A real good friend of mine Frank Ray came by a couple of weeks ago, and asked me if I could install a straight axle in his 300 Deluxe '65 Chevelle. I told him that it would be a few weeks before I could get to it. He came by this morning driving the Chevelle with the straight axle installed. He is 66 years old and battling Parkinson's disease. Another mutual friend of mine helped with the install, he is also in his mid 60's and legally blind. They finished it in a week. I drove the car this morning, and it stops, steers and handles awesome. They used a '55-59 Chevy truck axle with '41 Chevy truck leaf springs that measure 36" long. Since the car already had '70-'81 Camaro spindles and brakes, all the brake hardware was used with the addition of some caliper brackets, bearings and seals. The "U" brackets that hold the leaf springs were stick welded in place. The shocks were a parts store find and they bolt to one of the bumper bracket bolts. The angle mimics the stock Chevy truck shock angle, except reversed: The stock steering box, pitman arm, drag link and idler are were left in place. A bolt on steering arm from my sprint car parts stash was bolted onto the right hand spindle. The stock Chevelle right side tie rod was bolted to the new steering arm. The right spindle was connected to the left spindle with the stock Chevy truck tie rod behind the axle. It steers great, and the power steering is a plus: The wheels might be changed to something else, but Frank doesn't worry about what are the correct wheels for the car because he is having too much fun doing burnouts and driving the car everywhere. The car has an 11:1 355 with a set of Bow Tie heads, a Crane .630" roller, a Victor Jr. and an 850 Holley DP. It also has a TH-350 with a 4,000 converter and a 3.50 geared 9" rear end. He drag races the car and it has been known to have nitrous, a blower, or both. He also runs it on alcohol or gas depending on his mood. He is a Hot Rodder through and through.
Cool car. I've owned 2 300 deluxes and they are fun cars. I always wanted to do a straight axle 300 like that.
thats really cool , i need some advise from you folks , as this is my 1st straight axle install , very cool .
Thats a cool story and car. what spindles are you / he using? and if I understand this right, there is no left side (stock Chevelle) tie rod.? just the right side one,the long truck rod, and Chevelle box and pitman arm.? I am doing a similar set up on my 65 F85. but I have an S-10 frame under it with a 47 Chevy truck axle. but I was going to try and use both tie rods from the S10. not sure yet
My old man had Parkinsons and didn't make it to 66. Good for him. I was nervous about the fix, but it looks like they know what they're doing.
Cool! Just sold my '67 300 deluxe. Wasn't as cool as that one. Hope that he can enjoy it! You're a good friend... Mike
That's really getting it done! Do you have pic or specs of that sprint car steering arm? I'm having trouble finding one to bolt to the upper right spindle bolts of my 65 chevy van axle and looking for sources. Non of Speedway's arms match the size (of the ones they list sizes for anyway) -rick
Dig the car ! Really curious about the front leaf spring mount , we used to swap the shackle to the rear of the leafs on the jeeps so they handled and steered better , just really curious about the shackles in the front on this , I'm planning a 65 chevelle straight axle build now and was looking for ideas on either chopping the chassis and replacing it with box steel, or using factory chassis. Any insight would be helpful and appreciated , sorry , not trying to hijack the thread , honestly just really curious. Thanks
I've related this story before here on the HAMB. High school, 1968, and one of the seniors had a 65 Chevelle Model 300 2 door sedan. White with red interior; the body and interior were stock, car was lifted up and had Cragar S/S all around. He ran with a group of guys who lived in auto shop, spent the weekends at the drags, and their cars all looked like gas class cars. He had an "automotive shop" in Lynnwood, Wa do a straight axle under the car, a real straight axle, not a truck I-beam repurposed. This shop also campaigned a couple of drag cars, a 65 Chevrolet Impala, and a 65 Corvette. Both were green, straight axles, and nothing spared to make them run and look good; they were known as The Jolly Green Giant's. Anyway, they did a suicide front end with a single cross spring and radius rods on thje 65 Chevelle 300. The entire front end was chromed. He was booking it through the parking lot at school one morning, and had to hit the brakes quickly, and hard. The entire front end collapsed, dropped right to the pavement. Really nice looking car with a huge rake! The shop redid the front end. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
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