer lip of the wheel well, between the red line and the lower green line, the black line is a reinforcement rib in the tubb that's about 15" long and angles down into the tire area, it's a clearance problem when you lower the car down level, but I fixed that.

My Charger rides 1" higher than factory ride height measured from the frame rail at the old leaf spring bracket point in the rear and the rail just forward of the torsion bar mount point.

If you move your inner tubbs into the frame rails you should have 17" of distance from the upper green line down to the red line, I trimmed the outer lip below the red line  ¾" and I now have 17" that measurement was taken in the center of the wheel well in-line with the axle, my wheels and tires are, weld wheel draglites 15 x 12 with 4.5" BS, tires Hoosier prostreet radials 29 x 15.5 x 15, with this combination your rear end needs to cut down to 53.5" axle face to axle face with no drums on drums add  ¼ " or 53 ¾ " with the drums on, I had to use spacers with the 8 ¾ " because I lost clearance in the inner tubbs next to the frame rails, Dana 60 being built is adjusted for that loss of clearance.






If I had to do it again   on another car the leaf springs are not even a option you can't adjust the ride height enough with them and I added 3" lowering blocks to bring the ride height down on my charger not good looking, that's why I'm going to a prostreet ladder bar urethane bushed rear suspension, I would just buy steel tubbs $90.00 and replace the original ones so I don't have outer tubb clearance problems, and I would do all of the work except the rear end my self the next time around.

Cost
Relocation kit $90.00
Help with cutting   and metal work $400.00
Cut down rear $300.00
Total   $800.00 plus a few dollars





Also
Checkout these links they'll help you out:
http://autoweldchassis.com/Instruct.ivnu
http://autoweldchassis.com/minitub.ivnu
http://www.cachassisworks.com/cac_how_to.html
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=4613
http://www.bigblockdart.com/wheelwells/wells1.shtml
http://www.bigblockdart.com/wheelwells/wells2.shtml

[Blown70]

I would like to add this would be I think the most inexpensive way....

[phat69charger]

Here's what I done to fix the outer tubb clearance, I split the rib area where you see the black line on the pictures I posted before, up and down first then front to back the pushed the tabs up and away from the tire area, then I took a strip of polar fleece 15 x 30 soaked in fiberglass resin and laid it over the outer tubb from inside the trunk, I still have to strip the rhino liner off of the inner tubb area and lay some regular fiberglass mat over the split area.











My tires are clear with that being done and the ride height is 7.5" up to the frame at old leaf spring mount which is about one inch taller than the factory height, if your tires are taller than 29.5" you will have to go with a higher ride height.

[Mike DC]

Just a general two cents here:
The absolutely biggest tire that a wheelwell can possibly fit is not always the one that will look the best or be the most driveable. 

If you don't wanna cut something on the car then choose a tire that gives enough room to comfortably fit within the boundaries.  Another 5 or 10 millimeters of tread won't make or break the car's performance.  And if you DO wanna cut the car to fit a huge tire, then I say cut the car enough so that the tire looks like it actually belongs in there.

Either way I think having a tire crammed up against the wheelwell lip looks questionable and it's definitely more likely to cut the tire when the suspension is flexed a certain way.

.

[SeattleCharger]

  This was at the Mopar show this summer in  Bellevue, WA.   

[phat69charger]

Now That's a Phat looking Charger!

[Rolling_Thunder]

I know all about tubbing a car....       this is the one we are curently modifying at the shop....