Mounting Modified Bodies
Mounting a new body on your new car or even just putting one on your car for the new season can get pretty expensive and just plain tedious. Having mounted numerous bodies in my ten plus years of working on race cars, I have found a few ways and products to simplify the body installation process.
One product I started using recently is the Universal Modified Body Mounting Kit. It’s affordable, high quality, and an easy to use product that will simplify body installation. This kit includes four 60” long pieces of 1” by 1” 1/8” thick angle aluminum for the bottoms of your doors and quarter panels. You will use a full 60” length piece for each door. You can cut the remaining two pieces in half and install one on the bottom of the quarter panel and around the middle of the quarter panel.
I always fasten the body to the deck with the Small Head Multi Grip Rivets and a Back-Up Washer. These are the anchors that will hold your body on to the chassis. The kit also includes six pieces of 1” by 1/8” thick aluminum strap, which will hold the doors and quarters to the chassis at the lengths you cut. If you are just looking for the Aluminum Angle Body Braces we have them with pre-drilled holes, both for mounting to the body and to the strap braces.
Another product that I have used is the Tempered Spring Steel for body braces instead of the aluminum strap. It can be a better option instead of the aluminum strap for a right rear quarter panel so it will spring back into place if it gets hit or pushed in. You will need to use the Spring Steel Punch to make holes to bolt to your angle aluminum and chassis. If you don’t want to make your own holes in the spring steel and have to cut to length, we offer the pre-cut spring steel that comes with slotted holes in each end.
Speedway Motors sells a heavy duty Air Riveter that will change the game compared to the hand riveter. When it comes to body installation this tool is a must. I purchased one a few years ago and have installed about 10 modified bodies with it. Needless to say it’s still working awesome and popping off rivets. While using the affordable and impressive air riveter, I also use the 3/16” Double Ended Drill Bits (910-04500) to drill my rivet holes.
If you decide to run the MD3 Modified Aero Valance Kit with the MD3 Rocker Panels finding a way to mount them can be tough. Just recently I decided to get one and mount it on my car. It’s simple, just get the Universal Modified Body Mounting Kit (910-06000) and slip the rocker panels between your door and the bottom brace that is made from angled aluminum.
Then use our body bolt kit with the threaded clips to fasten the bottom of your door and the MD3 rocker panels to the angled aluminum. I put about five to six bolts on the bottom of the doors and three to four on the bottom of the quarter panels. I used the same body bolt kit to secure my MD3 valance to the bottom of the nose aluminum.
