Thread: best budget suspension set up?

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you guys are great...I have a decent idea of where I want to go. I'm gonna spend more time working and a little less time thinking. One good thing is even if the car is in a million pieces and I need a break from it, I won't ever have to worry about selling it since it won't be sold as long as I'm alive ha.

<~~~ goes to the garage.

I don't know if you mentioned it or not, but is your Dad still with us? If so, he will be proud of what you are doing to his old rod. If he isn't with us, he will still be proud.


Don

he is actually alive and well...since I hadn't mentioned him I can see how it would seem he might have passed away. He's been away from cars for basically as long as I can remember and has no internet knowledge to get back up to speed. He has input in the project, but I guess you could say I'm leading the effort. He's counting on me to get this thing 'done' in time to surprise some high school buddies at his 50 year reunion coming up in a couple years so I better get crackin!

Really glad to hear your Dad is still with us. I just didn't want to get my foot in my mouth and say something and then have you come back and say he was not alive.

Ok, with the latest info about the 2 year timeframe for this build, and the reason for the build, your project just got a whole lot easier. The reason I say this is twofold.

1) It would be very hard to turn this car into a running, painted, upholstered car in that amount of time. It is a really good car, but to cherry out the body enough to be ready for paint would take a good portion of your time right there.

2) Your Dad wants to wow the guys at his 50th reunion in 2 years which means he graduated in about 1958. PERFECT !!!! These guys are not going to be wanting to see a hi-tech rod with fancy wheels, they want to see a rod like they remember from high school. It is like when we older guys go to see some of the music groups we loved when we were kids. We want to hear every note exactly like it was played back then.......we don't want someone messing with the music to make it more modern. We want memories.

That being the case, here is what I envision your car looking like:

a) Body pretty much pounded out and dents filled with filler, then the body sprayed with dark gray, red oxide, or maybe black paint that has been flattened to look somewhat like primer. But it will hold up better than primer and be easy to keep clean.

2) Hood sides removed, and engine painted red with chrome accents.

3) Solid steel wheels painted red with Olds Fiesta hubcaps.

4) A serious rake.

5) Wide whitewalls. 5:60 x 15 front, 8;20 x 15 rear.

6) New glass all around.

7) Grille straightened and the bars painted red.

You could use the newer Chevy engine you have, as well as the transmission and rear axle. These engines can be made to look old timey with the addtion of finned valve covers and a old style 4 barrel chrome air cleaner. Or, if you want to really get old, put trips on it.

If you just sort of redo the suspension, steering, etc that is there, and suppliment things like a dropped axle and new brakes, you could have this thing up and running pretty quickly. What you have to do is figure what parts are savable and what ones are garbage. You aren't out to build the final ultimate rod here, you just want to make a safe, dependable driver that you can continue to refine as time and money permit.

Oh, and for the interior, you can buy pre-pleated vinyl at most upholstery shops. You could do the door panels and all the flat interior panels yourself, and have an upholstery shop do the seat. That would save you some money and time.

So what do you think? I'm not trying to build your car for you, but I am about the same age as your Pop, so I kind of know what I would want to take back to my 50th. Run this by him and see what he thinks. I'll bet he agrees.


By the way, I reviewed the pictures you posted, and that is why I came up with this suggestion. To do it this way is the only way I see it making it in the 2 years.


Don

The car you described might be the way to go to wow all the high school buddies, but while I respect the old school I think a '35 being big and bulky looks better a little modern looking with a lower stance and some mild chrome 17" wheels with slightly bigger tires on the rear. pre '35 fords and 50's mercs I think look great like that though. just my opinion of course

My father and I have talked about candy apple for years so we'll probably do that which with the cost we better make damn sure the body is STRAIGHT...more time of course

I think if the car makes it there, the fact he still has the car and that it's not the pile it was back then will be good enough. The top priority is building a decent car and learning along the way...if it's not done in two years so be it.

I posted up some suspension shots if you would like to take a look. http://www.clubhotrod.com/photopost/...500&ppuser=758

thanks again!

As I said earlier the car already has a chevy small block without the wishbones being split. The wishbone split kit I see by Speedway is a transmission mount/wishbone split kit together. I would like to be able to get the new engine in the car and running before starting on the front end (i know that's probably a little backwards, but the new engine is running in the donor car and the car needs to go...i want to minimize the time the engine is sitting). Will this cause a problem later when trying to split the wishbones with any of the kits available? thanks

Well, you seem to have your mind made up what you are going to do, but I think you are putting the cart before the horse in some regards. You are doing it exactly backwards.

There was a reason I suggested the flat paint, '50's look to you. I think that is something you can obtain, but you are throwing other things into the mix, like 17 inch wheels, candy apple paint, etc., and unless you have maybe $ 30 to $60 K sitting around to do it, that just ain't gonna happen. To take this car to the point where you put a $ 10,000.00 paint job on it ( and maybe more.....HOTRODPAINT would know better what a candy apple job goes for these days) you will also be putting a whole bunch more money in getting the body straight enough to accept that finish, without looking like the ocean (waves everywhere).

It is time for a reality check. Are you prepared to put that kind of money into this car? If so, go for it, but I suspect the answer is no, and that is why I feel the most sensible route for you to take is to clean the car up a little, modernize the suspension, brakes, and steering. Swap in your later Chevy engine, pound out some of the dents and spray it with something that doesn't make the car look like Earl Sheib got his hands on it, and clean up the interior.

But, if you are going to invest the money I mentioned, the car has to be done as a frame off, because putting a nice candy apple painted body on a frame and suspension that have not been modified and detailed will be like putting a prom dress on a gorilla.

Don

Well for now I'll continue as planned with the suspension and drivetrain. Body and paint is far off enough that I'm not going to worry myself too much with it. If I don't win the lottery to be able to afford a candy paint job then I'll go a cheaper route. I plan to paint the frame and clean up the suspension pieces that are staying so I feel the frame will be clean enough for a nice paint job if I end up doing that.

Any information on the question in my above post on the wishbone split kit?

thanks again

I hate to bring this thread back from the dead, but I have another question and figure I should just continue this. I hate to say I haven't gotten much done, but tearing the car down since I started this thread, but I have learned a lot.

I had my mind made up about the front end...a new dropped axle, shock kit, split wishbone kit, '37+ spindles w/ a disc kit...after flipping through some catelogs and pricing that all totals to about $1k and I still have all the old steering components...for ~$500 more I can get a Mustang II with a new rack and pinion and better handling set up. I know I could probably piece some used brakes together, but other than that I wouldn't feel I'm saving much money by updating my stock front end...am I missing something??

Also composite vs. multi leaf rear parallel springs...what are the advantages/disadvantages of both and can you use lowering blocks with the composite springs? I like the composite leaf kit from Speedway. Thanks!

You are going to find proponents of both front end setups on here. Some, like me, would go with the I beam setup, others will swear we are living in the past, and that a modern MMII or similar is way better.

My vote is for the I beam. I just like the looks better and the ride can be very good with modern bushings, etc. Also, it is pretty idiot proof to set up, whereas any change to an IFS takes some engineering, regardless of what you pay to buy it. We have seen many posts on here from guys with an IFS set up who are wrestling with handling issues.

As for the composites, I have no experience, so I can't comment. I have used Posies Superslides, and like them a whole lot.

Don

I'm leaning toward a mustang II...for not much more I'll have all new components and arguably a better ride. I agree the dropped axle looks better but you can't see anything on my car and I'm amazed at what it costs for all those parts I need to only partially upgrade 70 year old components...

Anyone have experience with those composite rear springs?

thanks!

Hows it going man? It's Claude from z28.com and cardomain. I was just searching looking for info on rear disc brakes and i found your thread. Did you ever decide for sure which way you're going? Mustang II? or I-beam? As far as using your stock 10 bolt i really think you're going to regret that. Besides being a weak weak rear end its going to cost a fair amount of money/time to get it to fit your car. I maybe wrong but i think it would cost you at least a good $500 to have your housing/axles narrowed, and mounts installed. I think the only benefit of that rear end would be the stock rear discs. If i was going to put any money into a rear end to have it narrowed and mounts installed i'd start looking at a different rearend. This is just all my opinion, but you may want to look into other rear end options. I'm looking to do some updating on my 37 as it currently has the 9" Mustang II front rotors and rear disc brakes. I'm wanting to put some good 17" maybe 18" Torque Thrusts/updated Cragars on my car and to do so i need some bigger discs all the way around. So i think this winter i'm going to get the 11" stang II upgrade and some 11" rear disc brake kit for my car. I want it to look good through those wheels and my luck if i don't do it now, my wheels won't fit after i upgrade later. If you go with the Mustang II you might want to see if you can upgrade to the 11" brake setup for cheap when you order your setup. I hope if i buy the conversion brackets my old LT1 front calipers will fit them and save me some money.

How about an update on how you are doing. One thing though reguardless of what you decide to do,don't throw anything out including the wrecked Camaro. There will be a lot more you will need off of it before you are done. Is the width of the camaro rear anywhere near close to the other? Are you going to keep the fuel injection and all of the computer hookups,or switch over to carburation? I looked over your pictures,car looks solid,the engine conversion was well done,and it's already got hydraulic brakes,which is a big plus. Putting in the mustang style-front end is good,but I've been told it's no job for anyone without good welding/fabrication skills. It may be a lot cheaper and quicker to go with a dropped axle,reversed eye spring,disc brake and frontshock set up . Have you measured things to see if the 97 engine/t56 trans will fit in without cutting into the frame crossmember? If so you might have to go and take off the body so you can modify the crossmember for clearance,and at that time you'd definately cut the wishbone. just a few thoughts,let us hear how you are coming along. Hank

Wow I can't believe I missed those last couple posts...I've been looking at the main page with all the new posts about every night for months...

Claude- glad you found your way here...these guys have helped me tremendously with all my questions so far...

Unfortunately I haven't really "done" anything yet. The shop got a couple new cars in and I guess I hadn't put myself on the list so I got pushed back. So I'm still doing my research which I've found will never end haha. My previous posts in this thread make me laugh now...I guess that's good it means I'm learning.

I won't be using my '97 rear...knowing its weak, putting money into it to narrow (it's way too wide) isn't a good idea. I hope to find a Nova/1st gen Camaro disc 12 bolt or 10 for cheap.

It seems most of the companies offering MII kits these days offer 11" rotors standard or optional at no charge so that should work out well.

I'll be at least selling everything off the Camaro so I'll have a lot of odds and ends I'll be able to use. The Camaro LT1 will stay stock w/ fuel injection and I hope to be able to sift through the stock harness and avoid paying $600 or whatever for a new one. I ripped out all the old stuff out break lines and all so I'm starting from scratch.

I've definately decided on a MII kit probably Heidt's deluxe version and I'm assuming the engine will clear at least with a new oil pan...we shall see though.

I just can't wait to get my crossmember welded in so I can really start working and stop talking!!

It's hilarious that we have almost identical names. Thats what actually made me look at this thread because the name was so similar to mine.

Good to hear you've decided to stay clear of the 7.5" 10bolt. I really don't think an LT1 harness will be that difficult to clean up and install. I tried to clean up a 5.0 harness and there was a lot of extra BS in it. I just decided to go with a painless harness as i got it darn cheap.
I think i'm about the only guy who got a MII setup with the dinky 9" disc brakes. I'll definitely have to go up to the 11" brake setup. I just got done installing one of the 11" rear disc brake kits for 9" Ford rear ends off ebay. It was actually a very nice setup and i'm happy with it so far. I guess i'm as happy as i can be for not actually driving the car yet.
I feel you on the waiting for a shop. I just got an appointment to take mine to the body shop in late Feb. The shop that is doing it only works on older vehicles and they had a real 1969 ZL1 Camaro they were working on. It was #15 of 69. I'm hoping once it gets back from the body shop i can really get rolling on it and get the injection setup up and running on it.

Are you going to keep the power steering and A/C off the LT1?