To learn more about the exciting world of altered wheelbase cars and watch them run on the street and strip, buy my book How To Build Altered Wheelbase Cars and my two action DVD’s. The 145 page full color book is published by CarTech Books and is available for $29.95 from CarTech Books (http://www.cartechbooks.com/how-to-build-altered-wheelbase-cars.html). I don’t sell the books directly…sorry. The DVD’s are 90 minutes long and sell for $19.95 each with free shipping to any place on Earth. I produced the yellow one (How To Build Your Own Altered Wheelbase Funny Car) when I lived in California and it is available from www.thefunnycarfarm.com or by calling me direct at 508/637-1514. The orange DVD (Match Bash Madness) was shot more recently in Massachusetts and features lots of street and strip altered wheelbase action. I co-produced this one with afxer.com honchos Gary Gerard and Bill Atwood. You can order it directly from the website or you can call me at 508/637-1514 and use your credit card.

Photographed five years ago on October 2, 2006 the Dart still rides on its stock 111-inch wheelbase. In this story we’ll continue the process of moving the rear axle ahead one foot for improved static and dynamic weight distribution. Since this picture was taken, I’ve moved from California to Massachusetts and still cannot believe I paid only $750 for this one owner beauty.

Here’s a peek at the finished job to stoke the flames.

Ace fabricator, Dale Snoke, starts the job by slicing out the marked panels using an electric sawz-all. These cuts need to be clean so plasma cutters and acetylene torches are out. Another benefit of the sawz-all is the minimal amount of heat generated. This eliminates the threat of panel warpage on these critical sections.

The inner structures are removed using the saw and plasma cutter. Cutting through the boxed sections of the rocker sills requires extra care to make sure the cuts are as even and straight as possible. This minimizes creation of gaps you’ll have to patch later.

Here’s the 12-inch floor section after removal. This is where the rear seat passengers used to put their feet. Naturally, after the rear axle is moved forward, the rear seat is discarded.

With the floor, sills, rockers and trunk floor separated from the body, the final step is to follow the external body cut lines with the reciprocating saw. Once the final cut is made, the rear floor pan and suspension unit will gently release from the body as a one-piece unit. Now it’s a simple matter of rolling it forward under the car body using the rear tires for support. Many builders make the mistake of cutting the chassis unit into several pieces prior to relocation. This just adds work and introduces plenty of opportunities for misalignment. The key to success is moving the floor and suspension in one piece. Mini-tubbing will come later so we can install a pair of Radir-M/T 10-15 slicks.

With the rear floor / suspension module docked to the body, a tape measure is used to assure equal wheelbase distance from side to side. Then a series of small tack welds begins the tedious but fun process of re-joining the now-funnied quarter panels back together.

Inside the trunk, the 12-inch gap will be filled with sheet metal patch panels after the rear frame rail extensions are fabricated from 1-1/2x3-inch square tubing and welded into position. Notice the simple cut lines on the trunk floor and quarter panel extensions.

Inside the car, the floor pans meet up and look almost as if nothing has changed. All seams are fully welded to restore integrity. Small gaps are filled with trimmed steel sheet that’s welded in place. Never fill gaps with “booger weld” since strength is negligible.

On the passenger side we encountered a thick layer of plastic body filler beneath the gray primer in exactly the area where welding was needed. After grinding out the offending plastic, the body skin was welded back together.

To fill in the one-foot gaps in the quarter panels, Dale fabricated patches using hammer formed sheet steel. Note that the patches are made in two pieces with the seam running along the existing horizontal body crease. This makes it easy to restore the factory contours and will simplify body work later on. Low heat spot welds minimize panel distortion.

After a continuous bead of weld has been applied to all body joints, Dale grinds them flush. Low heat welding helps reduce panel distortion. Note that the gas filler opening has been rebuilt and a small patch fills in the old filler location. The stock 16 gallon gas tank fits into its original factory location behind the rear axle as if nothing has changed.

Here’s a look inside the trunk showing the layout of the patches and relocated fuel filler opening. Simple steel tubing struts span between the trunk floor and trunk hinge structure to restore strength. Previously the trunk hinge mounts were joined to the wheel houses.

The diagonal trunk braces are important to torsional rigidity and were shortened before being welded between the package shelf and axle hump as shown here.  A temporary coat of Rust-Oleum primer protects the exposed metal until the car goes off for body and paint work. Eventually the entire area will be covered in speckled Zolotone trunk paint as was the norm for most match bash door slammers.

The half-complete altered wheelbase job gives the Dart a whole new look despite the puny 13-inch factory rollers. An 8-3/4 rear axle, Super Stock springs, 15x7-inch Torq-Thrust mags, and M/T “pie crust” 10-inch retro drag slicks will soon make things right. So far, the overall wheelbase has dropped from 111 to 109-inches thanks to the one-foot reduction.  In the next installment of this series, we’ll show how to replace the stock torsion bar front suspension with a narrowed Dodge A100 van straight axle – just like the one under Dick Landy’s ’64 Dodge match racer. Don’t miss it!