we're trying to get my bros car together to drive to the roundup. it's a 50 chevy sedan. the previous owner had replaced the original rearend with an 8.8 out of a mustang it appears. our question is, is there a chevrolet rearend that will bolt in place of the original? s-10 or caprice maybe? the rearend that's in the car now is just a hair too narrow and it has a four lug bolt pattern. we'd like to find something that may bolt straight in and has the chevy car lug pattern so we can run the same wheels all around. also does anyone know of coil springs that may interchange with the front coils that will lower the car some? for instance another one of my club members has a 50 ford supposedly you can put aerostar front coils in a shoebox and it'll drop the front about 3". we'd like to do the same with the chevy. any other cheapo input on lowering the front about 3"? we want to get the car down about 3" in front and 4" in back. thanks for any input y'all. hope to see ya at roundup.
In my 54 I put a rear axle out of a 4wd blazer (s10). Just had to weld the spring pads on. 2wd s10 is too narrow, caprice is too wide. Cant help on front suspension I'm running g body (out of monte carlo) with drop spindles.
the best bolt in/no work rear is out of a 70-81 camaro firebird, they have the hole drilled off center on the spring pad to match up to the 49-54 chevy springs
I bought & sold several Camaro and Nova rearends last year. A fellow came to my house and purchased my old '68 Camaro 8.2 rearend (60.25" wide drum to drum) from me. He was building a 1951 Chevy street rod. He said the dimensions of the 67-69 Camaro rearend are well suited for a '51 Chevy. The 2nd gen Camaro 70-81 rearend is a inch wider (61.25" drum to drum). On 1st gen Camaros this makes a huge difference and most smart builders won't do it. I put a 72-74 Nova 8.5" GM True Trac rearend (60.25" wide drum to drum) in my '68 Camaro, direct bolt in, but had to cut the driveshaft 3/4"-1", for the larger differential housing. Measure twice, cut once.
No comparable coils up front, Ive searched. You've just got to whack em or buy new ones. I cut mine and "stepped" the control arms and it rides goodand didnt cost much. Gets you 3" easy too !
I used an '83 cutlass rear axle under my 50 chevy. Had to make spring pads and weld them to the axle tubes...drilled the spring-center-bolt-holes off center to get the wheels centered in the wheel wells. These axles are about 2-3 inches narrower than the original rear which made it possible to use a pair of 15X8.5" Americans with a 1.5" positive offset. Those GM cars were refered to as "G-body" cars and were made from '78 to '87. They have a small 7.5" ring gear [not strong enough for serious racing with slicks] but came in a variety of ratios, posi was available from the factory and they had a chevy 4.75" wheel bolt pattern. A good choice if you wanna cruise and are willing to use a reversed wheel for clearance.
I am using a 78 Camaro rear in mine. With the standard wheels and tires my rear skirts just about clear the hub caps. I have mine mounted with a triangulated 4 bar setup meant for a mini truck. You can mount the rear with the standard rear springs as long as you don't plan on any hard launches as the originals are not that strong as they were being used with the torque tube. You may want to look at aftermarket springs.
Ditto on the second gen Camaro. Works great with stock size tires and wheels. Got one in my '50 Sedan Delivery
My wifes 50 has a 72-75 Nova 8.5 from what I can tell by the code. It has Posies leafs. Whatever drive shaft was in it had been shortened but not well and had lots of run-out which caused vibration after lowering the rear gear.
55/57 used to be the rear end to swap into those. The later rear ends are probably a lot less expensive and easier to find now though. The good thing is that you should be able to sell the Explorer rear end and recover most of the cost and maybe come out ahead.
in process of building a 48 sedan delivery, used a 92 sonoma 4wd -as I recall it is a couple of inches wider than the 2wd. (stock gears are 3.86) My original springs and shocks were shot, bought a bolt-on for springs and shocks from gearhead in Iowa. Fast and easy.
I had a 2wd S10 rear end in my old 50 business coupe. In my opinion it was NOT too narrow, however the car was built for minimal 8.5'' wide wheels.
thanks folks. got a lead on a camaro rear. took measurements off of what we have, going to check out the camaro rear tomorrow.
when using a 70-81 camaro rear end do you have to relocate the spring perch that's on the rear? direct bolt in? Not trying to hijack the thread just curious thanks
You dont have to relocate the spring perch. If using the stock springs you will need to drill a hole in the perch for the spring bolt 1-1/2 inches forward from the center of the axle.
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