Front Suspension Options
As I proceeded through this project, I had a number of choices that I could of taken for the front suspension. There just doesn't seem to be one easy solution, all have their pluses and minuses. The jury is out as to which is the best route. Some methods appear to be inexpensive at first and others very expensive. It seems that if you want it done quickly then you have to pay the bucks. If you are not in a hurry (talking in years here) and you want to do all the work yourself than some of the other solutions could work for you. Ideally, I would want an inexpensive bolt-in kit that gets the majority of parts from a readily available inexpensive parts car and updates the complete brake system, steering, front and rear suspension, motor mounts, radiator and differential all at once and uses off-the-shelf OEM parts. Until that happens, here's our choices:
- Convert to straight axle
If you are interested in building a gasser style then you can convert to a straight axle in the front for a mile high look. Here's two pages out of an old hot rod magazine which I scanned in years ago which describes how to convert a 55 to 57 Chevy to straight axle. It looks like it would be a pretty straight forward conversion. I would use a complete suspension out of one of the early vans or trucks that used straight suspension in the 1960s.
- Rebuild the kingpin suspension
My first choice was to rebuild the original kingpin suspension. I figure that after rebuilding the suspension the cost would be hitting close to $1500 Cdn. I just didn't feel right sinking that much money into the kingpin suspension. Now after all the work on the tubular balljoint suspension and the information that I've dug up on kingpins and documented on the above link. I would seriously consider rebuilding the kingpins as a very viable choice.
- Put in a mustang II IFS
There are lots of companies like FatMan Fabricators who make kits to put Mustang II IFS in for 49-54 Chevs and Cdn Pontiacs. I have nothing against Mustang II IFS, I just wanted to keep the car completely GM - my personal preference. Just for the record, it would be a lot easier and quicker to go this route but would probably cost around $3000 to $4000 Cdn when all done. Two companies that provide bolt-in Mustang II IFS are RB's Obsolete Parts and Chassis Engineering Inc. Both are excellent kits and would take about a month to put together.
- Put a Camaro front clip on
My parts car was a 1976 Camaro and I looked at the front clip to see how it would fit. There were two big problems that I could see.
- The frame rails were a complete mismatch. The Camaro has a box style of frame and the Pontiac has a top hat
style. I couldn't see anyway that I could mate them together and have it looking somewhat professional looking and
would easily pass inspection.
- The other problem was the Camaro rails don't quite meet the Pontiac rails nicely at the firewall. The Camaro
rails are narrow at the firewall and widen in the engine compartment. The Pontiac rails are wide at the firewall
and narrow in the engine compartment.
- The frame rails were a complete mismatch. The Camaro has a box style of frame and the Pontiac has a top hat
style. I couldn't see anyway that I could mate them together and have it looking somewhat professional looking and
would easily pass inspection.
- Build a new rear frame to accept 68-74 Nova front clip
If I were to do it again, I would choose between rebuilding the kingpins as documented above or using a 68-74 Nova and building a new rear frame. The 68-74 Nova steering uses rear-steer steering arms (unlike 90% of GM products). This may be an advantage for putting a rack n pinion unit in. The 68-74 front drum brakes have separate drum and hub assembly. With minor mods to the front and rear hubs and 10 bolt rear axle, you can add early 80s Riveria/Toronado/Cadillac 4 wheel disk brakes. You would have to figure out how to hang the front brake caliper using the rear bracket at the front wheels.
You could drop the front of the car properly by simply raising the position of the clip mounting points relative to the body. This would keep all of the steering geometry correct.
- Machine front spindles and control arms
The route that I finally chose was to machine my own balljoint tubular control arms and dropped uprights. This is one hell of a lot of work. Unless you have lots of free time, can design automotive front ends in 3D and have access to a machine shop, don't even consider this! Even if you do have all this - DON'T!
The other choices mentioned here are much better choices. They use OEM parts, take less time and will pass inspection easily. If something breaks, I'll have to remachine it - not looking forward to that.
- Put a Vette front clip and IRS on it
Brian Breedlove had the great idea to try and attach an 80s Vette front clip and IRS to his 54 Chev. He was gracious enough to send pictures and a write-up on how he did it.
- Put the body on another full-size frame
You could search the wreckers to find a late model vehicle with a similar wheelbase and full frame then drop the 54 body on to it. You can try to mate the 54's floorpan to the late model frame which can be an adventure or you could try to mate the late model frame's floorpan to the 54's body. The theory is that you cut out the late model's floorpan just to the outside of the frame rails. You cut the 54's floorpan to match and weld the two together. You can channel the body down over the frame by providing a little step between the 54's body and late model's floorpan. Food for thought...
Here's a site that discusses the many different front suspension options that are available and the pros and cons of each. This site has extensive info and pix on putting a Volare IFS in a truck. Here's one that discusses using a Pacer front clip.