Have it all stripped down as far as I want to go for now. I've decided to go fender less with a traverse spring front end with disc brakes. Switching it to 12 volt electrical system. Still want to keep the 6 cylinder engine and 3 speed tranny stock. That may change but for now want to keep it a driver while I'm working on it. Anybody have any recommendations on a transverse front end that will fit under this car? Would like to keep it Chevy but not opposed to any ideas. Also what later model Chevy rear ends fit . I heard s-10 will work?
Changing the rear end will lead to driveshaft problems as the s10 is an open driveshaft and your original is closed . Use a 53 54 truck front axle and you will have bendix style brakes and a truck axle is also dropped 2 more inches than a car axle .
if you change the rear ? perhaps get one that lets the gears be changed easily... then you can fine tune your engine RPMs and tire size... my $0.02.
"I've decided to go fender less with a traverse spring front end with disc brakes." Why? 1951 up Advance Design Chevy or GMC 1/2 tons used parallel leafs front and rear and had Bendix brakes. "Would like to keep it Chevy but not opposed to any ideas." By going to transverse springs you are basically trying to make this car a Ford. Why not sell it and just get a Ford? You actually have an advantage by keeping the parallel springs. Going to transverse actually makes more work for you. It's pretty much like stuffing a paper bag full of cash down a cannon barrel and lighting the fuse. Parallel semi ellipticals front and rear is one of the things that make a Chevy a Chevy, just like the wood and just like the stove bolt 6.
Hi. Just to share some of my experiences with mods on my 46 Chevy coupe as it has many similarities to engine & running gear to yours. If you later decide to upgrade engine my avitar photo here shows the 1957 Chevrolet 235 CI engine I installed I my 46 Chevy Coupe. Engine length is the same as the older 216 CI engine and is an easy fit. Mine is 0.060 overbore with Clifford cam, water cooled intake with 2 two barrel Weber carbs. With that extra thick intake due to being water cooled instead of heat risers from exhaust requires use of the Clifford shorty headers (very short & close tube bends coming down from head). Cast headers will not clear intake. With original transmission I changed ring &pinion from 411 to a 355 in torque tube rear end and it drove quite well in today's traffic. Or at least it did until a texter rear ended the car. Just before the crash my tranny went out & I let myself get talked into installing a T 350 automatic and a 57 Chevy pickup rear end with open driveline. I was test driving the car following this change when the crash happened. For what its worth that T350 was the worst mistake I ever made. That model rear end was only about 1" wider that the original that was in the car and that year has a jillion choices of ring & pinion ratio's. Hopefully I will be able to put together enough cash to fix it next year. Situation forced me to use insurance money to get out of debt and to get my 50 Plymouth back on the road. Some links to old Chev parts - www.chevsofthe40s.com www.fillingstation.com. Jack Clifford' Performance Products inc. - Headers Intakes Cams For Inline Six Cylinder Engines, Inl I purchased lots of stuff from all of these. Jimmie
You want it all Chevy but transverse front end? Seems like mutually exclusive terms. What you have presently looks to be in good shape anyhow.
You just had a thread going about one thing, now doing a 180 and going the other way. What’s your thinking to run a traverse spring? Why do you not think a parallel spring is any good? Last thought is how many traverse spring vehicles have been made in the the last 70 years, and why do you think that is?
Any updates Mark? [Edit:I found your other thread... but it also stops on Oct. 5. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/31-chevy-coupe.1206872/ Life does that sometimes.]
? A) buggy springs are as old as the hills they aren't Ford or Chev they come from old wagons originally... B) he never said he was going to use a Ford axle... Trans leaf with a suicide mount has been around since racing started in the '20's and was not exclusive to any one make of car... ...get one of those flattened model A style crossmembers weld it in behind your rad then use a spring behind set up with the above mentioned fact. dropped '52 truck axle, notch your frame horns...that will put her in the weeds a lot lower than a parallel leaf set up can...but you will also need to add radius rods to mount the spring etc. ...for the sake of argument reversing the spring eyes, de-arching and removing some leaves in combo with the '52 axle will get you fairly low too and no welding ...take off the front 6 -8" of your torque tube and driveshaft (or a parts one) and weld it directly to the plate where it used to "swivel" at 90* then find a seal that has the ID of your shaft and OD of your torque tube ID weld on a yoke now the slip yoke is inside your new tailshaft... voila instant open drive conversion ... forget o/t $-10 stuff ...what about a '55 Chev rear? if you use the '52 front drums and '55 rears you won't need discs
Wicked cool car man! I would drive the hell out of it and modify it when time/money permits. Good luck
This will be blasphemy to some but (think of all those Chevy powered Fords), I'd put a 300 inch Ford six in it with a t5. That engine is unbreakable and capable of some real power, and imagine the jaws that would drop wherever you went.
This is all Chevrolet (except coil overs in the rear) used a 53 pickup front axle, welded bat wings on the axle original 30 Chevrolet spring cut down and spun sideways and reversed eye, like transverse hiding up in the front cross member, original 35 chev 6 lug wires, early 283 w/ 2 spd power glide and 57 pickup rearend. I was trying to keep it all Chevrolet and something built traditionally.
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