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View Full Version : What to do with a 63 truck..



73-TYPE-LT-LS1
03-11-2006, 12:32 PM
Ok, my first thoughts are to do something similar in the rear to my Camaro https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14014 My main reasons are to make room under the bed. I would like to relocate the gas tank by putting a fuel cell in the back inder the bed. I would also like to put a compressor and air tank under the back as this is going to be my tow rig. That's why 86ing the truck arm for a 3-link I think is good.

Now, what about the front. Has anyone played with the front end of these trucks? The 63 was the first year of coil front suspension.

73-TYPE-LT-LS1
03-22-2006, 08:48 AM
Here is the truck.. Now I just need ideas. Anyone play with one of these?

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DonQuehotey
03-22-2006, 09:47 AM
I would keep the rear with the factory truck arm suspension... I mean lets face it, for that truck... it actually has descent suspension geometry unless you are wanting to get nuts with the project. Really anything less than getting a full custom chassis and suspension made up, you are just as well off working with what ya got. If you are wanting to put it on air use ART's front kit with tubular arms. Their arms increase the caster to somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 degrees which will relax the steering emensly. I have also heard rumblings of a new trailing arm kit for the rear. If you are not wanting to put it on air, get in touch with Classic Performance Products. They make some real nice stuff for the 63-72 truck suspensions including new tubular upper and lower arms, rear trailing arms, crossmember ect..... be carefull about what you listen to off of this board, there is alot of really good information on here to sort through... in fact some of the best on the internet. Then you also have guys talking about compromises and if you dont set it up to run around a race coarse and keep up with the Audi's its no good..... :)

Tudorwagon
03-23-2006, 06:28 AM
..... get in touch with Classic Performance Products. They make some real nice stuff for the 63-72 truck suspensions including new tubular upper and lower arms, rear trailing arms, crossmember ect.....

We may be talking about the same company, but I've had good luck with Early Classic Enterprises in California. Great customer service as well.

If the truck will be used for towing, consider their hidden hitch package. It is very robust, a very reasonable price and on my truck ('69 Chevy short box C10) it was pretty much a direct bolt in AND I retained the ability to mount the spare in the stock location (if that matters to you, probably not).

cpederslie
03-23-2006, 04:17 PM
Ok, my first thoughts are to do something similar in the rear to my Camaro https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14014 My main reasons are to make room under the bed. I would like to relocate the gas tank by putting a fuel cell in the back inder the bed. I would also like to put a compressor and air tank under the back as this is going to be my tow rig. That's why 86ing the truck arm for a 3-link I think is good.

Now, what about the front. Has anyone played with the front end of these trucks? The 63 was the first year of coil front suspension.
Depending on what size compressor you want to run and how big of a tank you can mount those outboard of the frame rails under the bed, or compressor in the engine bay (plenty of options) and tank in the cab behind the seat where the fuel tank was. As far as rear suspension and front check out Early Classic Enterprises. I used their Rear air bag kit for my 70 short fleet with Truck arm. Works awesome, great ride and adjustment for load carrying. I also did their 2.5" drop spindle up front with their 1.5" dropped spring. I am in the process of complete frame off right now and have swapped out the front springs for airbags. Send me an email if you want more info. Also, for your tank, 69-72 blazer tanks fit between the frame rails. Requires some spacing down of the tank or removing a section of bed floor bracing (on the shortbeds at least) in order to suck it up. Then you just have to figure out where you want the filler to go. http://www.earlyclassic.com (http://www.earlyclassic.com/[email protected])

hotroddr
03-23-2006, 11:41 PM
you might see if you can get ahold of a similar year suburban gas tank. My suburban has the tank behind the axle and still has room for a spare. One thing you need to address is the panhard bar in the back. You might want to put in a longer one and you are going to have to probably correct the angle to make it parallel with the ground if your truck is like my burban. Otherwise you will have weird jacking of the rear suspension around corners. You also will have to look at the shock angles to make sure they aren't too extreme, mine are so extreme that they are not near as effective as they should be.

For the front suspension I just went down to the local junkyard and picked up a 1 1/4" front sway bar from an 80s suburban...any swaybar pretty much up till the late 80s on a chevy or suburban will bolt right up. I had to fab up some brackets to attach to the frame but the mounting holes were already on my control arms. I still need to notch my frame and bag it, as well as fix the panhard bar angle and length, find a rear sway bar, and make a lower profile crossmember up front so I dont keep digging all the dips on the road deeper than they already are.

Nathan Porter of Porterbuilt street rods here in phoenix builds a low profile front crossmember for these trucks with apparently improved geometry and excellent ground clearance, it looks pretty nice. Give him a call...his contact info is on his website http://porterbuiltstreetrods.com