underslung chevrolet (new project)

Thanks

 

wow thats a really beautiful setup you came up with! Well after a few hours of playing with i think the front steer is a bad idea. i can see the ackerman is off. so the rear steer it is. there may be some other clearance issues with the linkage hitting the frame but i can iron that out no biggie. i would like to stretch the frame about 8 inches as well just for the look. keep the (chevy) shell behind the axle and the steering linkage.

well thanks to every one for pointing out the steering issues. being caught up in the joy and excitment of wrenching on this thing i over looked an important aspect...

 

Why is there always so much drama when the topic of underslungs comes up? It's like we have to revisit the whole concept every two months and re-explain it. It's not rocket science by any means. It's a type of suspension that has been used plenty of times before, it's just not as common as the Ford setup.

Also, why is the "scrub line" issue always tossed around when talking about unique suspension setups? Do you hear anyone bitch about scrub line when someone posts up their '50 Ford that is 3" from the ground and has 6" tall sidewalls? Don't you think scub line is an issue for nearly every ground scraping custom that you see on the HAMB? Why doesn't anyone talk about that?

That being said, I have gone out of my way to make sure that everything is above the scrubline on my underslung T sedan build. Here's a quick link to some suspension shots:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126342&showall=1

Here's where I made some steering arms to correct the ackerman:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166821&showall=1

If you want to see more, I'm happy to post up some of the other links. I don't normally like to post on a thread that has slipped sideways into dramaville, but maybe I can help some people understand better.

 

hey car looks awesome. believe me i m not here for the drama. i appreciate constructive criticism from other members, but i wont get beat up by people who dont understand things.

as far as the scrub line im not too concerned, when its all done every thing will be above the wheels. lets say something does go wrong the frame is a big sled. its not like a wish bone is hitting the ground catapulting the car.

 

Kinda like a built in emergency brake

 

Looks good so far! Definately a different look to the front end with that suspension setup.

Nick

 

I can't believe this Aussie guy...not making a good name for the people down under. Gay bashing? Real classy.

Anyway Pre War Aston Martins were underslung too..

http://www.astonmartins.com/prewar/first_series_international.htm

 

skotty, I heard Chuck Norris was hiding from you! Best of luck in the build.

Thanks to everyone that posted the American Underslungs- I was having an early "senior moment" and couldn't remember the name of the company (DUH!)

To be honest, if my project weren't a T speedster, it would be and early Chevy or Dodge Bros that was flipped and underslung!

 

Interesting project...!

Apologies for the rudness of my fellow Aussie....some of us are nice...!

Go for it with the nice body, D'Agostino and all the top end custom guys chop up MINT lincolns etc, and no one bitches.....scrubline is probably an issue for more than half the cars on this board...and as you said.....sled time!

Cheers

MAIKI

 

ha chuck norris. my idol.

aussies arnt that bad i grew up on crocodile dun dee and shit. " thats not a knife, this is a knife!" lol

so i flipped the linkage to the back and the ackerman is better. at worst i can put a offset in the link bar if need be.

the next few steps are gona require some metal stock so i ll have to make my way to a metal yard some time soon.

 

Nice project, SkottyKnukkles. My dad is building an underslung from what we think is a '28 Chevy truck frame that put in some hard time as a cotton farm trailer before it was given to him. We went through all the thought processes you're going through. It was a pain in the ass trying to get our minds to think upside-down when we first started messing with the underslung idea. Here are a couple of pics of what we have so far. We restacked the springs, notched the frame, made some caster wedges, and ran the tie rod between the spring and the frame with cowl steering. Keep up the good work.

 

Im glad to see and hear a few people address the caster issue that was seen in the first mock up pics as well as other frt end geometry issues. Its nice to see non cookie cutter ideas and have them work as well.....thinking outside the box and building outside the box must go hand in hand.

 

Interesting read. I like the look of the underslung when done well.

Unk...Those American Underslungs must be the first factory hot rods. They look awesome even as stockers. If Scotty can make something that looks that good he'll be a legend. Oh yeah 7.0 litres to make 50HP. Thats economy!

Why is everyone hung up on cutting up a nice car. I think Sam Barris cut up a nice Merc once.

Pete

 

I guess they never heard Posie's line:

Anyone can restore a car.
It takes a real man to cut one up.

 

keep going on your underlsung skotty, im in the process of my 1928 chevy underslung right now. dont listen to the haters, the suspension setup will work.

 

Jeez......it's too bad that nice old car fell into the hands of a hot rodder who's just gonna wreck it.......






















Just messin' with ya ! It does look like a nice, clean, straight starting point though. She seems to be comin' along well. Good luck with her, and keep us posted on the progress !

Todd

 

hey thats a cool truck your building. so the rear shackle is similar to what dirt oval guys run? i have a similar 4 link design for that back of mine as well. but the frame is not going to be underslung. i need somewhere to mount the body in the back. im still debating parallel 4 link or tri-angulated. with the link bars so close to the pumpkin im thinking the parallel would suit me best. im gona be running about 450 horse power i can have any thing twisting on me.

 

yeah there are a couple haters but last time i checked hott rodding is here to stay. btw i think my tahoe comes with a 6 lug 16x7 inch steel spare. you could get a few and make em what ever offset you want. Im pretty sure all 6 lug wheels are the same bolt pattern...

 

yeah man i m a rebel! in all seriousness i wanted to start with a clean unmolested car. i looked at alot of em before buying anything. I got this one pretty cheap and have no regrets. the worst thing is fixing up a rust bucket. this has some rust in the lower cowl and the pass side lower door skins. some in the rear where the gas tank was. but over all it 100 percent better than some of the other jersey cars i have seen.

 

This is cool...but clue me in here...
How is the spring going to compress, since the spring gets "longer" as it compresses and it's already at the end of the "slot" in this pic?????

It's takes ALOT more to restore a car than cut one up.....not anyone can do it...

 

Newb here, but because the spring is essentially upside down, when the suspension compress' the spring will actually get shorter when the axle moves up...........right? That spring set up looks awesome by the way!

 

Who the f*#k are you anyway? Shut the f*#k up!!! You are starting to piss me and alot of other people off!!! Man, what is your problem? Peel your fat ass away from the computer screen, go outside, and do something constructive, and leave the kid alone.
Opinions are like assholes, except most people have one and you've got two!

Knuckkles, I am very into this post. I've got a 41 Ford 1 1/2 ton stake and it is going to be underslung. I am a novice at hot rods and major chops and this thread is gonna be very informative. Keep your chin up and keep posting, I'm gonna have alot of questions. I built my own skoot a couple of years back and got alot of the same crap, (you can't do that, thats not safe, blah, blah, blah).

I say if it's too loud your too old, sit in your rockin chair and SHUT THE F#*k UP!

I've never listend to your type my whole life and I'm not obout to start now.

Later..

Archie......

 

Yeah right... you keep thinking that...

oh please, that's not a Posie's quote, that shit has been said for years and can't be attributed to him... Hell I'll give it to Robert Williams first...

There are a couple different 6 lug patterns... GM/Toyota usually share one, Ford another, and I believe there may be one or two more as well...

 

I apologize for the late post.
I couldn't even get through the rest of the post befor my blood started to boil.
I should have read the wole thread first before commenting, and I would have seen that that knothead was booted.
But man that crap just pisses me off.

Again, I apologize.

Lets get back to it Knuckkles...


Archie....

 

Yeah, those spring sliders replace the shackles and are similar to what some dirt-trackers run on the rear. The only difference with these is that curved slot allows the spring eye to follow its natural arc just like with a shackle and the ones for dirt track are typically a straight slot (Speedway sells the dirt track ones called "spring sliders").
We used some bearings that are ball joint type (from McMaster-Carr) with a ball that pivots in the bearing race to suck up any misalignment. The bearings just roll back and forth in that slot when the frame moves up and down. This is really tricky to understand but we took our time and studied the motion of the spring when it's flexed in this underslung setup and came up with these brackets. Works nicely.

 

DOH! Yeah, yer right......lookin' at this underslung stuff gets me weirded out...hahaha!

Notice not many cars AFTER 1920 were built with underslung suspension, companies must have determined it wasn't the best setup.....

I does look different......

 

To follow up what Sinister asked. As shown in the picture, the spring cannot flex toward the frame without the slider stopping it. Would you really have needed to notch the frame because I don't think the spring will allow the axel to get that close. Or are we missing something? Neal

p.s. Nice pick-up.

 

I agree. I've walked away from a few projects due to too much rot. I figure by the time you fix all the rust, you could've just paid a little extra, bought a nicer car and saved yourself a bunch of time and headache. Seems like the smart thing to do to me.

Todd

 

Ditto....why notch the frame??? The tierod would hit before the axle anyway during rebound..........

 

When the frame drops down during a bump in the road the slider will move downward and forward in that slot. I fully understand these questions and doubts about this setup but it works--believe me.

That notch in the frame is going to serve two purposes. One is to allow us to raise the ride height with a thicker caster wedge if we need to. The other reason is that we are going to line that notch with rubber to serve as a bump stop if the car ever jounces upward after a big dip in the road.