Let's talk about front and rear suspension treatments for our project car. With a full-fendered car, our options increase for a number of reasons but primarily because what you can get away with looks-wise with a fendered car. To our eyes, a hiboy only looks correct with an axle up front. At the rear, it's your choice.On this car, we want ride quality, performance and good looks.

Up Front
Having said that, and being that this is a '32 with a good view of the front suspension inside those wide open front fenders, we've opted for a dressed-up independent front suspension. We've chosen one from Total Cost Involved. By dressed-up we mean that most of the front end components are shiny - either polished or plated. That is, upper and lower control arms, sway bar, ties rod ends, etc. For brakes, we're going with polished 4-piston Wilwoods. You'll see more of this front end as we progress.

In the pictures that follow, you'll see the beginning of the installation of these components.

The TCI front crossmember tacked into position. TCI provides detailed
specification about locating the crossmember in the frame. By the way, in
this photo, the motor was not in it's final resting place.

In this photo, you can see the matching of the centre line
on the suspension tower to the mark on the frame that has been
detemined by taking measurements per TCI instructions.

In The Rear
Out back, as you have already seen, the rearend will be located by parallel 4-links. We'll add a panhard and sway bar. To control rebound and suspend the car, we've decided to go with Air ride Technologies' Shockwave 9000. The setup and geometry is very similar to coilover setup in terms of the locating the Shockwave unit.

The 9000 replaces a coilover by substituting a tapered airspring for the coilspring while maintaining a centrally located shock absorber, in this case, a high quality adjustable HAL billet aluminum unit. The airspring is manufactured by Firestone. The units are fed from a small tank which, in turn, is fed by a small compressor. We'll feature more of these parts and the installation after basic chassis details are completed. Use the link in the left margin to visit Air Ride Technologies.

In this mock-up, the Shockwave unit is bolted to the Horton rear 4-link bracket
At the upper end, the unit is is being supported in the approximate extended position.
The top mounting eye is higher than the horizontal frame plane because the rear
crossmember, when installed, will be kicked up to allow the car to sit lower.

If you're familiar with the Shockwave 9000, you'll notice that Air RIde has redesigned
the top plate from a flat to a domed design. Slick looking unit.