Well, I got the fleetline back on the road with the open driveline, and the new rear suspension. Thanks for all of the tips. Heres what I did and what I learned: After all my worries about a Nascar style 3-link, I have NONE, IT RIDES AND WORKS GREAT! I've done several four links, but will now have no problem using either. I kept the rebuilt 216 for now, now that I've got the '56 bellhousing I can go easily go to something else later. Here's what I used: 1956 chevy CAR bell housing and 3 speed. The car bell housing has side mounts just like a later chevy truck. Just welded tabs to the frame. '54 chevy truck column shift mechanism, kept my original column. You have to make linkages and modify the levers on the trans. Super pivot rod ends for the three link. '76 Nova rear end, 2.73 gears, I thought it was a 3.08 but it's not bad at all. (the '76 nova had a 3 speed(even higher 1st), 105 HP and the same weight 3200#-must have been a dog!) Gambino Notch kit. Kept the rear seat stock, the back just kicks out a bit at the bottom. S-10 2-piece drive shaft to keep from having a tall tunnel. QA1 coil overs and a pan hard bar. The rear bumper is less than a beer can off the ground, rides great, only bottoms on potholes.
Your fleetline is sweet! nice work and great run down of parts you used. any way we could get a pic with a view from the front for your thread. I have a 47 fleetline I hope to someday work on and love pictures
Looks good, great stance too. BUT Cut off those over long U-bolts refore you have a flat and learn about scrub line issues the hard way.
More pics, I hope, had problems uploading more last night. Yeah, I'm gonna cut off the u bolts, wanted to make sure I didn't need to make a change. Oh, and I tried to make the '56 clutch fork work, I couldn't, got to looking and figured I'd try to use the '46 fork and linkage, I did, by just changing the pivot ball. The original parking brake hooks up pretty easy too, just bend the rod a bit, and clamp the cables to the new rear end cables. The frame clamps work too, just pry them open, they will break, but put them back together they still clamp. I also used the NEW (not in catalog) ch***is engineering master cyl and clutch pedal bracket ($105) it just came out and is worth it, the others just accept the brake not the clutch, used a corvette master cylinder and a FULL disc brake kit from auto city cl***ics(ebay $319). I wanted to keep the rear seat, gas tank, column column shift, and floor starter. The only thing I didn't accomplish was the floor starter, it would not work with the 12 volt bell.
Sorry, I don't have many pics of the front yet. The rear of the fleetline is the best part, we've all seen the fronts-coupes, masters etc. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF A 47-48 GRILL WILL DIRECTLY FIT ON A '46 WITHOUT MUCH MODIFYING?
I was wondering if a half round notch (half a 5" steel tube)would have been enough to get the car this low, it would have been. but I went with the big notch just in case , and it actually provides for the perfect height cross member to mount the coil overs straight up and down, I now could easily bag (ugh! PITA) the rear now too. I would have had to cut the floor anyway for the pumpkin and coils.
Nice job, and fast too... Not that it matters now, but.... If you had used a bell from a '48-59 truck instead, you would have been able to keep the foot starter, as those bells still have provision for mounting the pedal linkage. They stoped using the foot starter in cars after '48. Since you used a bell from a '56 car, if you were to use one from a '54-59 truck, it would use the same mouting setup as you currently have (direct swap out). A '55-59 truck would be were to look for a 12 volt foot start starter.
According to my Hollander interchange manual, the front fenders and hood are the same from '42-48, so I would think that you could use any '42-48 grille in any '42-48 car. But I haven't tried it myself.
Thanks, I don't mind not having the foot starter now that it's all done,( it was funny how apprehensive I was about changing anything on such a nice car, but it all just improved it) I used the '56 since it was handy. Wasn't the 54 truck bell still six volt and closed trans bolt pattern? Oh duh, while typing I guess you meant 2nd series 54? Hey the hole is still there if anyone wants to change it back later! If I re-do the grill.... I think I'll use a 47 48, I like them a little better?
Could we please get more detail on the drive shaft? Maybe even start a different thread just on that?
More background info: Voltage is not relevant to the bellhousing, just the starter and flywheel combination due to the difference in tooth counts between 6 & 12 volts. Any '37-62 L6 starter will bolt to any '37-62 L6 bellhousing. The "standard" wide Chevy trans bolt pattern started in 1948 on the trucks, then they started using it in the cars in 1955. '48-54 truck trans are the only enclosed driveline trans with the wide bolt pattern. both the '55-57 car and '54-59 trucks used the same style of angled mounting, which is why I suggested you could swap them around. 1st & 2nd series would relate to 1955 trucks.
It fits no problem. PM me if you want to sell the '46 grill. I want to put one in my '48 Fleetline (the '48 grill is rusted to death).
Oh well, guess there's several good combinations you can use. My '46 6 volt starter gear looked a lot different, so I just used all the '56 car stuff to be safe. (I know 12 volts works good on six volt starters) I styled my trailing arms somewhat after the Jimenez Brothers.com kit. They say they offer a 2-piece drive shaft kit too(I bet it is gold chain pricey $$) I did not call them, it's not on there web site, but I also heard they are coming out with a closed drive trans to open conversion kit?? It cost me $220 to balance and shorten my $20 S-10 drive shaft.
Thanks for sharing your pics, I've been researching this exact same swap for my 50 Fleetline but do not want bags either. I've read so many threads and debates about the truck arms— I-beam style, back to back C channel, pivot ball ends etc. so I'm glad you've done the real world testing and more importantly, it works. Oh and for what it's worth, I love the 46 grill.
The ride and handling with the truck style arms is definitely just fine, I notice no difference compared to the leaf springs(maybe even better, it's just a cruiser),and my arms are 1/4 2x2 tubing- the super pivot ends allow a lot of movement-I got them at a 4x4 store for $70 a pair(for a Jeep -greaseable -metal on hard poly). I think ride and handling is really (in a cruiser) more about the springs/bags and shock choice. I ordered coil overs for a 1600# rear. I would like to add a simple air system to raise/lower the rear for heavier loads and steep drives etc.
looks great! just needs bias plies and real spots imo Pardon my ignorance, but whats going on with the rear bumper guard thats all folded down (?)... ive never seen that before. Oh and i think the 46 grille looks fantastic, dont see as many. Very cool car
The tall center guard folds down so the trunk can open! ....and the bracket acts as a skid when going into driveways Yeah bias plies do "look" great, I love the way they "look", that's about it..... real spots would be nice one day
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