Clipping a 49 Chevy sedan

....a lot of guys try to use clips with disc brakes which are wider or the next generation Nova clips which ARE too wide.

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Glad someone mentioned this. One frontend choice I haven't seen in a long time is a AMC Pacer. Is this because there is few of them left? The frontend unbolts from the Pacer and GM discs pop right on to the spindles. A friend put one in a 47/48 Chev years ago was a piece of cake.

 

Oh ya mine has MII and it works great. Would like a power rack for it though. Previous owner had this front end installed at a chasis builder.

 

another option, since the reason for the original post was his was "ALL HACKED UP" 16 bolts and the whole front suspension drops out. with all the others switching to Mll and camaro/s10 clips you should be able to come up with a free one (I did) 300 bucks for a rebuild kit and a couple hundred (later if you like) for a disc brake conversion. new gas shocks and radial tires and it will drive as good as all the others.
I'm an old fuck and this is just an opinion......Jim

 

Nice work check out what I am doing with my 51 Buick . Lots of work but worth it in the end . http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522617

 

Google "Mustang II suspension failure" before buying any parts- some of the stuff available is downright dangerous. Not all of it, though.

 

Yes, just unbolt the damn thing and put another one in there. You can probably score one for free, or for scrap weight, hell I scrapped one a few months ago. Try and get a 51-54 front end if you can, saves you the hassle of putting the Bendix brakes on it.

Next best alternative is the 85-back Jaguar XJ, because here again, you can generally score the donor car for close to scrap money, part out some of it and come out ahead.

Camaro/Firebird and Monte Carlo are all too wide, S10 borders on too narrow. And let's not even get into mixing and matching frame rail designs at the firewall (yeah, that's going to be great in a collision).

 

nobody makes replacement parts anymore.

 

here's a list i found of different widths of donor cars and old cars too....
The first gen camaro is slightly narrower than the second gen (70 - 82). First gen is 60 on the rear and approx. 60 1/2 on the front, which is almost exactly the same as your 50. This measurement is mounting surface to mounting surface (outside hub). The second gen is 61 1/2 on the front and 60 1/2 on the rear, mounting surface to mounting surface. Scroll down near the bottom of the info below and you'll find some clip measurements.

Original Vehicles
Rear Suspension Width (Flange to Flange)

Year
Classic Vehicles
Width

26-39
Plymouth-Dodge car/pick up
56-58"

40-52
Plymouth-Dodge car
60-62"

26-39
Chrysler/DeSoto Car
60"

Most Early
Mopar's
56-62"

25-39
Chevy Car
56-58"

26-46
Chevy Truck
56-58"

40-48
Chevy Car
58-60"

49-54
Chevy Car
58-60"

47-54 & 55 1st Series
Chevy Truck
60-62"

Most Early
Buick,Olds, Pontiac
58-61"

28-31
Ford Car/Pickup
57 1/2"

32 & 33-34
Ford Car/Pickup
56 1/2"

35-48
Ford Car
57-60"

35-41
Ford Pickup
56-60"

49-58
Ford Car
57-58"

49-56
Mercury
57-58"

49-51
Mercury
61"

64
Falcon
58"

67
Cougar
60"

55-59
Chevy Pickup
62"





Donor Vehicles Front and Rear
Suspension Width (Flange to Flange)

Year
Classic Vehicles
Width Front
Width Rear

74-79
Ford Mustang II/Pinto & Mercury Capri/Bobcat
55 ½"
55 ½"

71-77
Ford Maverick with 8" axle
56 ½"


75-80
Ford Granada with 8" axle
57 ½"


64-66
Mustang
57"


67-71
Mustang
59"


72-73
Mustang
60"


67-69 , & 60"
Camaro
60"


64-67
Chevelle
60"


55-64
Chevy car
60"


65-67
Nova
58"


68-72
Nova
60"
60"

78 & up
Monte Carlo, Regal, etc. with 10 bolt axle
58"
58"

68-72
Chevelle with 10 bolt axle
61 ½"


89
Trans AM (Disc brake)
62"


76-80
Camaro/Firebird
61 ½"
60 ½"

68-83
Corvette
58 ½"
59 ½"

84-95
Corvette
59 ½"
60 ½"

Early 70's
"A" body (Dart/Duster) with V8&3/4 axle
58"



"E" Body (Cuda) with V8&3/4 axle
58"



Dodge Dart
59"
55 ½"


Plymouth Volare & Dodge Aspen
61"
60 ½"

71
Blazer (6 lug)
63 ¾"


75-78
Granada 9"
(43" perch to perch)
52 ¼"

75-78
Maverick 9"
(43" perch to perch)
56 ¼"

81-87
Olds Cutlass
58 ½"




FRONT SUSPENSION INFORMATION



Track Width of Popular Donor Car Clips

Manufacture
Model
Years
Track Front/Rear
Curb Weight

Chevrolet
Nova
68-74
59.8-59.6
3,770

Buick
Apollo
68-74
59.1-58.8
3760

Pontiac
GTO
68-74
59.9-59.6
3880

Chevrolet
Corvette
68-83
58.7-59.5
3655



84-95
59.6-60.4
3890

Chevrolet
Camaro (Z28)
76-80
61.3-60.5
3820

Pontiac
Firebird (TA)
76-80
61.3-60.5
3900

Ford
Mustang II
74-79
55.6-55.8
3305


Pinto
74-79
55.6-55.8
3305

Mercury
Capri
74-79
55.6-55.8
3305


Bobcat
74-79
55.6-55.8
3305

Chevrolet
Monte Carlo
78-86
58.5-58.8
3235

Buick
Century
78-86
59.0-58.8
3700

Pontiac
Grand Prix
78-86
58.9-59.0
3735

Plymouth
Volare
75-79
61.0-60.5
3395

Dodge
Aspen
75-79
61.0-60.5
3395

Dodge
Dart
76
59.2-55.6
3600

 

Camaro/Firebird and Monte Carlo are all too wide, S10 borders on too narrow. And let's not even get into mixing and matching frame rail designs at the firewall (yeah, that's going to be great in a collision).

..if you do the clip rite, no problem; I lap the two frames about 16-18 inches, a lot stronger than a butt joint which isn't suggested with the tophat style frames.

 

Damn gsport, that is awesome!! Can we trust you? I mean, what are your references?

 

Damn shame you have no faith in anyones abilities. There is not a lot of difference between home Z'd frames and frames that are connections as you have described. Our 51 is one of those mixed and matched units. I guarantee that our's will be around long after I am gone. It was done by a certified welder using an oxy/acel torch to preheat all metal to 200 degrees before starting to lay the beads.

 

If I may add to this,
I just did this on my 53
I stripped an s-10 to the frame, as well as my 53, spent 2 days figuring out it was going to be a real pain to get it perfect. After alot of thinking, the end result was to get a MII and keep the factory frame intact.
You say you dont have 1800$ for the bolt on, Well i didnt either
I bought the cross member and uprights from Welder Series by Paul Horton
(Hamb Member) and bought a complete front end from a Pinto, welded the crossmember in and bolted on the pinto front end, I could have stoped there for a total envestment of around $300 bucks. But i wanted Disc brakes and Power steering so I got a Disc Brake kit for the MII for another $250 which gave me rotors,calipers,bearings and Pads also made it 5 on 4 3/4 bolt pattern to match my Rearend.
There still were odds and ends Brake lines and Steering shaft to buy and build. But now I have a proven , moderen front end that is safe and best of all the car will hold its value better than a clipped car and my Insurance company dosnt have a problem with it, like some I have heard about ( clipped cars )

I sorry to say I scrapped my old front end other wise Id tell you to come get it. If you run the numbers you will find rebuilding a old front end is just about as expensive and what I did with all new parts. Keep in mind you will more than likely have to rebuild what ever front end you get.
I hope this helps
MrC

 

Go with antoher stock front end and rebuild it. You will be happy and it is designed for your car. They work great. unless you are building a canyon carver or a strip warrior why do you need all that BS. You can put disc brakes on your stock front end if you feel the need. The steering is the only thing that I dont care for because of that center dohicky thing but it works........
And you can stay within the original budget

 

Anyone know what makes the G body narrower than the camaro? Is it the spindle and A arms or is the frame/cross-memeber set up narrower?

My problem- I bought a camaro clipped 48 chevy sedan- (from pics- stupid I know) but now trying to work with whats there- I need to narrow the track by 3-4 inches, the pizza cutter rollers I have on it now rub all over and I dont want to run fwd caddy wheels.
I have read through different threads here- maybe the monte spindles will cut an inch or so- aside from Heidts a arms are there stockers that will slim it up any?

 

if you are scrapping these 49 - 54 front ends you are tossing 20 dollar bills out the window. part them out and the only thing you might not be able to get rid of is the crossmember itself.

many moons ago I sold the complete front end from my 49 to a corvette guy who was doing a concourse job and all his A-Arms and stuff were pitted with rust. got 150.00. since then I have parted a 51 and a 53 and got 250 + out of each front end. all useable parts will sell, I even sold the used bearings.

 

Im re-doing the front end on my 48 Biz coupe (the front crossmember was rusted out). I decided to just rebuild the stock one. I bought a crossmember from a guy on the chevybombs site for 70$ (blasted and powder coated). and a rebuild kit will cost about $283 from Kanters (unless anyone knows of a good CHEAPER kit... let me know).

Otherwise I hear the G-Body is the best way to go on these older Chevy's.

 

I heard S-10 spindles mite help narrow it up some...

 

you runnin it without any front sheetmetal?

 

I used the chassis engineering kit on my 52 chevy and I would do it all over again, it is expensive but there are no headaches and no mistakes to be made. I have heard like others here about the JAG frontends but I would rather get something new with all brand new parts that was designed for my car. Let us know what you decide.

Good luck
Sam Navarro

 

Well Im gonna just spend the extra cash and do the Chassis Engineering kit hell its fool proof

 

this information was passed on to me by another member.. can't remember if it was here or from ChevyTalk

 

Got a '79 El Camino frame for my '52 BelAir. Wheelbase is 7 inches shorter so it will get "stretched, but free is a damn good price and I get disc brakes, power steering, open driveshaft and 4-link rear suspension. Somebody grab another roll of wire for the Miller! And for the doubters, I've stretched a frame before... got almost 20k miles on it with no signs of failure or stress, and I don't baby it!

 

As of right now it looks like the Regal/ Monte Carlo spindle sets are going to get me in just a hair over an inch. We'll see once they ar actually IN the car.

 

I called CE today and asked afew questions. They told me the crossmember will lower the car 4". I asked if I could up grade to 2" lower spindles. The guy said I could for $99 but was against it very much. He went on to tell me how bad the steering would be and the tires would rub. Then he went on to tell me that it could rip out a ball joint. Do any of you guys have your chevy lowered atleast 6". If sodo you have any problems? Thanks
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