1948 Chev coupe "Mabel"

30sx said:
i know you said you would,nt trust just the welding of the aluminum up but wouldn,t you do it anyway just for extra piece of mind? not knocking what you have done, looks super strong
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My reason for not welding the aluminum is that the joint with the bolted steel brackets is designed to be stronger than the original aluminum section. And if for any reason the aluminum weld were to crack, then it would be seen as a failure. and would be very difficult to fix. The aluminum welding would have to be done with the steel bolted on and would constrain the aluminum joint such that when it cools and shrinks there would be a lot of residual stress and might cause the weld to crack.

The car is registered now as I drove it for a while as a stocker, so I could continue driving it without an inspection, but should have it inspected as a modified and would have to if I apply for collector status. I have prepared a review of the splice design with all the stress calculations to help with the inspection. And I expect to run it a bit before the inspection to get some road testing on it.
 
PG409 said:
Unless there has been a change in BC you have to have M11 kits, subframes inspected by a body shop (?).
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Hmmm. My son is a journyman at the Chev dealer's body shop in Penticton. So I guess it depends on whether he wants to collect the life insurance soon or not! :confused:
 
When checking the ride height with the suspension crossmember bolted up tight to the bottom of my frame rails, the car would be lowered 6". I only want to lower it 5" so made a set of 1" aluminum spacers sandwiched in under the rails and shortened the bolt crush tubes 1"

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A buddy gave me a collapsible steering shaft from a T-bird doner that he didn't use, and it looks like it will work fine here. I will have to move the column hole in the firewall up and to the left to get the angle of the rag joint down to an acceptable level. Should be okay as the column wasn't square in the first place.

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GFaRT said:
When checking the ride height with the suspension crossmember bolted up tight to the bottom of my frame rails, the car would be lowered 6". I only want to lower it 5" so made a set of 1" aluminum spacers sandwiched in under the rails and shortened the bolt crush tubes 1"

pJ6DR3O.jpg

yThpLTC.jpg

t9wMSMq.jpg


A buddy gave me a collapsible steering shaft from a T-bird doner that he didn't use, and it looks like it will work fine here. I will have to move the column hole in the firewall up and to the left to get the angle of the rag joint down to an acceptable level. Should be okay as the column wasn't square in the first place.

sjDf0sr.jpg
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could you leave the hole where it is ditch the rag and run a steering u joint save your self some time? but I see you say it wasnt square anyway
 
Koomz said:
could you leave the hole where it is ditch the rag and run a steering u joint save your self some time? but I see you say it wasnt square anyway
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You're right Koomz, and I think I will do as you say. I lied earlier when I said the column was not in line from the beginning. Further measuring verifies that it did run straight.
 
Trial fit up of suspension. Found that the RH tie rod on the T-bird rack is too long. The Crown Vic tie rod is shorter and would probably work, BUT, the tie rod connection to the rack is different. The CV has a male tread and the T-bird is female. Ugg. Looks like I can shorten the T-bird tie rod and extend the threads once I get a M14x1.5 die.

Also seeing what I need for a sway bar as the CV one is too wide and heavy after narrowing the suspension. I've got a Camaro/Nova one that might work with the ends modified, But I'm off to Pick-N-Pull to see if I can find one a little closer to the desired shape.

Track width now measures 59" c-c with the mid '90s Buick Park Ave wheels. Wheels are ugly for this car so will be covered by Moon Discs.

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John in Oz said:
That is interesting it sounds like you are on track with your calculations etc.
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Yea, I am concerned that it not be much wider than the original track width which was 58" as I am worried about fender clearance. The tires shown are not the ones I'll be using. They are 225-60R16 and I will probably go with 205-70R16 which are about 3/4" narrower and about the same diameter.
 
GFaRT said:
Track width now measures 59" c-c with the mid '90s Buick Park Ave wheels. Wheels are ugly for this car so will be covered by Moon Discs.

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From the photo angle, the centre portion of those wheels look like they stick out to far for a moon disc, as the moon disc does not have a deep center.
 
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1Kool52 said:
From the photo angle, the centre portion of those wheels look like they stick out to far for a moon disc, as the moon disc does not have a deep center.
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The center of the wheel protrudes 1/2". The photo does make it look like more than that. I'll borrow a Moon Disc from my buddy with the Bonneville car tomorrow and see if it clears.
 
I needed a sway bar as the Crown Vic one is too wide after narrowing the suspension. So went to Pick-n-Pull and got one from a mid 90's T-bird. Same model car as supplied the steering rack. The T-Bird sway bar is the right width and will work without any mods.

The mounts on the T-Bird rack are offset putting the rack right of the CV rack and the TB tie rods are longer than the CV. I'm using the CV outer rod ends, which are longer than the TB and are dog legged to give wheel clearance at full steer angle. The LH TB tie rod works as is, but the RH one needs to be shortened 2-3/8" and tread run in another 1-1/2". The thread on the tie rod is M14x1.5. The extra thread runs onto the serrated area of the rod so I had to turn this area down to 14mm before threading. At first I thought I could just use a CV tie rod which is shorter on the RH side, but CV and TB inner joints don't interchange, one is male thread, the other female. I even tried to put the CV ball in the TB socket, but the balls are different sizes.

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Very excellent work on the Cheby...however your half truck trailer has caught my eye...how much frame did you leave in front of the box. I'm doing the same to my old truck and don't want the tongue too long or too short..need it just right..kind of like goldilocks...
 
JohnnyBgood said:
Very excellent work on the Cheby...however your half truck trailer has caught my eye...how much frame did you leave in front of the box. I'm doing the same to my old truck and don't want the tongue too long or too short..need it just right..kind of like goldilocks...
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The notch and bend is 9" from the front of the box, then 39", so total rail ahead of the box is 48". The resulting angle suits the hitch so it could be bolted on.
 
1Kool52 said:
From the photo angle, the centre portion of those wheels look like they stick out to far for a moon disc, as the moon disc does not have a deep center.
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I've checked fit with this disc off the race car and it is fine. This disc is a 16" one but was cut down to fit the 15" wheels on the Opel.

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great, glad they fit.

It was just the photo angle that made the centre section of the wheels look like they stuck out too far
 
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