Hello all! I am looking for some help on getting the suspension squared away. First the car is a 1950 chevy fleetline delux. Front suspension is stock and in need of a complete rebuild. What is the best company to purchase the rebuild kit from? Brakes need to be redone as well and I know the 51 and up drums are better, but what disc brake conversion are you guys running and where to purchase? Gearbox is sloppy. Is this something I can rebuild or are any aftermarket units available? As for the rear, I have a 57 rearend, and purchased dearched stock springs from a fellow hamber, however upon investigation the cost to rebuild the 57 rear and put brakes on it is way to costly. I have a 70 nova rear that has new brakes and posi in great shape ad is the correct width that I am going to use instead. Now my problem is the spring pads need to be relocated and the stock springs are narrower than those of a nova. I know chassis engineering sells a rear spring kit for 500 bucks but than I have to ditch my rear springs. Can I just remove the pads from my stock rear end? What do you guys run for the bottom plates than? Or am I on the wrong track in using the smaller stock leaf springs? I know its a lot but I could really use some direction, Thanks to all for your time!
Found this site for crovettes https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-351680-super-front-suspension-kit.aspx The front end is the same on early corvettes, Right? Still the price seems high. I also found that rock auto offers a rebuild for the gearbox, but wonder if this is something I can do. Anyone have better suggestions?
I cant be the only one looking for this stuff! If you came across this searching for answers to some of the same questions, chime in! .
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/218134/ << you'll need this for the front end for sure. The rear end- if you're planning on just using the stock springs, you can get perches from Speedway and weld them in to the right spot. You WILL need to drill them to move the pin locator hole forward and over by about 1 1/4"... to compensate for the offset in the stock rear end. I don't think you can 'cut the perches' off the old rear end and re-use them though. I *think* axle tube diameters are different anyway.
I used a $600 1987 Vette, minus the engine/trans, & sub-framed the front(more like side to side mate'g) & some box tube'g brackets for the rearend to frame mount'g & even the 16" vette wheels fit'ded, a lot of meat that looked mean. It was a 53 post 2dr
? He's asking how to rebuild the stock suspension. Common to C1 corvettes. Don't think the wants to clip it.
Kanter has fair prices and good service on your frontend rebuild kits. Are you swapping in a V8 ? Otherwise theres no need to swap rearends.
ok, let's restart from front to back... Front end rebuild is doable - kanter is a good spot I hear. The provided link above will walk you through the rebuild process. gearbox is sloppy... well - rebuild is an option. I'm not aware of the differences between the torquetube driveline saginaw 3 speed and the later open drive variant, but I'm sure there are some. You'll have to research this a bit more. Rear end... if you're planning on swapping out the rear end, then you cannot use the original 3 speed - possibly making the rebuild a moot point. However, you will need to source a bellhousing that will fit your I6 and the transmission- the later ones will not swap in as the bellhousing changed. This limits what you can do a bit. I understand there's a truck bellhousing that will mate the two. Search on here, I'm sure it's been covered already. If not, look over at ChevyTalk or Inliners. IF you are planning on swapping the rear end and transmission out- and then converting to an open drive- you can use the original springs. a Tri-Five rear end will drop in, but as mentioned earlier you need to redrill the spring locator holes. IIRC it was 1" in and 1 1/4" forward. Measure - don't hold me to that, it might be the other way around and backwards. If you're not interested in using the tri-five rear end, then I know from experience that a Second Gen camaro rear end is also a drop in swap. CE's kit I hear is excellent, and will work with your nova rear end nicely. Spring perches may still be needed though. So- not knowing what your skill level is and what you want to actually do... we can't really jump in much deeper than that.
Also, my steering improved greatly after rebuildeing the stock frontend and center link. Ended up not even having to mess with the gearbox, it made such a difference.
thanks for the reply's! David thats a great tech link, thank you. I am changing to a V8(283) with th350 and 70 nova rear end. I was talking about the steering gearbox, not the 3 speed. I just cant seem to find a company who offers a rebuild kit for it. Sounds like speedway will have the perches I am looking for on the rear end. I think Paragon offers the most complete kit for the front end rebuild. I am NOT interested in cliping or mustang 2 front, dont really see the point in swapping a ifs for a ifs, the car will handle just fine for what I need with the stock suspension. Lone star, what kit did you buy? The kits from Kanter seem to have less parts than Paragons delux kit.
Few more sources: http://www.obschevy.com/ http://www.nationalchevyassoc.com/ http://www.fillingstation.com/ Also if you have them in your area, don't rule out Advance Auto for some parts.
I can't take credit for that - DZAUTO is the man over on CT though. I probably owe 75% of my "great ideas" to watching / reading his threads. Here's the steering box rebuild he did. I'm actually about to 'recycle' my steering box for another project (I went Mustang II) and need to rebuild/modify mine. http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/225413/
you can get the correct spring perches from posies whit out having to re drill them.were a posies dealer.
Another bit of advise if you are going to rebuild the front end. Get a factory shop manual. I haven't looked for that year but sometimes you can even find pdf copies on everyone's favorite auction site. The front suspension is quite different from modern ifs and without detailed information you will have a tough time getting everything right. Even with the shop manual I've had guys at alignment shops that didn't understand how to make the adjustments. Unless you get lucky enough to find an old timer you might need to be able to point them in the right direction.
if you own one of these you need a catalog from Chevsofthe40s.com . that's where I got my turd polish for the stock front end on my old 49 sedan... if you rebuild this front end, that is what you are doing , polishing a turd. get yourself a factory manual to properly adjust the steering box. there is a bit more to it than tightening the nut with a screw in it. if you are doing disc brakes chassis engineering makes a master cylinder adapter that uses the original brake pedal and puts the master under the floor like stock I used to drive mine like a regular car. parking was always a bitch with the slow steering. had a coil or so cut, and it would bottom out on big bumps out on the freeway. for what I spent on suspension parts and disc brakes I could have done an MII and it would have been lower, steer quicker and easier and rode better. there is also value in the original parts you remove to help defray the costs involved. that's how I look at it anyways.
Got the shop manual covered too: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/index.htm We're a crafty bunch., we early chevy guys....
While I totally agree here- I crunched the numbers and decided to go Mustang II front end on mine. I gotta sorta disagree here- I've not been able to give mine away. Could be where I am though...
I used "Chevy of the 40's" for my complete rebuild kit. It's an easy rebuild. The king pin bushings are "floating" and don't need to be pressed or reamed as do others. There's also only one adjustable tie rod! I used forged drop uprights (spindles) and lowered coil springs. Dropped the front about 4 1/2". http://www.chevsofthe40s.com/ Peter
Awesome guys! Thank you so much! Still think Im gonna rebuild the stock stuff, I to have crunched the numbers and with what I come up with its less than converting to mustang 2, and for some reason I like the goofy stock set up. My wallet is on a major diet because of this Chevy that I was just gonna toss some floor pans in and drive, well of course its going a lot further than that now!
That's, OUR story brother. We're all a bunch of sick fucks like that. And . . . that's why I think BIG & buy in bulk. It may be used but it's 30+ years newer!
I sold the one from my 49 coupe I have now for $125.00 complete about 10 years ago to a Corvette guy. I parted out a 53 and a 52 on ebay before they started to suck (2008) and kept track of the prices I got for all the front end parts. got right around $300.00 each from the 2 front ends, $600.00 total. I disassembled and cleaned everything, and listed each part seperate, with the exception of the spindles which I sold as a pair. nothing useable went to waste except one crossmember I couldn't seem to find a buyer for so I gave it to the scrap guys. I even sold the used bearings. these cars are very popular these days, no part should ever be tossed out.
One piece of advice I wish I would have followed when I did mine. Six bolts hold the whole front end to the frame. Remove the whole front end from the car to rebuild...it's a lot easier that way...
my buddie rebuilt his entire 50 chevy front end including spindles and brakes, now were installing a M2 clip.
Any RV trailer or utility trailer dealer will have replacement spring pads for 1 3/4" springs for cheap. Easy to drill another hole to locate axle where you need it.
This is the HAMB. Keep the stock front end. Look up a guy called dz auto on Chevytalk.org and look up the front end rebuild thread for 49-54 Chevy's. You're gonna find everything you need
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