57 Chevy BelAir Gasser Build

Just mind your spring widths when looking at other than stock leafs

 

I like springs for a Tri Five solid front axle to be around 29"-30" length. They seem to fit the front stub better, and not result in the rear spring eye being so long that it ends up mounting on the drop in the frame rails. 1.75" width is what you'll need to work with the axle you have.
For steering setups I prefer to cross steer in front of the axle, so that requires a top side steering arm added to the p***enger side spindle. This avoids pan interference that can be an issue with rear side cross steer. I also prefer the 525 GM steering box for a heavier car like yours Some use Vega boxes, and a quality Borgeson might work, but the 525 box isn't much more, and a lot more heavy duty.
I don't have any pictures of the Tri Fives I've done with solid axles. I've done some with stock frame rails, and as many with stubbed rails. Some guys are afraid to cut the front stub off, and always say they might want to go back to stock someday. You save a lot of weight, and get a much cleaner install with stubbing the frame rails.

 

I used 002 , 003 Chrysler Super Stock springs on my Studebaker truck and have on several other cars and have good results. I just ran it this Sunday and went 8.03 in the 1/8 with 1.69 sixty foot times. No speed demon but the suspension worked great. That was on Hoosier dirt track tires !

 

Awesome info, thank you. I fully plan to cut the frame and go fully committed to this build plan. This is what I've wanted to do with a two door for a long time. Great tip on the steering box too, I'll be sure to look at that 525. Thanks!

Any suggested sources on those springs? I'll have to get done height measurements and work through the process of where I want it to sit up front.

 

Hell yea man, solid work! Great thanks for the tip!

 

Bad***.... Thanks!

 

I'll probably be ordering those towel city 10x15x28.5's in the coming days here soon, maybe tomorrow (it will be my birthday after all!!). Also going to settle on one of the two front tire sizes we've been talking about and get those coming in. My Canadian 15x5 torque thrust wheel is on it's way, eh? So I should be getting that in a couple-three weeks. I'd like to have rubber about the same time and I know towel city is 3-4 weeks out. Once I have the rears mounted I'm looking at getting the 9" narrowed and have sourced the help from a friend at a local hotrod shop that has the knowledge and the 9" jig to do it right. It will be fun to see that part come together. Gotta get this rolling ch***is rolling!!

Thanks for the help and support guys, appreciate and enjoy your knowledge sharing!

 

Not saying that you want lowering springs, but I used Posies 3 inch lowering super sliders on my 57, no shocks yet.
You could check his website and see if he offers them without the lowering, they sure free up the travel and the ride quality.

 

I thought you were looking for rear springs , my bad !

 

DAMN!!!! cool cars, I'm a fan of the 61 bubble top impalas, how cool! That Futurian car is on point too, neat cars! Thanks for the tire pics, I was checking out those cross flag tires on their site, those are neat. I see that they only offer them in that one width but very cool.

 

I've used Speedway "g***er" spring packs on two of my cars, and always have to remove some leafs to get the ride feel where I want it. But they're reasonably priced, and the right length. There's six leafs in the pack, and on my '63 Falcon g***er with a BBC I removed two leafs. On my lightweight Austin I only use the two longest leafs.
I guess front tires depend on what you like for the most part, and whether you want something period looking, or just a good quality radial. On my Austin I run 3.5"**15" Ansen Sprints, so I'm running VW tires that are 165/85/15 and are almost 27" tall. But nearly impossible to find that size anymore, and wouldn't want that skinny on a heavy car. On my '39 I'm running 195/75/15 and they're great on anyplace and any speed, but I think a narrower 185/75/15 on my 5" rim would have been just fine too.
The Towel City pie crust are radials, so you'll likely want a radial up front too.

 

Oh it's all good bud, I took note of what you ran for rears anyway, never know if I might want to swap out. I took the easy-out and ordered the 5-leaf rear TRI-5 springs from Woody's for this car just to make it easy and get things moving but who knows if I'll like them. I also have an old set of Mr. Gasket traction bars that I might slap on there. The other idea, is I have templated measurements and decals to fabricate a set of Ansen Ground Grabbers. A buddy has an authentic old set on his 56 Chevy so I pulled some measurements and made a drawing. They're cool bars.

 

Thanks for that info, if you have a link on those speedway springs, that would be awesome. I think I see the ones you're talking about, just curious to confirm we're looking at the same thing that has worked well for you. I'm looking at a set of the skinny 165/80-15's like Towel City offers, but hopefully that's a good look on the 15x5 TTO's.

 

Happy birthday! 40 ish?
You'll probably want to ask your local track if they allow retread tires, or specifically the Towel City's you're buying. The Radirs I run on the street get swapped for a pair of wrinkle walls on new TTs for the track.

 

Thanks bud, yea 41 today! Cheers!

And...Good tip on the tire setup, thanks!

 

At 41 I was still going to live forever..

 

Well I'm gonna live forever so I know what you mean!!!!

 

Happy Birthday!!! enjoy it while you can.
I just spent the whole day at the hospital with my wife, their trying to figure out why her blood pressure is going crazy.

 

Thank you friend...

Yea I'm sorry to hear that, I have family that's been in and out of the hospital with stuff too, I wish her well and hope she's better!! Short story...I took a header off a 16' scaffold a few years ago working by myself building my shop walls (18' walls), kinda got ****er punched by my own excavator bucket that was holding a wall section in place and got flung hard across the shop onto the concrete and got pretty busted up, broke pelvis, nasty ****** head trauma. Lucky to be alive on that one. It's a crazy feeling waking up in a hospital.... Only thing I remember was a snap shot of looking at the scaffolding x-brace on the way down and a quick "oh ****" ...... Blank......Lesson learned the hard way. Buy me a beer sometime and I'll tell you the rest! Lol....

 

Dang that's a tough one.

 

Looking for a 6-71 blower, and ***ociated parts, manifold, brackets, pulleys etc. if anyone has or knows of one available. Don't care if it's raw, polished, painted, don't matter.

Any leads and pricing appreciated!

 

Speedway sells both 26" and 31" springs. The 26" show in a search, but the 31" that come with their axle kit don't. The part number for the 31" is 91033029 and they'll need a set of poly bushings also #91033323-1 Springs are $85 ea. and the set of bushings for two springs are $10 for a set. Free shipping if you check the 7 day delivery, but $40 for 4 day delivery.
I just ordered another set yesterday for a project I'm doing for a guy. I had to call to get these numbers as I couldn't find the items in an online search.

 

Man, thanks for the great info I'll look into the specs on those springs and bushings. I'll have to measure out the ride height with the drop axle. Thanks!!

 

After looking these up, I don't know if they'll work, the 55-59 Chevy front axle takes a 2" wide spring front the factory, and the in ones referenced above are 1-3/4" wide. The u bolts they sell for these axles marry up with the holes at 2". Is your experience to install the 1-3/4" wide springs on these axles without issue? Thoughts??

 

Keep in mind you may need to shim the axle for proper caster, some 55-59 trucks came with a shim from the factory, so don't buy to short of a u-bolt.

 

Factory U bolts came in two lengths for 1/2 ton, or 3/4 ton. So you can get the longer if needed. But even the 1/2 ton U bolts are plenty long for a shim if you needed it. But you shouldn't need a shim if you get your mounts and axle caster setup correctly to begin with.
The springs on my '58 Chev truck axle are 1.75" wide. I've always used 1.75" springs on these axles, and never any issues.

 

Right on guys thank you for the help on the spring questions! I'm planning to order up some parts tonight. Just pulled the leaky powerglide out of my 64 Impala, dad's over today and we've been busy on that project today!

 

Looks like I have a line on a set of Firestone 10.00-15 cheaters in good shape from a friend for a good price. If that goes through, possibly tonight, I'll be in good shape on rears. So with that I was wondering, since those will be a bias ply rear tire, I'm looking at the Firestone/Coker 560-15 bias ply cl***ic for front runners. They're spendy but would sure look the part on the front of the 57. The alternative is something like the Nexen 165/80-15. My local shop that I really like can get them next day and wants $118 each which included mount and balance on those TTOs I have (should get my other front wheel shipment this Friday!). I have seen a few cheaper alternatives but this would come with a pretty good backing from a cool local shop going with the Nexens, that was the only option they offer in their system.

Thoughts or experience on running radials vs. bias up front and biases on the rear?

Thoughts on other tire options in that size or similar up front if I stay with radial, there are a couple suggestions up the thread a ways I'll look over again too. 15x5 TTO wheels up front.

The Towel City capped Cooper pie crusts are build on that new radial casings which I have to ***ume would yield different ride and drive characteristics than the Firestone setup....anyone gone back and/or forth between these options and came out with a preference and for what reasons? Drag traction, street driving quality....?