My own opinion on sfbd

ok i was thinking the other day and i realy want to bodydrop my mazda but dont i really dont want to go as far as raising the floor as it is required for a trad, but as far as a stock floor i dont want to build a new fram because i dont think im that qulifies to do or dont have enough time to do, but what if and this is with the cab off, what if u take out 2or 2 1/2 inches out of the fram and then weld in the top of the frame back in, pretty much like u would do on a truck that has a open frame where u would build a frame inside of it. its an idea i dont know if it would work but i dont see why not, i would think its a little easier. what do ya think

see the problem with doing that is, the stock mazda frame is so thin already, that chopping out any more of the height and just welding back the top weakens the frame way too much in my opinion. the reason people build new frames is because when the height of the frame is reduced, you must compensate for the strenght lost, so usually you build the frame from square tube that is at least 3/16 wall, if not 1/4. Also with the amount of rust on the stock frames of these trucks, and the condition i have seen alot of them in, i sometimes wonder how alot of them even stay together. my advice is do a traditional body drop if you dont have time for a frame build, and even then make sure your stock frame is in good enough condition. i believe i read on this site one time " if you dont have time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it again?"

You could get some 2x3 1/4" wall square tubing cut the top and sides off the stock frame and weld the new tubing inside the stock frame. that would get you about 2" lower and if you lowered the cab mounts you might be able to get a little lower.

these are possibilities but as imazda mentioned chopping up and rewelding a mazda frame is pretty sketchy, as he said its pretty thin to begin with.
you could go with a frame in a frame type design, but it'd be heavy as hell, but better overkill than underkill.

im not trying to be hard headed or anything and i know what yall are saying but say i do what i said and then strengthen the sides by weld a plate on each side

it would be better, but at that point you have replaced 3out of the 4 sides of the frame, and you'd save yourself time by buying brand new tubing that's stonger and the right dimensions. you'll need to weld sleeves/patches inside and/or outside of the tubing that will go from the new stuff thru and be welded to the stock frame via plug welds. you can't just butt weld it. it'll fall apart.

by the time ya fart around with all o that you could have a custom rolling chassis

Not so much. You could do an under cab stock floor in about a week, without even removing the cab. I'm considering doing it to the Mazda in my garage right now.

explain... the concept is interesting....

imazda are you talking about the concept of cutting out the frame under the cab and replacing it with, say, 2x4 tubing - gettin ya a stock floor body drop? i don't know how far down you can go doin it like this, without having to modify things such as tranny mount, tranny tunnel and driveline tunnel.