A few of the reasons I chose to build a Regal was because it (along with other G-Bodies) was the last of the mid size rear wheel drive platforms from General Motors, it has a full (albeit a wee bit flimsy) frame, it has a relatively spacious engine compartments that can swallow any Chevy engine, plus there's a ton of aftermarket support for them and they tend to be (relatively) easy to work on. Additionally, I really like the way you sit in the car when you drive them. And from an aesthetic perspective, I personally dig the looks of the T-Type over the other G-Bodies.

Bliss. Right? Maybe not. The trouble is, room is limited out back for big sticky tires. Typically, the most street tire these things can accommodate is in the range of a P275-60R15 skin. And if you run slicks, a 9.00X28.00-inch hoop is the biggest you can get away with (and that might be a stretch). Even with those two tire examples, you’re almost always forced to jack the back end up to gain clearance. The reason is, the leading and trailing edges of the frame rail (closest to the back of the door jamb and closest to the bumper) are tight to the tire. The gentle factory frame notch simply limits the amount of tire you can fit, even though there’s plenty of room in the OEM wheel well. There's another catch when you jack up the back end of a car like this: If you raise it excessively, you mess with the geometry of the back suspension. The factory 4-link instant center location is changed and typically, the car will be a handful to hook.

The solution is simple: Notch the frame. Sounds simple enough, but if it isn't done correctly, it can turn ugly, simply because the factory frame isn't the strongest piece in the world. The truth is, the frame has to be carefully notched, then reassembled (plated) with fresh material and reinforced (with a crossmember) so that it doesn't droop or bend following the surgery. Once notched though, a car like Buford can swallow tires right up to P325-50R15’s or 11.5X28.00-inch slicks, using the stock inner wheel well (tub). Best of all, this is all accomplished at stock (or close to stock) ride height which means the suspension geometry isn't screwed up. I had Lejeune Performance (Victoria, BC) notch the frame on Buford. The Lejeune shop primarily builds bad to the bone sprint cars, but they had an opening in their schedule, so that’s where Buford went for surgery.

The lowest 1/2-inch to 1.00-inch of the inner wheel well (tub) where it meets the frame is actually a sheetmetal lip. At various spots, that lip tends to flare out to meet the outside of the frame rail. Clearance is made with a big hammer, as shown here. Deter (one of the owners of Lejeune Performance, and a rather accomplished sprint car pilot) warmed the innner a bit, then whacked it several times to get it into shape. It really doesn't require a huge amount of hammer clearancing.



Here's how the frame was cut. Deter used a 4.5-inch angle grinder with a cut off disc for this part of the surgery. The frame rail was cut back to just past the factory seam.



When Deter finished the side and bottom cuts on the frame rail, he turned his attention to the top. Here, a torch was used to cut it out. Once the rough cuts were done, the notch was detailed with a grinder.



At this point, Deter fabbed a pattern, using good old fashioned cardboard as the basis. He laid it out, then tapped a hammer around the edges on the frame cut to get an exact match.



The cardboard template was cut out, laid on 0.250-inch mild steel plate and traced. Company founder, Russ Lejeune cut out the frame boxing plates. Russ sold the business but still keeps his hands busy a few days a week.



Next, Deter fit the boxing plates into each frame rail. There's a good sized gap at the front and back. That gap is pretty much the width the frame has been notched. Small filler pieces were fabricated to fit the gaps and tacked into place, and then finally, everything was welded up.



I had a set of gussets welded to the frame rail at the lower trailing arm mount. These boxed gusset plates are manufactured by HR PartsNStuff. High horsepower G-Bodies regularly rip the trailing arm right out of the car at this point (no kidding). Additionally, I added a set of bolt-in tubular braces from AutoFab race cars (you can see them in the second photo). These braces tie the lower (forward) trailing arm mount to the upper (forward) mount, which greatly enhances the strength.






There was more to the reinforcement: Part of the plan was to include a big anti-roll bar from the folks at TRZ Race Cars. This anti-roll bar kit includes a beefy tubular crossmember, complete with large end plates that weld to each of the inner frame rails. While it provides a place to mount the anti-roll bar, it also does a very good job of stiffening the frame, particularly in a critical location. One more piece that really helps stiffen these cars is a back seat brace (basically a pair of diagonal braces that stiffen the body over the rear axle). Why all of the concern about bracing? Easy. If you look at some modified G-Bodies, the windshield is often cracked and the doors don’t line up. Often they'll buckle the rear quarter panels when you add power (as you can well imagine, T-top cars are even worse).



Here's the finished frame notch on the passenger side. I wanted everything to look clean and somewhat close to stock. I think it turned out pretty well.



This is the reason for the notch on each side of the frame. It allows these big M&H Racemaster P325-50RX15 Drag Radials to fit nicely in the back wheel wells. And I didn't have to jack the car up to fit them either. In fact, the back springs are stock and I run them without the upper isolators so that the ride height isn’t ridiculous (the M&H tires are definitely huge by large – I like em!).




That's it for now. I'll post some more detailed suspension and rear end photos (including the front) a bit later. Looking at the clock and the calendar, I think it's time to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas. Best of the New Year too! Cheers!

Wayne Scraba