ROCKSTARS,,,How'd You Get Your A$$ Sooo Low??

Hoppy your car is killer, seeing pictures of it is one of reasons I bought my old 54.

 

I've got a good question for you guys.

Why didn't you use the rear axle out of a 78-88 G body (malibu)?

They "spec" at the right width = 58" and have a triangulated 4 link stock.

Is it a different 10 bolt compaired to the s10 4x4?
Is it cause of the upper links on top of the center chunk?

Thanks

 

Everybodys looks really good. If you are going to weld everything up I would think of some cool panels that could be removed (with ease) in case the air ride needs service. When it comes to air ride I say FUNCTION OVER FORM! I am in the middle of tearing my '54 down and throwing a full air ride kit. Suicidedoors.com has pretty much everything you need even though they are geared towards mini trucks. They have pics of some really interesting setups on how to mount tanks and valves etc. If you had alot of time on your hands you could get rid of the tank; and box in your frame so that it is air tight and that will serve as your tank. Cleans things up, but what a bitch. The question that I have is this. I have an S-10 with full air ride on it now. I was planning on building that truck up to rip quarter miles in, so the rear end and driveshaft are of no use. The S-10 has a 4CYL in it. Can I take that rear end and drive shaft and bolt that up to the Stovebolt 235 on the '54? I know I need a TH350 transmission with adapter plate but I was planning on getting a '78 Camaro rear end for the '54 but if I already have what I need is there a point?

 

Nope...you'll need an S10 4x4 rear. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to use the drive-shaft, but you might need a new yoke at the rear unless you want to run a combination u-joint.

Bryan

 

Rear end needs to be 55in B-plate to B-plate.

 

Ok, but why?
There both 7.5" 10 bolts
There both about the right width (the 58" is outside width) from here http://carnut.com/specs/frear.html
Drive shafts don't bother me, theres a th350 in the trunk but I'm planning on a 200r4.

 

Oh tasty topic fellas...I dig!

My body will go back on the frame here in the next few weeks (finishing the plumbing now, new brakes and fuel lines)

I had the rear of the '49 about an inch from the ground before the body off redo. I planned for it to lay flat this time! Frame lays hard (see pics)

I am digging the Mustang fuel tank - too late for me as I went with a 20 gal cell, oh well she is pretty.

I am going to get some smaller (in height) rear tires and run smoothies w/ rings. My wheel wells and rear floor along with the entire trunk floor are history, so I have a lot of fab work ahead.

Oh yeah the rear end I am running is a 1970 Chevy Nova 10 Bolt and fits great!

...


did I mention I dig this post....


...

 

That's a trip...I've always used that chart as well as the one on 50Chevy.com and as far as I can tell, neither give different measurements for 2x4 and 4x4 rears. They are...just ask cwatson: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186582&showall=1
From what I hear, the 4x4 is wider to accommodate an offset wheel.

Chopt49...looking good. I still need to come by your shop one of these days!

Bryan

 

hehe, yea, i love buying parts to just lay around my garage with no purpose! haha!

BTW, i did finally end up with a good rear end...'73 Nova, fit perfect 3.08 gears... easy set up!

 

Right,
From your link

I'm asking why not use a G body rear end.
Same width, same 7.5" 10 bolt,

The G-body used a triangulated 4 link stock simmilar to A-bodies (lemme find a pic)

 

truthfully, you can use anything you damn well please,...as long as it's not wider than 62". and that's pushing the wheels WAY out.
you use what you can find. and you modify that to your use.
if you can find a rear end set up like you're talkin about.....great.
but most of the time we just "roll with the punches".

what he was stating was that the 2WD s10 are way narrower than the 4x. 2WD is like 54" wide.

 

keep it simple and leave the stock torque tube rear , 235 motor, and 3 speed trany!

LOL!

 

LOLLERS prolly cause I had to bring an axle and springs just to roll it on a trailer

Cool, I was just curious if there was a reason NOT to use the GM 4 link setup.

 

happy is speakin my language, Youll be a baller with all the money youll save and the women love it!

 

i like the truck arm setup. some food for thought for someone reading this post considering doing something similar: i'm running a homemade 2 link based off the truck arm setup, i'd suggest mounting the bags forward of the axle on the arms, this will give you more lift the further forward you mount them, i have airlift 2b6's mounted about halfway, and get well over a foot of lift, sure makes changing tires, maintenence, etc. easier! not to mention the way the roads are here in colorado, i NEED that kind of lift just to navigate driveways, etc. one other benefit of moutning the bags forward, it allows you to dial in the ride height using lowering blocks similar to the ones pictured, change tire size, it's easy to add or remove blocks to keep the bags in the optimal operating range and not use up valuable travel just "taking up the slack", or not be able to lay out like you may have with shorter tires.

 

My wheel wells are cut out like chopstix's ride and my tires bottom/top out on the body before the frame hits.

 

...Bttt

...i'm getting ready to start welding up my Gambino Customs goodies as well so if anyone is holding back those reference pictures i'm asking, PLEASE it's time to chime in! thanks in advance!

-marty

*edit* besides the ones already on the HAMB like Rustypipes etc.

 

Oh, I see...I thought you were still referring to the S10 rear. Using that rear that's already setup with the links sounds interesting...it would depend on where the links align with the frame. If you had to fab some crazy brackets or re-mount the brackets on the G-body rear, then I don't think it'd be worth the effort. The Gambino Kustoms 4-link is inexpensive, especially for how robust it is. The brackets are the same gauge as the notch he sells, and anyone who's put one of those in know it's a tough mother@#!*&*! The install is fairly easy...a little proficiency with an angle-finder, plumb-bob, measuring tape, square, welder, and some patience are really all it takes.

But who knows...I'd be interested to hear how it goes if you try it out.

Ray...you make some really good points. Do you have pics of your setup?

Bryan

 

Bryan, That's cool , I was just curious if anyone looked onto it. BTW that's a FOOKIN lot of work right there. Nice work!

Just got back from the junk yard (nice lunch break) and took some measurments if your interested. I'll be measuring for a while. but since mine is already f-body subframed, I'll be running 6" s-10 4x4 wheels up front, mabe I'll use them in the back also with a little wider axle? The pic is a quick sketch of a 77 olds cutlas a-body.


Ray. that's interesting, any pics of the long control arms or did you use truck ones?

 

Do you plan to reinforce this to the frame? The articulation of the rear end and leverage will work that frame area and eventually rip that out? Did I miss something in the post?

 

rusk, thommyknocker,

i have pics, but i'm at work right now, i can post them later, may be a day or two, i'll be pretty busy this weekend, local show tomorrow all day.

i used 1 1/2 x 3 rectangle tubing, i used 1/8 wall but it's too thin, should have used 3/16 wall. there ARE downsides to mounting the bags forward, you run into space issues with the floor/backseat, and they're not as easy to get to as some mounted on the axle, but on a good setup, you should rarely have to service them anyway.

 

All of my pics where taken at 4 am after mocking up and tack welding in so it is not showing my finished work.

I did in fact reinforce the upper triag bar bracket alont with the bottom, with my heavy foot, limited slip dif, 5 speed manual trans and my motor Im going to need all the help I can get.

Ill be posting some more pics of the finished product when I can get off my lazy ass.

 

here in my 54 as it sits now. Gambino knotch with triangulated four link. I just cut out the wheel wells with no problem. I can take pics of it if you want

 

I would like to see pics. I've got the Gambino notch also, but would like to see the four link set up you've got......by the way...your 54 looks bad ass....Thanks.

 

has anyone measured their inside rear wheel opening to the floor and what is the consensus? I pretty much finished my chop on my '53 pontiac and began work on the frame this week, after measuring it looks like I'll have 25" from the top of the wheel housing to the ground, I'm probably going to have about 26" tires on the rear so I should be close to my 1" slammed height with the bags. I wasn't sure if the pontiacs or the '53's had a little more room there then the chevys or the earlier '50's cars. here's a couple of pics of the chop and the frame.


also has anyone bagged one of these without boxing the side rails? Any issues or thoughts?

 

damn that looks great

 

Thanks, Ill take some pictures today and post them up later

 

Well,,,,here's what I ended up with yesterday,,,



It's gonna be interesting when I change over to bias-plys 'cause that's not quite all the way down,,,

I didn't brace anything when I made the cuts, but I plan to reconnect the stock ones coming off the wheel wells when I recover 'em. I'll also put little bridges over the slots I cut out for the upper bars. Bag mounts are done, just need to do shocks (I have some really slick brackets ready for 'em) and then the new gas tank.


Bryan

 

Well heres how i did it not the prettiest but completly functional.

 

here is a couple pics of my set up