rear end for my 50 with Chassis Engineering kit?

I'm looking at the rear susp. kits for my 50 Chevy from Chassis Engineering. Their site says 68-72 and 67-69 Camaro rears swap in with their kits. I can't find any around here. The 50 Chevy website says a 57 Chevy rear will also bolt in, and there is one of those in the next town over. Will the 57 rear work just as well? Would there be much difference in terms of which would be better for strength, etc between these? They all look the same to me, I don't know much about much it seems. Any help would be much appreciated!!!

 

The 57 is an easy swap but they have an old style roller bearing. Call the local auto parts store, the bearings run about 80-95 dollars each. I like em but they are a little weaker than the later Chevy 10 bolt.

I bought my kit from Todd Walton of Walton fabrication.

 

What ratios would have been available on a '57 four door? That's what this one is out of. How often should axle bearings be replaced? If they look ok, is it a good idea just to chnage them when the rear end is freshened up before going into the car? It a 350/350 setup.

 

3.73, 3.36, 4.11 I'm no expert but these are the ones I know of. I have never bought a set of the bearings, but I am living on borrowed time. I would hate to be in Podunk, Mississippi trying to find a press and bearings on a Sunday....

 

I looked at the Walton kit like you used, but the one from Chassis Engineering seemed like it was more complete. I forget what the details were, any complaints about your Waltons kit? I think the CE one is more expensive.

 

I used the Walton kit and a ford 8.8 . It all came out really good.The ford rear end is the same width as the stock unit. The only pain in the ass was the time to grind off all the brackets that the fords use and to have a machine shop make the 4 bolt axles 5 bolt. The only thing Id change is to use bigger lowering blocks, the walton kit didnt get it as low as I wanted.

 

I just installed the walton kit in mine,real nice kit had everthing except shocks,but I had to put in a 3'' block kit to get it to sit where I wanted it.I'm running a 2nd generation camaro rear end with no problems.

 

Don't forget the S-10 4x4 rear or other GM rears...of course the Nova's work as do some of the Pontiacs...58-60" rear-ends are the ideal fit. In almost all cases, you'll need to change out the spring perches, so there won't be an issues using the CE kit.

BTW...the CE leaf-springs are very nice. I have 'em with 3 inch blocks under my '51.

Hope that helps.

Bryan

 

The salvage yards i go to keep talking about everybody scarfing up on s10 rearends. Guess when i cant find any decent 9's anymore, may start looking into these.

 

I have been told by many the 67-69 are to narrow. the 55-64 chevy are Ok as are the 70-77 camaro rears. I used a early 80's Malibu rear and I think it was to narrow (required special offset rear rims)

 

I used the Chassis Engineering rear spring kit in my 40 chevy. My 57 Ford 9 inch actually bolted in without changing any brackets. I had to drill the locator holes out [in the spring-mount pads] to accept the big-topped Chassis engineering spring center bolts and that's all...

 

Available ratios in '57 were 3.08, 3.36,3.55, 3.70, and 4.11. Powerglide cars were generally either 3.08 or 3.36.

 

use the 57 rear end. i did on several 40 fords i had

 

Use the 57 rear from what I understand it is the easiest swap. (that is why I list it on 50chevy.com) or one that is 60" end to end.

FYI, You can install it with out getting the chassis engineering leaf springs.

Since the torque tube rear gives the rear end some side to side stiffness, I found the rear end was "noodly" withan open driveline.

After adding the wider rear leaf springs it stiffens the car side to side.

Pretty sure the waltons kit comes with lowering blocks and that is why it costs a little more.

Hope that helps

 

Waltons has quit offering the blocks because it jacks up their price. I didn't want a 2" block anyway.

 

Get ahold of Racer Rick here on the HAMB. He's up in Toronto. He has the rear axle out of my old 49 Chevy. It's an open drive rear from a 56 Oldsmobile with all new brakes and a new driveshaft, too. It'll bolt into your car on stock springs (the offset holes are already drilled in the pads) or it can be bolted onto your aftermarket set-up.

He needs to get rid of that rear soon...drop him a line and go get it!

(It has something like a 3.54 ratio or so...I drove that car on the freeway all the time.)

 

The car is set up with a 350/350 engine+tranny, all my buddies are ragging the shit out of me and saying if I plan on driving it on the highway or at speeds over 60mph, I need to source out a 2.76 from a later Camaro? If the 57 rear is geared taller like 3.55 or whatever, am I going to be spinning huge rpm's going down the highway at 65-70?

 

My car has a '78 Camaro rear with 3.42s (I believe)...when the tranny isn't slipping, it cruises at 60 at around 2000 rpm.

Bryan

 

I'd bet money it's the 3.36.

 

I'm not sure exactly what ratio that 56 Olds rear had, but I drove it on the freeway all the time and it wasn't revving too hard. I had a 2.8 V6 in it with a three speed Metric automatic trans and I didn't have the lockup converter wired in. It was still very tolerable on the freeway.