A question for anyone.....

[Neatname]

Hey

I have a 49 chevy coupe, and i am wanting to put a newer rear end and transmission underneath it. I am wondering if anyone has done this and found a certain model of car that i should get to take the driveline from? I have heard that novas are good cars to take from...is this true? Any answers would be great.

Zach

[Rocky]

Zach, the tape measure tells all. But several guys here have used the nova axles. My 50 chevy was 60" flange to flange, which is the measurement you'll find most appropiate to use. That's where the wheels bolt up to.
I used a narrower axle [83 cutlass] so I could use my 8.5" wide Americans. They had a 1.5" positive offset that put the outside of the wheels further out toward the inside of the rear fenders than a standard [zero offset} wheel would. There's not much room under a 49 chevy so you need to measure carefully and take into consideration what wheels and tires you'll be using before you pick out an axle.
Now, did you do an intro already? If not, give us a little info about yourself so we'll know who we're talking to.....what part of the world do you live in--age--what do you do for a living, etc etc...it's just a common courtesy around here....welcome and lessee a photo of your 49..

[1oldtimer]

i never tried it myself, but i've heard '57 chevy (car) is almost a direct bolt in (even the leaf perches line up). anyone correct me if this is wrong.

[Donzie]

I put a '57 Chevy in mine. Someone had already modified it so we used the pads from the '50 on it. But I have heard the same thing, stock, they're nearly a drop in. I think some people have used S-10s.

[Deuce Roadster]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



I helped a friend put a 58 Ford 9 inch under his 50 Chevrolet. It (the Ford) measures 58 inches wide (wheel flange to wheel flange). We had to come up with some mounting pads cause someone ( me ) had ground them off to put the 9 inch under a Model A.

Model A fellow backed out ( no payment ) and I kept the rear and sold it to the Chevy guy.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[JamesG]

Nova.

[hotrod54chevy]

hey,ya wanna try a topic line with more on it than "a question for anyone"?EVERY post is a question!
Creepy

[ESnacky6]

not derail this post completely,

but why are you such a critical fuckwad hr54chevy..?? damn....

cut the 'new' dude some slack....

not everybody knows everything like you apparently do.....

speaking of which, not every post is an actual question...
some people actually SHARE stuff that pertains to the general
interests of the people who belong to this board.....
unlike some assholes who just like to lurk and complain alot...




geeeeeez.........

[Slide]

I measured an S10 axle for my 52 Chevy, and it would have been too narrow. Now, as Donzie mentioned, there might be some S10 axles that would be OK, but the stock one I measured would have required cutting out the flanges at the bottom of the frame rails to clear the backing plates. And then it woulda been iffy for clearance between the outside of the frame and the brake lines going into the wheel cylinders.

So now I have a Nova rear in mine. Works great, but you should know that many Nova rears had 2.73 gears, which makes the car feel real heavy. Not exactly a hot rod rear. But external measurements are perfect. If you're gonna use the stock springs, make sure you get the mounting pads that have 3 holes drilled in them, then set them such that the spring retainer bolt is in the front hole on the spring perch.

I don't know your budget, but I have installed the Chassis Engineering leaf spring setup (about $470) in several of these Chevys, and wish I would have done so on my car. (I still plan to un-do what I did and go back and do this when I get some $$$.) Cool thing about this setup is that you can just use the rear axle from gen 1 Camaro (also a good choice) or Nova, or they have a Kit to use the Granada/Monarch 8" rear. It's all a bolt-in after you burn up about 15 grinding wheels to remove the rivets holding the old spring mounts to your frame. You can even use the OEM spring mounts that are on the axles mentioned.

[Neatname]

[ QUOTE ]
hey,ya wanna try a topic line with more on it than "a question for anyone"?EVERY post is a question!
Creepy

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry there guy...I shall be more direct on my question titles. What rear end should i put under my 49 chevy?

Does that pass your test?

[TooMany2count]

[ QUOTE ]
I measured an S10 axle for my 52 Chevy, and it would have been too narrow

[/ QUOTE ]

thats because you most likely was looking at a 2wheel drive rearend, the 4x4 rearends are wider..

and zach here's a site http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/ifs&rearend.htm w/suspension widths this way it gives ya more options when looking for parts, lots of folks use the nova type cars for doing the suspension swaps. the rearend is the correct width & the subframe gives ya late model front suspenion. ya have to do some cutting & welding to do a subframe swap so some folks also either rebuild & update the stock stuff or they also use mustang2 stuff, & lots of vender sell the motor & tranny mount kits also. here's links to another web sites that has a great list of venders http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4259 this site also has some great info on it http://www.nationaltbucketalliance.com/tech_info/index.asp http://1951chevy.homestead.com/ChevyResources.html

good luck & i hope these sites help ya......joe

[hotrod54chevy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
hey,ya wanna try a topic line with more on it than "a question for anyone"?EVERY post is a question!
Creepy

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry there guy...I shall be more direct on my question titles. What rear end should i put under my 49 chevy?

Does that pass your test?

[/ QUOTE ]
there was no test.i just was sayin ya need a bit more of a description in your title about what your question is