Hey fellow rodders,I have traded for a 55 Buick Century and I am replacing the rearend . I have a 74 Nova differential and a Chassis enginering rear leaf kit for a 40 chevy sedan.Do you think this will work in this car?
Not without alot of work. Buick had a closed drive shaft vs the open driveline setup that the nova rear end is. You'd have to change the trans to something with an open driveline also. Also check the overall width of the nova rear vs yours to make sure it will fit. Lastly, you will need to make mounts for shocks, as the Buick used old knee-action style shocks on the rear. It can be done though. I did it by reusing the factory coils & panhard bar, just had to add some ladder bars to locate the rearend.
Trying to use leaf springs on the Buick chassis, while it CAN be done, and likely HAS been done, is not the hot tip. Mostly because the contours of the Buick chassis rails do not easily allow positioning the spring hangers/brackets in a relatively level position. To get them level, they need to be positioned more inboard and considerable fabrication for mounts needs to be made. If you attempt to hang them on the existing frame rails, they run uphill front to rear at an angle that is inappropriate for proper spring action. In my opinion, and that of some others, is to use a GM pickup "truck arm" style control system in conjunction with the stock (or lowering) coil springs and the stock Panhard bar. There are threads on the HAMB with photos of this setup on 50's era Buicks. Be aware, the stock Buick 'radius rods' used with the torque tube ARE NOT strong enough to use as axle locators when there is no torque tube present. Ray
I am getting ready to put a 71 Skylark rear end with the AirRide Tech universal 4 link in my 55 Buick. It seems like it is going to work very well and I am using coil over rear shocks. I will keep you posted on my adventures as they are starting soon.
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