I was looking at the catalog today and their hub to hub mustang II seems like a really good deal. I was going to wait, but maybe I'll get one for my '53 chevy wagon. Has anyone used one? Pros and cons? I've used fatman's mustang II stub in the wayfarer and put an RB's bolt in mustang II setup in a '47 chevy. There were pros and cons to both.
budd y of mine put one on a 53 2 door chevy using the stock arms and he has been real pleased with the way it handals
You'd probably get more info on hotrodders.com or make specific site where people have used the kits. I am working on Mustang II conversion for my Fairlane, and had to do a lot of research and have found great info by simply searching the net. Since I am working on a fairlane I found woody's fairlane board to be great for this info. You want some opinions... well I would strongly suggest to weld in any Mustang II regardless if it's a "bolt in" It makes it that much stronger and metal can always be cutoff if you have issues. Another think is that on the lower section of certain Mustang II kits the area wher the lower A-arms bolt in is open, this is the are where most will fair if the job is not done right. It's better to box it up. here you go. http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1619681
I put Speedways kit in my 46 chevy and have had no problems.We have used Fatman fabs and Heidts and quality is similar.. Mike
the problem i have with a lot of the must 11 suppliers is you cant get the car low without dropped spindles, which in my opinion is a crappy way to lower a vehicle. a dropped spindle just raise,s the spindle and drops the crossmember, a better approach is to raise the crosmember. some suppliers do this with different names for their kit like "slamed" and so forth. i would look for one of these if i wanted a low vehicle.
You get what you pay for. We use JW Rod garage,they are awesome,all the things that are additional for the other kits are standard with Weimers, drop spindles,11 inch brakes,power steering,tubular upper and lower arms are all standard,the only thing that is extra is if you want coil over shocks,and they are very little more money. All the kits look pretty much the same until you want any of the things I listed above and then they cost alot more than JWs. Give them a shout,they have some good tech guys,and the owner is not just a money man,he knows what the hell hes doing and how to fix little problems that one may run into along the way. Later,Phil. ps.the speedway kit is a POS comparatively!!!!
I used one from rodparts warehouse it was the cheapest i have found ,also used their tubular a arms and drop spindles and brakes .Had no problems with their parts . Installed them on my 40 chev. (pic on my web site under 40 chev )http://www.chassiscraftersinc.com ...e both crossmembers looked 100% the same.
Used a Heidt's in my 51 and the fit was perfect. lack a few months before I can testify about the ride, but had a friend who used the same assy. and was very pleased.
On the 37-54 "Hat" style GM frames the top portion of rail is fairly thin in gauge. Most of the strength comes in at the bottom flange where the material is double thickness. Most of the original suspension stuff bolts through the flange as well. I think some of the aftermarket bolt in crossmembers have an advantage on GM's for this reason. I would suggest looking at Chassis Engineering, or RB's (which may be CE?) The CE also has adjustable upper pockets.
I used a heidts in my 41 chevy and it is the shit drives stright and no bump steer. I had to use the springs from a six cylinder car to hold the weight of the BBC but a SBC would probably be ok w/ 4 cyl springs. As for the speedway crossmember I think they get them from Heidts but I wont swear to it side by side they look the same. Just my 2 cents.
I'm glad someone else has seen that. Nearly every dropped spindle application I've seen on the "big name" MII kits puts the car dangerously close to scrub line issues (unless you're running big inch bling wheels). The only two "extra low" kits I know of are Fatman and The Rod Factory in AZ. I'm not crazy about the [lack of] engineering on Fatman's kits... mainly due to the fact that you're welding a 5/16" thick crossmember to the thin bottom plate on the Chevy frame (less than 1/8"). Not only that, but the crossmember mounts to the frame in only the horizontal plane, no vertical welds. That said, does anybody have any good or bad to say about the Rod Factory stuff? It looks good in photos, and is competitive with most of the others price-wise.
I'm real picky on aftermarket Mustang II suspension - a lot of junk out there from so called 'Name manufacturers'. Google 'Mustang II suspension failure' and read some horror stories. I will only use Spartan Rod Works Mustang II stuff - www.westcentralauto.com. Has the good HD screw in Volare ball joints with upper and lower being used correctly - not uppers both top and bottom as some vendors offer. Spartan's stuff is not cheap - cheap is cheap for a reason. It is beautifully built - like the proverbial brick sh*thouse. A-Arms are nearly .250 wall DOM and beautifully powder coated. Larry is a great guy to deal with. I have two cars with Heidts Mustang II already correctly installed and aligned - bump steer city..... I'm gonna trash can it and use Spartan stuff. Howard Kaye's Chubby Chassis used to do great Mustang II stuff but since he moved to AZ I don't think he got back in the business.
I used a Speedway "Deluxe" crossmember and had no problems. I mounted it up higher on the frame to get it down a little more. I'm bagged but don't run dropped spindles. Tracks good, no bump steer, handles good (I added an Art Morrison sway bar). I had the chance to hold the Speedway piece in one hand and Heits in the other...we found no difference. I did not buy the hole kit... I piece mealed it together. I did use Speedways big brake kit...no complaints.
I like the Idea that Speedway sells ther parts seperate so you can buy the parts a little at a time... For those us that can't seen to save large amounts of cash.
Fatman here. No sales pitch intended, but we do have an UltraLow kit. That does preserve ground clearance, and creates no oil pan issues with Chevy or Caddy engines for sure. You can see my 49 Fastback on our website, with the UltraLow kit, dropped spindles, and a 500 Caddy. I drove it over 50,000 miles with no structural issues. I do agree that the 37-54 Chevy frames are light weight. We recommend welding up the original bolt holes for the crossmember in the frame lips. This assists the factory spot welds. Also,we recommend using our tubular style engine mounts that carry the weight of the engine directly to the new crossmember, rather than cantilevered off the frame rail. This also uses the weight ot the engine to oppose the twisting action the upper spring mount/ upper arm mount imparts to the frame rail. Worked great, even with that big Caddy! Brent
i know the guy that makes the frount ends for speedway .. they are good i have used 5 sets of them .....
I put a speedway rotor to rotor in my dads fifty chevy, and from the time the old front end was out till it was back on the ground was less than one day. It fit well and comes with good directions. After it was in we noticed that the tires were close to the fenders. With one email to Bill we had new tubular arms that were 5/8 narrower with just exchange. Talk about customer service. I would definately recommend.
I have a couple with fat man and 2 with Speedway kits. No problems with either one.I used speedway droped spindles on a 51 truck with there complete kit and it looks good and has given good road worthy service for 50,000+ miles.
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