Volume II, Issue 6, Page 22

Perfectly Framed

By Terry Cole
6/15/07

Total Cost Involved (TCI) has been building quality frames and suspension systems for street rods and muscle cars for decades. Their bolt-on Nova front- and rear-clips are staples among the Chevy II contingency. And since the Camaro’s value is growing faster than a Southern California brush fire, they figured it was time to make a system for the 1st-Gen cars.

TCI isn’t the first outfit to offer bolt-in front and rear suspension systems for 1967-69 Camaros. Where its clip differs from the others is in the material used to produce the frame rails. Most of the aftermarket offers improved variations of the factory rectangular configuration. TCI divorces itself from the usual suspects by using round tubing to create the main frame rails.

Round tubing has been the norm in the racing industry for decades, so round tubing naturally has a cache that others lack. From a structural standpoint, properly triangulated round tubing is as strong as rectangular, but weighs less. When decked out with TCI’s tubular control arms, lowered spindles, rack-and-pinion steering and optional coil/over shock system the owner can tailor the stance of the car as well as how it will perform. To give you the straight dope, we’ll break the conversion into two parts. This segment focuses on the front sub-frame and related components. Next month you’ll see how to put a full-frame under the F-body with TCI’s 4-link suspension setup.

The TCI bolt-in front sub-frame poised to go under. TCI had our frame powder coated tangerine orange to complement the Hugger Orange on the body. Nice!

Since the engine was already out, the TCI crew removed, unhooked, and unbolted anything connected to the car itself: transmission, cables, lines, wiring, remotely mounted accessories, steering rag joint, hoses, throttle linkage, etc. When all the spaghetti was accounted for, they unbolted the clip and lowered it out.

The stock sub-frame bolts to the body at the radiator core support and two locations underneath. A little penetrating oil may be necessary to loosen these fasteners, since they are prone to rusting.