Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

I do run fenders. Back spacing is four inches the best I remember.

 

Jay, when @primed34 said that his tires were close to his wheel wells, you can subtract an inch of backspacing to position your rim further outward. Not sure if you planned on installing a rear pan hard bar like I have, but this will keep your differential from swaying side by side, keeping your tires from possibly touching the wheel wells as well.

 

While not exactly a car post I was able to find this 1935 chevy dealership advertisement

 

I live in Irmo, SC which just happened to be the finish line for the 2025 Hemmings Great Race.
I filmed each vintage car/truck that came to the finish line. Some didn’t make the whole journey and didn’t finish. The video is over 20 minutes long, but I tried to make it as interesting as possible. There are some really cool old cars, including roadsters, Hudsons and muscle cars. At the 10:45 mark you will see a chain drive speedster, a 1918 American LaFrance Speedster. Really interesting. I thought I’d share. VIDEO LINK

 

In the 50s my dad had a shop at a grain elevator near Happy Texas. (Ralph's Switch) There were a couple of old brothers that hauled their grain to market in a chain drive Oldsmobile truck. I thought it was one of the goofiest things I'd ever seen. Obviously I hadn't seen much.

 

Any updates on the rear for your '34 Master Jay? Wanted to wish everyone here on the HAMB, a GREAT 4th of July weekend!

 

Headed to the salvage yard tomorrow and hope to find a 2WD S10 rear with 3.42 gears and low miles. That means I’ll mini-tub the wheel wells. Updates coming.

 

I successfully pulled a 1999 S10 rear from the salvage yard today. It wore me out. Cost me $115. Has 3.42 gears with open diff drum rear. Missing drums and wheel studs. Wheel studs are cheap. Complete drum and brake kit is about $130.

 

Nice find, that ratio will work well.

 

X2!

 

I run the same thing. I like it. If you run stock springs you will need new spring pads and move them out some.

 

Hours of fun in the shop today.
Awaiting your collective wisdom. I followed Posies instructions verbatim.
I loaded 200# of blasting media on the rear of the frame BEHIND the axle to see how much the shackle angle changed. Not much.
Everything is mocked up and sturdy at this stage, but can be changed if necessary.
Pics show my fun day.

 

Nice work Jay! You'll have a rolling chassis soon enough!

 

I cut the S10 rear axle brackets off last night. I’ll clean it up a bit more. Brake hard line is in great shape (removed it). New lug studs arrive today.
Popular opinion is that my shackle needs more room to swing. I’ll likely need to notch the frame but that should be easy. The shackle tube also gets a gusset inside the frame to add strength.

 

Looking good. I think I read somewhere that the shackle angle should be 45 degrees. That is probably with the weight on the springs. I'm sure you have all that under control.

 

The shackle angle will increase as weight is added to the frame during this build. So I think the angle will be correct. I think a longer shackle would be a better solution than notching the frame.

 

Indeed, that makes much more sense to add a longer shackle than to take away the strength and integrity of the frame itself. You're adding much more horsepower than the original engine put out.

 

maybe weld and gusset the tube below the frame.

 

The factory 1934 shackle was mounted below the frame. I have no other reference points and not using original springs, so I’m measuring according to the Posies Rods and Customs instruction sheet. They did supply me with a custom bracket with the tube mounted at the bottom but the shape was all wrong because my frame is curved in this section.

 

how does it fit upside down?

 

I'd go to all the work to take the leaf apart to just the main and see where it sits when compressed using a ratchet strap to compress it. My kid would just measure the length of the spring along its arc and then figure out the height of the rear end tube to bump stop measurement when installed and use those measurements to do some math to determine how much the spring will grow in length when cycled through its full range of motion. The shackle may not move all that much at all.

 

SO I DID THIS LAST NIGHT . . . .
My leaf spring and shackle post stirred up a lot of discussion on Facebook.
Will my shackle and spring bottom out on the frame or not?
I performed this test to get my answer.
I cut a 1/2” wide strip of 18g steel (pictured) and shaped it along the main leaf from center eye to center eye following the exact curve of the leaf. I then laid it flat on the floor. The pictures show that the spring eyes moved 7/16” apart. The shackle will move back more from its current position as weight is added to the chassis, but the shackle cannot move beyond the 43 + 7/8” position (flat spring). I don’t expect the spring to ever go flat, but this test basically shows that if that ever happened, the shackle would not hit the frame.
I will trim back the bracket bolted to the frame and that should give me all the room I need.

 

Not sure if this will help but snapped this picture of my 33 chassis with the Posies leaf springs. They were installed per Posies instructions.

 

I bought this 3.42 open diff S10 rear last Friday. Cleaned it up. New lug studs installed today. New drums. Brake components will be done later. This lug stud installation tool is great. Pulls the stud straight. No need for a press. It has a bearing inside. I’ll temporarily use 2” wheel spacers on each side to bring the WMS width to about 58.5”. I’ll tub the wheel wells later but want to sell the Camaro rear that’s currently under the car first. Too much clutter in my shop at the moment.

 

Went to the salvage yard again today. I grabbed a GMC Sonoma driveshaft and pinion yoke. I didn’t like the flat yoke plate that was on my Chevy S10 rear end. Got things swapped over.

 

Rear axle was swapped today. I removed a 1987 Camaro axle (too wide at 61.875”) and swapped in a 1999 S10 axle (54.5” wide + 2” wheel spacers added per side for 58.5” total).
The tires just barely fit inside the fenders with my current 4.25” wheel backspacing. I’ll likely mini-tub the wheel wells to make them deeper. A mini-tub will allow me to use wider tires for a great hot rod look and then I can delete the wheel spacers. I’m satisfied with the position of the rear axle because as I build the car the added weight will move the axle back slightly.
1934 Chevy Master 5W coupe.

 

Anyone hear if @snoop74 was affected by the flooding - haven't heard from him in a while.

 

I’m good bud; luckily nothing affected me like a lot of the families surrounding

 

That's good news, you're usually with us when a new post is added. How's that great-looking Chevy of yours treating 'ya this summer?

 

Haha I know I hadn’t been in here as much as usual. It’s going good just putting miles on it when it’s not 2000 degrees out. Been thinking about building a square body dually so I can tow this thing to out of state shows.