speedway 46-48 parallel leaf rear kit?

hey guys,

thumbing threw some catalogs and was wondering if any of you guys have any experance with the parallel leaf rear suspension kit they sell for 46-8 ford cars. with set ups like this it seems like every ones selling the same product.

just wondered if its a good set up or if there is something different or better about say the c.e. kit?

just like the idea of being able to go and pick it up instead of paying for shipping and hopping they dont drop it wrong and ruin my day.

thanx in advance
timm

 

I think they are pretty universal. hell my set up technically is a universal street rod pick up set up. But I got everything unused off craigslist for $200. It was just a matter of centering the rear and finding your perch locations. their kit looks fine from what I've seen. good luck

 

My Son has one sitting in the shop that we are going to be installing in his 46 Tudor. Looks pretty good from the initial looksee we gave it, and if I recall it was actually a Ch***is Engineering Kit that Speedway sells as their house brand.

No real magic to these, they are pretty straight forward. Some kits feature composite springs but he opted for regular springs just because they have been used on so many cars sucessfully over the years.

Don

 

Thanx don that's kinda what i had figured

 

picked one up yesterday from there parts counter and got it opened to play with tonight.
the boxes are all labeld TCI so i guess we have our answer there. everything looks great! super beefy and great looking welds, only complaint is the super vauge one paragraph about to install it.

but a i little tinkering and im sure ill get it figured out alright

 

Ya know, now that you mention it, I think his boxes were labeled TCI too, not CE. But we looked it all over when it came and were pretty satisfied. Post lots of pictures as you install yours, we can pick your brain that way.

He is planning on installing some lowering blocks if it sits too high out of the box.

Don

 

seems preety straight forwards the only thing im curious to find out when i crawl under the car with the old stuff gone is what holes im going to have to drill and which are already there.

it gives a fair amount of measurements about where everything should go, and only mentioned drilling holes to mount the rear hangers so id ***ume that those are the only ones that need to be drilled. other wise it would seem odd to only mention it for those holes.

youd think not mentioning it at all would lead you to think they are either all there or all not there and need drilled. so the singling out of the rears makes me hopefull that i only need to pop 6 holes in the car to be good to go.

either way ill try to take a bunch of pix for ya'll and add them to my build thread. im curious to see how high or low the new leafs put it!

 

It has been a while since we looked over his kit, Tim, but I think you drill out some of the existing rivets and use those holes plus drill a few extra ones. I remember him asking about the best way to get rivets out.

Don

 

You might want to check the TCI website to see if they have the instructions on there. The kit I got for my F-1 had very thorough instructions. The only issue I had with my installation was I needed to chase out a few holes so the bolts would go through more easily. Other than that, it went together like a dream.

 

Does anyone have one installed now and how low does it sit? Just curious for my 46 with stock wheels.

 

I do. Check my album for pictures. I ended up installing 2-inch lowering blocks since the pictures were taken that are in the album....looks much better. I would suggest looking at manufacturers other than CI. Not that their product is bad, but there is another company( can't remember who) that makes a kit in which the front spring hangers are recessed into or beside the frame . CI's bolt to the bottom of the frame which gives a higher ride height ....thus the lowering blocks. Migh have been TCI ? John

 

C.E. low ride springs plus 2" lowering blocks

 

i think the instructions will make more since when i lay under the car and look, maybe its only vague sitting on my couch? haha, hopefully. everyone makes it seem like it was preety simple so im not to worried.

anyone got a link to some rivet removal tech?

 

I think the kit you are talking about is from Weedetr Street Rod.

 

Nope I bought it from Ch***is Engineering.

 

Oh sorry, you mean the lower kit might be from Weedetr. That could be .

 

There is one that sits lower and I forget who makes it. We saw it on a car at Daytona last year and the brackets sit inside the frame rails as opposed to on the bottom of the rails, effectively lowerin the car a little right out of the box. But we figured there is nothing wrong with a couple of 2 inch lowering blocks and some 15 inch rims to effect the same result at a few hundred dollar savings.

Don

 

yeah plus side of the parallel set up is your only ever a couple bux and some lowering block away from being were you need to be.

 

All those products are good,....Just follow the instructions, and you can't go wrong. I bought the C.E. kit from a local rod shop,...and the front axel and related items from Speedway,...The 4" axel is a Magnum,.. so it appears the dealers buy and sell to each other.

4TTRUK

 

The Posie set up for these cars has the front mounts inside the frame and are supposed to set low.

 

the mounts on mine look to have the bracket up on the side of the frame placing the rear shackle mount preety much right at the bottom of the frame rail. i dont know how youd get it any lower with out mounting them inside the rails?

 

so i got a good chunk of time to slide under the car and try to see what holes ill need to drill and which ones are already there. looks like i get to drill ALL of the holes great.

only issue i realy have with that is the front spring hangers/spring hanger bracket only has measurements to locate one hole in the bracket. its a squareish bracket so it seems like that leaves alot of wiggle room for misalignment and binding if the other holes land not quite right.

ill go back threw the tiny bit of information the kit came with to see if im missing a measurement but right now it seems like ill get that one measured hole drilled, get the rear mounts instaled and then put the spring in. then i can wiggle it around till it looks like it gets the best clearance and ect and mark the holes. then drill them and bolt it up?

either way looks like im going to be going threw quite a few drill bits this coming weekend haha.

ill keep you posted.

 

so got a little more work in it this afternoon and thought of you guys, i did a quick mock up to see what ride height should be after seeing some of you say that similar 'kits' have put the rear up to 4 inches ABOVE were they started out.

any how, with a 215/65/r16 which is around about 26 inches tall it looks like it should tuck at least a half inch of rubber up into the fender opening with no blocks or anything.