Thread: '33 Chevy & 78 Malibu marriage

Tweet

My first street rod project involves putting a '78 Malibu engine in a '33 Chevrolet Master sedan. In trying to salvage as much as I can from the Malibu, and I was looking at the rear suspension. Is there anyway to adapt the Malibu rear suspension, rear end, axle, etc. (wheel to wheel) to the Chevy frame? I can see that it would require constructing some substantial framing o create the new attachment points.

Is this practical? I keep reading about using Mustang 2 suspension components. Is that the only way to go?

Any experience or advice that could be brought to bear would be appreciated.

John
Oakland, Ca.

John, you can use either a MII suspension setup on the front, or a straight axle with buggy spring. Lots of manufacturers for either type of suspension. Not sure about the width of the chevy rear end. I do know an 8" Ford Maverick rear end is very close on the correct width. There are a couple of manufacturers, Moser and Currie are probably two of the more well known, who will narrow a rear end and make the axles to any width you require.

The 'Bu rear should work for width, the springs will require careful measurements. Before you go for MII front suspension, I'd recommend you take a Pinto for a drive.They're evil little beasts.

I have a similar project that I'm about to start. You could marry the rear crossmember and frame section to the chevy and keep all the stock mounting points for the metric rear end. I'd do the same in the front or just slide the whole frame under it.You can shorten the wheelbase easily if needed. The engine mounts are all done and the suspension is easy to get parts for
My first street rod project involves putting a '78 Malibu engine in a '33 Chevrolet Master sedan. In trying to salvage as much as I can from the Malibu, and I was looking at the rear suspension. Is there anyway to adapt the Malibu rear suspension, rear end, axle, etc. (wheel to wheel) to the Chevy frame? I can see that it would require constructing some substantial framing o create the new attachment points.

Is this practical? I keep reading about using Mustang 2 suspension components. Is that the only way to go?

Any experience or advice that could be brought to bear would be appreciated.

John
Oakland, Ca. [/QUOTE]

Robert,

Putting the '33 on the Malibu chassis is a pretty radical suggestion. My main concern would be that the '33 body components would not adapt to the Malibu frame and suspension without some really major re-working. As you say, it would give me a total running gear package, but there must be good reasons why this is not done more commonly (I've never seen one done that way myself). I'm concerned that the time and labor that I would save on the suspension and engine would be given back on the body attachments. I'll do some more measurements and see if its worth a try.

If, as R Pope suggested, I put the Malibu rear end under the '33, I don't know that the '33 Chevy body would allow me to keep the Malibu suspension sub-framing (for the coils and shocks). Sounds like it could be a lot of time and work. I'd like to get the car on the road ASAP, and if the leaf springs are just not tolerable, at least I would know I had tried the easy (easier?) way.

It looks like the Malibu rear axle could be attached to the '33 leaf springs (after tossing the coil springs and shocks). The Malibu differential seems to be off-set to the left several inches, but this is probably no big deal. I just hope the u-bolts holding the Malibu axle to the leaf springs can handle the torque from the 305.