Hi I was wanting to lower my 33 coupe what would be the best way to go about this without to much stress? Can I retain the original drive train? How was this done back in the day? If possible would love to see some pix of what you guys have done. Thanks
extreme channeling would be the simplest way, without having to change any driveline stuff, thats if you want it really low. Id suggest a channel the width of the frame, or where the body ends up just covering the frame, a drop axle with either a model A front crossmember or a flattened crossmember, the rearend may need a small kickup or frame notch, and you can either change where the leaf spring mounts on the rear end, or de-arc and reverse the main eye/remove leaves.
A '33 is already channeled half the depth of the frame. A good tech here http://www.project33.com/category.cfm?Category=Chassis
Do you have pics and details of the cars current state? What suspension is under their now? How tall are you? What is "stressful"... budget or labor related? ha.
The truth is that most cars were lowered by smaller tires and dropped axles. The average guy didn't channel cars and depending on which part of the country you were in (East Coast versus West Coast), channeling wasn't all that popular anyway. You saw a lot more heavily channeled cars (many times with no or mild chops) in the East and more cars that were lowered as noted above with heavier chops out West. The looks/style of West Coast cars is/was heavily influenced by competition - not only at the drags, but at the dry lakes and Bonneville. It is a lot more work to correctly channel a car than most think -- especially if you have any ideas about running fenders. Most channeled coupes are only the body - they're running fenderless. Also, usually you have to chop the grille to make it align with the channeled body -- which is many cases looks a bit goofy. As you can tell, I'm a bigger fan of the West Coast style (chopped and lowered) versus channeled. I just don't see that many channeled cars that I personally like better. No matter what you're thinking -- take some serious time to consider the costs, skill level required and the end result. Do some "photo chops" or "photo channels" and look at a LOT of examples. If you're low on funds, you're better off worrying about the suspension, drive train, engine, brakes and everything mechanical before you even consider the rest. Talk to a lot of owners of these cars -- "would you do it again" . . . "would you chop or channel it the same amount", etc . . . do your homework. Take your time, talk to a lot of people and don't be in a hurry!
The Jalopy Journal
