Hot Rods front suspension I.D.?

5 x 4 3/4 bolt pattern. does anyone know what is this out of? the s****per will probably ask me.

 

and the answer is...

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Corvair...

 

you guys make a good team!
Thanks!

 

X2^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pat

 

Look at the steering arms, should be bolt on from factory. Look at the rear support for the large crossmember; it should extend back a bit, and will not reach up enough for an early frame.

We used to look for pickups and vans to get the 5 lug drums. Somebody added discs

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I want those spindles!

 

they added a rack from an Audi and i have no idea if it will work right.

 

if the budget allows it to be changed, there yours!

 

I think they moved the upper control arms higher to use a taller spindle? Something looks way wrong to me.

What is the car?, looks sort of Chevy-ish to me

 

31 buick 3w coupe.

 

There should be strut rods attached to those two open holes in the lower A arms. Wouldn't drive it without them.

 

right now it is holding the front of the car up so i can move it around. i would love to put a straight axle back in but we will see if it fits in the budget now. trying to get the body back together.........i should start a build thread.........

 

some of the pictures have tie-rod behind cross member, some have it in front?

I think it looks like '49/'54 chevy.. or Corvette >to 1962

 

Yes I think you may be right about that, though the spindles don't look much taller. Something odd.

 

It was very common on Corvair swaps to have a rack up front or behind by swapping steering arms side to side. Corvair was Box when new, not rack.

Look close on the 32 Ford, you can see a triangle shape just to the right of the coil spring. Then see that same triangle gusset on one of the OP's frame pics.

 

Frank do you think this front end would work ok? was the 32 you posted yours? did it handle/ride good?

 

Not my car..

What most of us failed to get right back then, was getting a correct rack that could get the articulation right, to prevent bump steer and also tighter turn radius...and ackerman (the 32 above sure looks like it has a steering damper!)

That front end you show is super sketchy; some major hackery under the top A arms. Also need pics of the rear side of the front crossmember.

 

Put a Corvair front end in a '34 Chevy Master somewhere around 1969. Used a rack out of a Saab, the old funny looking ones. It rode very well, steered very well, but steered slow, and not enough (so not so well). Made a lot of "K" turns.
It wasn't as bad as the history books say. Mine was a five lug to start, used the drum brakes. Had a '64 Vette rear, also with drum brakes. Put around 50,000 trouble free miles on it in about three years, then sold it. It's workable, but very "clunky" by today's standards.

 

People today probably don't realize that there were so very few junkyard racks available back when the Corvair swaps were done. You had a hard time finding anything that had tie rod end sizes to fit the arms, let alone get fussy and think that the inner tie rod pivot was at the correct length to fix bump steer.

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i am going with a 60's "vibe" for this build and was glad to find out that it is a corvair. it "fits" the build.
the guy who built this car, or i should say built some of this car was a pretty crafty guy [the good], then there was another guy who had stuff "attached", i hate to use the word welded, who's work was terrible [the bad] and then there was a guy who.......well.......ohhhh, lets just say he missed out on the "art" gene.[the ugly]. which is why i call this car "clint"
https://www.myinstants.com/instant/good-bad-ugly-whistle/

 

here a shot of the back of the suspension.

 

I refrained from saying earlier, that I bet a couple of cars will be built some time in the future with Corvair/Corvan front ends, just for old times sake. I figured somebody would have a fit

My memory from 71 is not good enough, but I think what was said about lower A arm struts being missing, might be correct. That 45 degree upward rear gusset has been chopped off. It used to be one more bolting point to the Corvair unibody, to fit in a downward curved area on the body. The lower A arm inner width seems too narrow to have been designed by GM without a strut (like Pinto/M2). I think he was correct, but I just can't say without seeing a stock one.

I'd find out what was welded/changed under the upper A arm first. If that can be fixed, then see if the pivot point on that rack where the tie rod articulates, at dead center, is in the same line drawn through both upper and lower A-arm pivots. That's the bump steer test.

Another thing overlooked on these rack conversions, is that the ackerman can be compromised if the rack is too low/too high, too close to the crossmember, or too far away. If that makes sense.

also check to see if the rack has enough travel, as it was mentioned about lack of turning on this thread and many older threads.
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one more thing to check before you get in too deep;

I don't know if you have alignment turntables and a magnetic head to check caster, (and "toe-out-at-turns" at 20 degrees,... AKA ackerman), but I'd look into this in case the crossmember is tilted too much to get the caster close to spec
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I'm still using Corvair in my heap, luckily hidden by full fenders. You need those lower struts, there is only one bushing in the lower a-arms. The problem with rear steer is interference with the struts. I couldn't fit, had to go front steer.

 

You might be able to put the struts in front, stock are about a foot back.

 

Definitely Corvair and I think from a Van because they didn't have separate struts like the cars did...

 

I would like to see something like this again, and wouldn't be that to run a corvair IFS.


How's the build thread coming?

 

I think I installed one of the Corvair front ends on something for someone back in the 70's Did not like it then and like it less now! JMO Straight axle would be cool. (always in style).

 

Biggest problem with them was their turning radius but if the steering arms were bent to correct "Ackerman" turning radius was good.. If the rack was set up right with the tie rod ends equal length as the lower "A" arm and in the same plane they were actually a quit good front suspension...