Please bear in mind that I am no seasoned hot rod guy!!! I'm building my first car at age 36! I am looking for a rear end for my 1950 Chevy coupe with a 350/350. I have located a ford 9" rear end out of a late 70's Lincoln Versailles, it has disc brakes on it. It meassures 58.5 inches from end to end. Is this a good choice for this car? I am planning to use the Chassis Emgineering leaf spring rear end kit for the car as well, if that matters? Help an idiot out, thumbs up? or thumbs down on this rear end?
Those disk brakes are kind of crappy as far as rear disk brakes go (the piston has a wierd screw type parking brake thingy in it that gives trouble)....and the rearend is heavy...but it should probably work ok if you can find some wheels that will fit it. If the leaf springs clear the parking brake cables, that is! might measure and look it over first.
I'm not even gonna worry about a parking brake, not sure if that makes a difference. I've never used a parking brake in 20 years.
Measurements will work...the Camaro rear in my '51 is 60". You'll have to relocate the spring perches, but that's a given for most swaps. Bryan
that's nice...but I seem to recall that the parking brake is related to keeping the brakes adjusted on those early rear disk setups. Here's what's in the caliper....looks fun, eh? drum brake rearends are my choice.
the stock rear in your Chev is 60" You can probably do just fine with the Versailles rear, it's only 3/4" per side narrower, but you may want to take an inside to inside measurement and check your u-bolt locations, etc. Drums would probably have brake line/adjuster access issues if you were going with lowering blocks, but the discs might be ok.
I brought up the parking brakes thing because a friend recently put one of those Versailles rears in 66 nova and had all kinds of fun with the leaf springs hitting brake parts....
I think that the CE rear leaf kit is designed to work with a 10 bolt/12 bolt GM rear. I don't know if that changes anything as far as spring width or anything.
I would use the 9" in the project. It is lighter and stronger than the dana style, as for spring perchs they don't care if its a 12 bolt, 10 bolt, 9". As far as brake problems with the disks, any disk rear has a built in parking brake. not that biga a deal, axles and brakes are easily redrilled to your bolt pattern and can be done at home. If you do decide to not use the 9" you should be aware that you have the "Holy Grail" of ford housing, don't let any one screw you out of it. Unless ya want to give it to me,,,, then forget everything I said.
The 70's Camaro is a better fit. The Versaille rear's narrower width may interfere with the leafs, measure twice... and set up the parking brake, you'll be glad you did...
The Versailles rear has a lot going against it. It used to be the hot ticket for early Mustangs because it was narrow and it bolted in, but there are better choices now. First, the brakes parts are obsolete and expensive. Calipers are hard to find. The e-brake has to be attached because that activates the adjustment on the pads. Without the e-brake evenutally the caliper engagement gets sloppy. There is no bolt on replacement from any other Ford. Second, the axles are only 28 spline, so nothing special there. Finally, the 9" pumpkin on these things are usually filled with 2.47 or 2.79 gears. Not the best for most cars, unless Bonneville is on your agenda. If you have less than 300 horses to handle, an 8" from a Maverick is about the same width. Discs from a later LTD or Crown Vic are supposed to be a bolt on. Or if a GM wheel bolt pattern is important, something from an S-10 might even be better. Or as a very strong alternative, an 8.8" from a late Ford Ranger. About the same width as the Granada, and has big drum brakes.
I was going to bring up the gear ratio issue myself. Sure, you can be going 75mph, and only be turning 1200 rpms or whatever w/ no overdrive (I'm exaggerating... only slightly ), but take it to the dragstrip, and they'll need to replace their timing equipment with a calendar. Most of the Versailles rears that I've found were of the 2.40-something ratio. I have a 2.73 Nova rear in my 52 Chevy, and it's noticeably sluggish off the line. (Mild 350, Muncie 4-speed). Does pretty good once it gets going, though. OTOH, if you are running a particularly torquey motor (like a Caddy 500), then you may be OK. Those 500s had enough torque to reverse the earth's rotation, and didn't like to be wound very tight, so they actually perform real well with tall gears. I think there are some aftermarket kits that improve the goofy brakes on those things, but by the time you did that, you could probably buy a couple complete Camaro/Nova rears. BTW, most earlier 2WD S10 rears are too narrow... you'll need the 4WD version if you're going that route.
I'm running a 2.75 ratio 9" in my 55, the blown big block doesn't seem to have any trouble pulling the car with the long legs. otoh, my kid's old camaro with the same ratio and a stock 6/pg is a bit sluggish off the line, to put it mildly.
SEARCH!!! I made a whole nice tech post on this. just search under my post its a ways back. there is a whole list of rear ends to use in there. as well as any other info you will need to do the sbc swap. find a camaro rear its the best one for the car. or 55-57 chevy.
If you really want disc brakes I heard that the rear disc brake set up on the 98-02 camaros will bolt up to a mid 70s camaro rear end. I also heard that the torinados rear brakes will work . I have no experinences with these (I used drums), maybe some one else does. I would just think that would be easier because it should bolt right up (some people use new springs) and would be easier to find parts for if something would happen not so close to home. I know that really was not the answer you were looking for but I hope it maybe helps. DAN
the rear will work but may require you to build special offset rims (big dish). I am running a rearend of similar width
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