z-ing the frame

I Zed my frame 4" and cut 4" off the bottom of the frame and welded in 4" C channel. It was pretty easy but I had my truck completley taken down to the frame. Had to raise the tranny tunnel and make a new trans crossmember. I am also running the stock duel fuel tanks but had to raise them up bout 2".Im running 6 22" semis. Up front i have drop spindles with stock control arms with re7 bags. I recessed the bag into the lower arm 2" and had to shorten upper and lower arms 1" to clear the lug nuts. In the rear running C&C rear end with a parrell 4 link with slip wishbone instead of panhard or watts link. The re8 bags are over the axel and i think the notch is 10" or 12". Prob be eaiser to just build a new back half if ya got the time and money. I was trying to do it fast and cheap it worked out pretty good. cant fiqure out how to get the pic on here but if ya go to streetsource and look at owner profile its on there under speedracer22. If you notice in the pic that im not laying out in the back its cause I have 1 1/2" spacers on the bag brackets. I like the raked look on squarebodys. There are a few other little things. Had to run electric fans cause the fan was to close to the hood and moved the main wiring harness up a little so it wouldnt rub on the tire when laid out. Also no heat or air but will have someday when i get enough dollers for vintage air. Hope this helps if ya have any other ? just let me know

If you z 4" then cut 4" from the bottom of your frame then your crossmember is in the same place with relationship to the bottom of the frame as before you did anything.

^^^^^True but If you Z it 4" then you are moving the motor up 4" unless you make new motor mounts. If the Motor moves up 4" then the trannsmission moves up that much. You could use the stock crossmember but it would need to be modified. That is also why you have to raise the tranny tunnel.

a 4 inch Z and 4 inches off the bottom of the frame is the same as as layin frame without any Z at all....im willing to bet his lower control arms sit on the dirt like mine did before i Z'd it

[quote][im willing to bet his lower control arms sit on the dirt like mine did before i Z'd it/quote]

Nope my lower arms are almost an inch from the ground when laid out. My Z may be a little more than 4" but maybe only by half an inch. When i did my Z i didnt measure off 4" on the frame. I cut the 4" off the bottom of my frame first. Then with all the suspension on, the wheels I was going to run and laid it out. At that time my crossmember was not hitting the ground so I was lucky. I heard that some squarebody crossmembers hit before the frame does. I welded 2 square pipes from the floor up to the frame in front of the front suspension and 2 more behind it but in front of where i was going to cut the frame for the Z. Then put a jack on the back half of the frame then cut the frame at the firewall. Let the jack down till the frame hit the ground and welded it back up and plated the inside and outside with 1/4 in plate. Then I measured how far the frame dropped and moved the front frame horns down that much. Gotta make sure you are working on pretty flat concrete. It worked out good for me there are many differnt ways to do it and each has there pros and cons. Just gotta pick one and go for it.