I picked up a 52 chevy hard top that has no rear in it, what can I get that will bolt in or comes close, something late model that will work with a small block and automatic. I have no rear springs either. any idea what will fit or where I can get a set? FRITZ
Second Gen Camaro. Drill a hole for the locator pin so the wheels are centered and the rest is cake. 55-57 Chevy is close enough to work too, lots of others will fit physically but the perches need to be moved. No other springs but 49-54 Chevy or the Posies made for these cars fit, because they're narrower than most others. If you just need to cob it into a roller, some 4x4 pickup front springs could be made to work with a little trimming.
I am putting a '53 Olds rear in my '54 Chevy. Open Driveline and all around pretty rad Rear. Have not done it thought so i can't tell you if it's difficult or prices yet.
I've used the Posies Super-slider springs and the Chassis Engineering springs....liked 'em both. Unless you can find 'em used (which I was lucky enough to do), you'll pay $350-500. The Posies are cool 'cause they use the original shackles. The CE springs come with shackles, so you'll have to drill or torch the rivets out of the frame that hold the stock ones. Both will drop your car a few inches and still ride smooth. Another option for cheap and plentiful rears is S10 4x4. You'll just need to cut of the spring perches and weld on a new set. The Mopar universal perches work nice for this...$11 at Summit. Bryan
Brand new springs I seem to recall cost me around $300? That was for the Posies "superslides." Stock replacement springs are $270 from the National Chevy Association.
chassis engineering sells a spring kit for these with springs shackles lower shock mounts the whole 9 yards. 5-6 hunred bux I believe prolly something in the chevs of the 40s catalog, and even fatman has some listed. these are very popular. I don't think it would be too hard to get another set of stock springs off ebay or locally. I've never used one but a S-10 4x4 rear seems pretty popular for these. had a 2nd gen camaro rear in my old sedan. it was a bit wider than stock, I had aftermarket chrome wheels and couldn't run my skirts.. it was close, so prolly with stock 5" rims it would work the one i have now has a 65 Nova rear. first year for the 10 bolt and narrower than the 2nd gen camaro, and I think even narrower than stock. not sure when novas got wider, but the 67-69 Camaro is the same width. had a 53 with an Mopar 8 3/4 rear... don't know what it came out of though. I don't have a stock one sitting around or I'd go measure so you can take your tape measure to the wrecking yard and find one that works. maybe someone else here could do that for you.
The stock rear end in a '52 measures 60". A 55-57 chev and 1st gen camaro rears are also 60". Chassis Engineering, Posies, and a host of other companies make spring kits for these cars. The hardest part is drilling the rivets out of the spring brackets.
My brother & I put the rear end & springs from a '69 Camaro under my '49 Fleetline. Had to fabricate the brackets, as the original springs are parallel, and the Camaro's are narrower in the front than in the back. A day's work, and it ended up pretty nice.
I have 78 Camaro springs under mine. They work pretty good. I also have a set of stock springs I will make you a deal on if you are coming to this side of the state.
I just put a 57 chevy in my 52. Had to buy Mopar spring pads. They already had a hole for the offset.
I put a 64 chevelle rear in my 49 fleetline. Perfect width. I bought a chassis engineering rear leaf kit to locate and then hated how it sits in the rear. So now I am going to 4 link it with bags and a notch. Honestly if you dont have anything under it already buy the 4 link kit from Alex Gambino. This thing is amazing and worth the effort. you will spend about the same in the end no matter what. and you cant argue that it will work better and look way cooler as well. The moral of my useless rambling is that I wish i would have not tried to be a cheap ass and half ass it. I could have done it the right way first and spent half the money.
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