Would you put a solid axle under a tri-five Chevy?

This car has already been mentioned for obvious reasons! In my humble opinion it is perfect. Its got exactly the form I always wanted for the 55' Chev I used to own but had to sell to build my Olds. I would say that 9.76 at 133mph is pretty good function. In fact you must have seen this thread already but here it is again! (I live vicariously watching the vids since he built what I could not... yet.)

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=230636&page=2

 

Sam, here's a '57 that we put a tube axle in recently.

 

Aw crap, I just realized how old this thread is.

 

55's are way cool with a straight axle, i like a dropped one with coil overs and hair pin radius rods cut wells and it is way cool. we have done many 55s and 57s with way up or moderate heights. I like em all. i own a 63 nova axle car with radiused wells as a second race car for thsi year. also doing a 66 ss nova now for a man tha owned the loner nova in ft worth in 68 69 70. we are recreating it to the tee for him . it was a many times show winner, gonna be fun to see it get finished, complete with a nat quick supervised paint job as he did the original one. so just build what ya want sam they are all cool that way ... sam

 

Go for it, if you like it its right!The straight axle will allways be cool under a 55.

 

I did, i love the look of all gassers i aint in to "street freaks" though.
the ride aint that bad if the roads are nice and you set it up right.

do it!

 

I found this on the net and use it for my wall paper. Since my 55 Pontiac is ready for this summer I'm going to take it out with a big rake and r&p steering. Over the winter going to finish the gasser look.

Imagine it's a 55 Pontiac 2 door sedan with 2 carbs pokin' up. GRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

Sam, I would not worry about lack of drivability. Most 50's cars were not known for there handling. Even new, they tended to wander a bit.

A well thought out (and I know your's will be) straight axle set up without the nose bleed stance should ride and handle fine.

 

I say it all depends on what you like and what you want to do with the car. You wanna Gasser style car, build a gasser but you will lose on the ride portion of the scale, those are not cars particularly known for cruising across the country. That being said, they do make mean looking gassers.

 

Don't do it. I would go with a taller spring, and save yourself, well, from yourself.

This really is an old thread. What did you do?

 

It seems to me that these things fall into two categories: the guys like Shakey who are actually running their cars, and the posers.
I've never met him, but I doubt he pulls into a cruise night and cares what the others say.
He's out there running the car, and running it hard.
The rest of the guys running straight axles seem, at least to me, to be running them because "it's traditional! A gasser HAS to have a straight axle man!"

I'm building a '57 150 2dr post wagon; black steel wheels in back, old 14-inch torque thusts up front, Mopar 8 3/4 rear on a leaf link suspension, and the stock front suspension with 6 cylinder coils. Fiberglass front fenders, no inner fenders, no front bumper, a lift-off 'glass hood and fiberglass doors. The interior is 2 A-100 van seats and a 12 point cage. 482-inch 409 (in machine-shop pergatory) and a slick-shift Hemi 4speed. I'm building the car to run 10s and more importantly, drive my son to school.
People keep telling me I "Need" to put a straight axle under it, but I can't see a good reason. I don't think it will save much weight if any...especially a I-beam; I think Shakey is running a chrome moly axle. Leaf springs are heavy...but so is the stock cross member, I guess.
Mine sat high with a small block in it, thanks to no weight and 6cyl springs. The '09 with aluminum heads won't weigh a whole lot more than the iron-head small block.

Rebuild parts are everywhere for the stock A-arm front end, any shop can align it, it's simple, and it drives decent.

One thing Shakey did on his that I don't like, but you've said you do, is bobbing the front frame horns off. I wanted them specifically to weld the front down-bars on the roll cage. I think with the front end tied to the cage like that, it'll help the car launch straight.

-Brad

 

if you notice, that is godzilla old 55 , we built it and black magic together here in 04/05'..........