There is a growing problem in the Street Stock world. For years, GM's metric chassis has been the backbone of these economical divisions all across the country. However, as time marches on, these chassis are getting more and more scarce. "Go try to find a metric chassis in the junkyard down here," a racer from Texas wrote to us in a recent email. "They don't exist and when one occasionally appears, it's quickly snapped up by somebody who takes it down to Mexico to sell as basic transportation." It's turning into a real problem for racers in the division and those who want to get into the division.
DCA Racefab's fabricated metric frame is available as the roller shown for $2,000 or you can finish it yourself for $1,450.
Enter DCA Racefab. The 22-year-old Wisconsin-based fabrication company is now offering its Fabri-cated Metric Frame in several different stages to accommodate different rules or budgets. DCA got its start building chassis and components for Late Models but really became known for its work on Sportsman cars. Today it produces almost all of its offerings in house on CNC machines.
"We started on this metric frame three years ago because we were seeing a shortage of chassis in the junkyard," says DCA owner Dan Navrestad. "I already had jigs for stock metric frames from all of the repair work we had been doing over the years. So it was a natural progression."
The frame uses stock mounting points as well as stock frame width, height, and weight. "We tried to come up with a car that wasn't better but a replacement for an OEM metric chassis," says Navrestad.
The DCA frame is essentially a replica of what came off of GM's factory assembly line. It's design had to fit the rules so that the car can race together with its OEM counterparts fairly. However, Navrestad said that his frame is probably a little stiffer and stronger, an unavoidable byproduct of fabricating the chassis.
DCA incorporates some unique features in its design that allows racers to replace the front horns and subframe themselves in their garage without the need for a jig, saving time and money. The tail of the car is a bolt on piece so that, again, racers can replace the rear framerails fairly easily.
The optioned out frame goes for $2,000 but DCA also offers a more economical version. That one, which was debuted at this past month's Oktoberfest in La Crosse, Wisconsin, features a weld-on tail, no motor mounts, no mandrel-formed side rails, and several other items that allow racers to finish the car themselves but trims $500 off the price.
Navrestad said he had a number of promoters show a high degree of interest during Oktoberfest as more and more are coming to realize that without a good supply of chassis, the Street Stock division is going to face problems.
DCA's base frame starts at $1,450 or you can go for the complete roller (shown) for $2,000.
