anybody ever done leafs on a '50s buick?...

well i was originally going to use the 4 link setup that came on the rearend i got. now after lookin' at it and thinking too much about it, its gonna take a lot of work, time, and money to put it up right and then leave it too crowded to poke the exaust through. so now what im lookin' at doin' is slappin' some leaf springs on there. has anybody ever done this on a '50s buick on here(mine a '54)? what were they off of? did you have to do anything specail besides boxing a portion of the rear rails? i saw a post on here a long while ago about someone using tbird springs on a red '57ish buick; what year did they come off of? any help or input would be greatly appreciated...
wesley

 

I did a setup on this 51 woody that worked out well.

I used a 68 Chevy Impala rear end[ with all the stock factory brackets for the four link they had left in place].[correct width]
I mocked up the rear in the car at the ride height and placed it on some stands.[It was a coil spring setup and used the buick coils with cup welded to chevy housing.....]

I then bought all eight control arm bushings also from a 68 Impala.
I took 2" square tubing 1/8" thick wall and made the control arms for the lowers and made attaching brackets for the frame.
I then took same 2" tubing and made the top two control arms and their front mounting brackets too.

I tacked the tubing to the metal sleeves on the bushings for mockup then removed them and finished them by using 1/8"thick by 2"wide flat strap wrapped around the bushings and welded about three inches long to the top and bottom of the square tubing.

this wrapped flat steel then extended onto /[weldedto]the tubes far enough to be bulletproof.
I used the stock track bar from the buick and welded a mount bracket on the housing....sorry no pics.....

 

good info chop rods. i got a pretty good idea what i would do to make the 4 link work but dont have the time. im trying to get everything done by fall. the leaf spring setup should take a lot less time and money right now.
anybody got any more info?...

 

anybody???

 

id say if you were gnna bag it the coil mounts would be a perfect spot to mount them, and then just get a mono leaf or something. maybe just make two cross members for the front and back of the springs id have to see the frame to be able to help you out on ideas.

 

Id say if you want leafs-go with front leafs from a 79 Dodge Ramcharger..thick Mono leafs and are virtually flat arch...memory serving they are 46" long and 2-1/2" wide and abot 3/4" thick at the housing.......Its same as the rear kits they all sell for fat fords..but they are usually 3-5 leafs TOO STIFF.

 

yeah im not plannin' on runnin' bags in any near future, but i want to get her sitting about 3 inches lower than what she was stock.
choprods have you ever used '79 dodge ramcharger leafs before? if so what did ya use em on? they sound like they might possibly do the trick. ill have to look at the buick this weekend and see where 46 inches puts me at. thank you...