When I was working at the County, we had a CVPI on the hoist one evening, and I happened to have my camera with me, so I took advantage of the situation. Enjoy!
First, a picture of the whole frame. As you can see, teh bulk of it is basically the same as it's always been--the biggest differences are in the front and the rear.
Front lower control arm--it mounts to the rack and pinion assembly in the front (first picture) and the frame in the rear (second picture).
Front springs and shocks--nothing particularly earth shattering in the new design, but here they are.
Front upper control arm mounts are a little different. The aluminum piece here mounts to the frame, and the control arm mounts to the outside of that. The aluminum piece is also where the top of the spring sits, and where the shock absorber mounts. (bottom of the pic is closer to the outside of the car).
You can see the way everything mounts in this picture:
Here's teh rack and pinion assembly. Sorry the pix are kinda dark, but I did the best I could.
Here's the steering shaft. It's got that strange little jog in it down near the rack and pinion assembly. Not sure what that's all about.
Next up, tranny crossmember. It's grown quite a bit from the chunk of pipe with the flattened ends and funny bends in it that the old ones had.
Continuing our rearward march, we approach the rear suspension. Some pretty drastic changes have happened back here.
The rear end on these has what would appear to be two sets of upper control arms, but due to my limited knowledge of suspension systems, one set is probably classified as something else--hopefully someone more experienced than me can clarify that.
Here's the outer set--they go from the top of the rear axle housing to the outside of the frame.
Here's the inner set. They go from a pivot at the center of the diff housing to the inside of the frame rail:
The pivot they mount to:
Here's one little thing about the '03+ frame that bothers me. The rear lower control arms are just thin sheet metal bent over at the edges. Seems pretty cheesy when you consider they're a C-channel piece on the older cars.
Rear shock absorbers mount outside the frame.
Upper mount:
Lower mount:
Rear stabilizer bar--on these, rather than just going between the lower control arms, it goes through a bushing on the bottom of the axle housing and then it appears like it mounts to the body at either end.
The rear bar is smaller on the newer ones, although I guess that part isn't an '03+ thing. Looks to be about 5/8".
Oddly enough, they changed teh carrier a bit as well. This is a posi carrier, but notice that you can't see the clutches?
I don't know if all the disc brake cars have this or not, but I thought it was kind of interesting. The rear brake rotors have a drum built into the inside of them for the parking brake. It's just a really small drum brake inside that's operated by the parking brake cable. Kind of clever, I thought.
Anyhow, I guess that's about all I've got for now. Hope it helps some people who are wondering what all the differences are, and I'm also hoping those of you who know more about this stuff than I do will chime in and describe things better.
First, a picture of the whole frame. As you can see, teh bulk of it is basically the same as it's always been--the biggest differences are in the front and the rear.
Front lower control arm--it mounts to the rack and pinion assembly in the front (first picture) and the frame in the rear (second picture).
Front springs and shocks--nothing particularly earth shattering in the new design, but here they are.
Front upper control arm mounts are a little different. The aluminum piece here mounts to the frame, and the control arm mounts to the outside of that. The aluminum piece is also where the top of the spring sits, and where the shock absorber mounts. (bottom of the pic is closer to the outside of the car).
You can see the way everything mounts in this picture:
Here's teh rack and pinion assembly. Sorry the pix are kinda dark, but I did the best I could.
Here's the steering shaft. It's got that strange little jog in it down near the rack and pinion assembly. Not sure what that's all about.
Next up, tranny crossmember. It's grown quite a bit from the chunk of pipe with the flattened ends and funny bends in it that the old ones had.
Continuing our rearward march, we approach the rear suspension. Some pretty drastic changes have happened back here.
The rear end on these has what would appear to be two sets of upper control arms, but due to my limited knowledge of suspension systems, one set is probably classified as something else--hopefully someone more experienced than me can clarify that.
Here's the outer set--they go from the top of the rear axle housing to the outside of the frame.
Here's the inner set. They go from a pivot at the center of the diff housing to the inside of the frame rail:
The pivot they mount to:
Here's one little thing about the '03+ frame that bothers me. The rear lower control arms are just thin sheet metal bent over at the edges. Seems pretty cheesy when you consider they're a C-channel piece on the older cars.
Rear shock absorbers mount outside the frame.
Upper mount:
Lower mount:
Rear stabilizer bar--on these, rather than just going between the lower control arms, it goes through a bushing on the bottom of the axle housing and then it appears like it mounts to the body at either end.
The rear bar is smaller on the newer ones, although I guess that part isn't an '03+ thing. Looks to be about 5/8".
Oddly enough, they changed teh carrier a bit as well. This is a posi carrier, but notice that you can't see the clutches?
I don't know if all the disc brake cars have this or not, but I thought it was kind of interesting. The rear brake rotors have a drum built into the inside of them for the parking brake. It's just a really small drum brake inside that's operated by the parking brake cable. Kind of clever, I thought.
Anyhow, I guess that's about all I've got for now. Hope it helps some people who are wondering what all the differences are, and I'm also hoping those of you who know more about this stuff than I do will chime in and describe things better.
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