Chevy & GMC Vans

hey guys we fibished this the last few days,Im pleased with it even though I had trouble bending the pipe,but it looks good still and is strong

we mocked up where the drivesahft would sit,then cut out the sheetmetal where it would come through the floor when the van is layed out on those big wheels


then we welded steel plates to where we would make hoops with pipe,along the crossmembers of the vans floor,then made hoops with some 1 inch pipe and bent them in a pice of junk pipe bender I mistakenly bought




then my good buddy here cuts out the parts of the crossmembers that must be removed.You can see in the pics how the concept works.The front of the driveshaft will stay in one spot in the tranny and the rear will move up and down when the van is aired up and down .thus when the van is sitting on the ground the axle will come up on an extreme angle and come into what used to be the floor.One day we will cover up the works with sheetmetal and build a whole new floor most likely for that matter.I primed all of the tunnel and the notch you see in the rear today as well

looks good so far

Of course I'm not up on this kind of fab. work but am curious about the loss of structural integrity after you cut the crossmember floor supports. Will you be adding some tubing across the top inside of the curved pieces shown in the pics or do you not have enough room for driveshaft clearence if this was done ?

What's the latest ? We're getting withdrawals down here. [-o<

havnt done anything more to the tunnel.Im waiting until I get the rear suspension all finished,then i'll weld in a cover over the tunnel as well as the notch and the wheels.theres no benefit to do it now,it will only be in the way.As far as the strength goes,Im confident it will be fine,the bent tubing is very ridgid,of course its not as strong as the stock members due to the angle of the pieces compared to the flat boxed members .yeah there is no room for additional pieces in there.the shaft will come into the floor a great deal when layed all the way out,not all the way up as to rub on those bars,but within an inch or 2.I decided to make it a little big instead of a little small.the proper way to do any work like this is to get the wheels which you are going to run and the suspension installed first,but I dont have the luxury of that.So i measured and added a bit.I have mock up wheels 30 inches,but I have to narrow the axle in order to get the up there,and I m not narrowing it until the real wheels show up and the same with the link setup,it cant go in until the wheels are in there so you know where they will sit for height and width.I simply could have waited ,but we had the time and ambition that day.Im not totally pleased with the tunnel,if I get a real bender I may re-do it,but not likely.It will be covered up anyways.