Project 53 Bel Air

[tterbo]

Well, this is what I have to work with. The Viper diff is much bigger than the C5 diff that normally occupies the cradle. Upon first observation, the large mounting ears on the Viper diff look like they might possibly interfere with the upper A-arm mounting points but it's hard to tell at this point until I get everything mocked up.

I started by fabricating the base of the cradle from the Solidworks model. I have a small CNC plasma cutter that allows me to make all of my plates. It is a huge timesaver as opposed to cutting, drilling, grinding, etc. Once I had the base of the cradle fabbed, it gave me mounting points for the lower A-arms so I could begin mocking up the rest of the rear suspension. I don't have solid models of the suspension components or Viper differential or I might have been able to design the whole cradle virtually. Sometimes I find it easier to design with parts laid out in front of me in the "real world" anyway. I am using the front wheels (they have the same backspacing as the rear) to hold the spindles into position which also lets me establish toe by simply using square tubing on the floor to "parallel" the rear wheels.
Once everything was assembled there was nothing to hold the upper A-arms and spindles upright so I made a couple of temporary floating mounts to hold them up with a 2"x4". By rotating the spindles to zero caster and shimming the 2" x 4" I was able to get the arms positioned close enough to where they need to be so that I can start figuring out the upper part of the rear cradle and locate the differential. I also made some "fake" axles to give me a visual when positioning the differential.


If at all possible I do not want to intrude into the rear seat area. From what I can tell so far I should be able to make a cradle that will clear the rear seat but it will definitely be close...

[srcracing]

This will be a fun ride when you are finished. I'm almost ready to fire up my 50 Fleetline (same chassis)I will be following your build.

[tterbo]

This will be a fun ride when you are finished. I'm almost ready to fire up my 50 Fleetline (same chassis)I will be following your build.

I just read your whole build and it made me want to go out in my shop right now and work on mine some more. That stance is what I am after. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to try this. Looking forward to seeing yours on the road soon by the looks of it.

[srcracing]

I just read your whole build and it made me want to go out in my shop right now and work on mine some more. That stance is what I am after. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to try this. Looking forward to seeing yours on the road soon by the looks of it.

Measured my ride height. At the bottom of the pinch weld in front of rear tire 6.5" and at the bottom of the front fender, behind the tire 5.5" I will go lower when I install the C5 front suspension, but with the stock LCA, I had to notch the A arm for the wheel to make a good turn, since the front wheels are so wide. (9.5") The lower I go, the more it hits, reducing the turning radius.

I love the IRS you are doing for the rear, and YES, getting the rear wheels is a trick, even with my Truck Arms, have to lift car up fairly high and drop the rear axle.... Still worth doing!!!

[tterbo]

Measured my ride height. At the bottom of the pinch weld in front of rear tire 6.5" and at the bottom of the front fender, behind the tire 5.5" I will go lower when I install the C5 front suspension, but with the stock LCA, I had to notch the A arm for the wheel to make a good turn, since the front wheels are so wide. (9.5") The lower I go, the more it hits, reducing the turning radius.

I love the IRS you are doing for the rear, and YES, getting the rear wheels is a trick, even with my Truck Arms, have to lift car up fairly high and drop the rear axle.... Still worth doing!!!

Thanks for the info. That is really good to know. I like how your car sits and if you have 6.5"/5.5" now then I am thinking I may not have to go all the way down to 4" rocker height to get "the look". Haha.