A stock car racing mechanic we have in the Public Works Garage (Bob Schmidt) has a Chevelle rear end and a Turbo 350 tranny that he is parting out and will let me have for a decent price. The Chevelle rear is what I have in the other '36 and I like the width of the rear and the 4-point triangulated castings in the housing that are designed for the rear suspension I am contemplating. Trees set up his 36 with this type of suspension in the rear and it looks really solid. The only trick will be getting the angled members with the right hardware to match the castings on the Chevelle rear-end housing.

What Bob Schmidt eventually gave me for just a rear end and tranny turned out to be my full rear suspension with the rear end, tranny and a drive shaft. Another hero who will now get mention on the "Acknowledgements" page. Thanks Schmitty ..... BIG TIME!!!!

I got the pressure washer out this weekend and cleaned up the rear and the tranny. I got rear cross member off the old Chevelle frame that Bob gave me and wire brushed it up. I set it into place on the frame and had a rear time of getting my control measurements to work out. The different curvature of the rear wheel hump of the frame was causing the stamped metal of the rear cross member to distort. I finally picked up on a small hole close to the upper spring mount on the cross member as a control point and locked everything in. I placed about ten 1" beads of weld to secure the cross member. That may sound like a lot, but the stamped metal would deform otherwise while I was in mock up. I pinned the upper swing arms in and pulled things into ride height with a couple of cable come-alongs off the rear frame member. I called Feiss to ask where he picks up the 3 degree pinion angle I need at ride height. He got me straightened out and I'll pull this off the front yoke casting.

Here are some shots taken from today:

After today, I am not sure if I will be able to get this rear end system to work. There may be a chance that with some appropriate coil over shocks, I might get things to fit. I got the angle finder tool I needed to set the pinion angle and I located the lower bar points from the ride height I need. I cut the connector points out of the old Chevelle frame and fit them to work into the channel of the 36 frame. I was really happy with how I lucked out on fitting these parts together. I tacked them into place then fought with come alongs to get the springs installed and everything pinned together. Once there, the ride height was 5" too high, the axle was about 2" too far forward from the radius of the lower connector arm. I got on top of the assembly to jump up & down, but the rear assembly would only move down by about 2" max. Time to get with Feiss, Scotty, Schmitty, Trees and the rest to see what they think about this. Also, the pinion angle is now negative 4 degrees. None of this is going to work right. On 6-8-05, I checked with Scotty and he thinks that there might be more weight in the rear part of the truck then I think. He thinks that things might settle in. Schmitty thought the cross member should be re-set, but he also thought that coil overs might work with the current configuration. He said he would bring in some springs that he uses that might work better. He said that if these work, he could put me onto his supplier. Both Schmitty and Scott thought that I might also try cutting out a coil of the existing spring to see how that lined out, but Schmitty warned about how much harder the rear end would ride after such a cut. I have my springs for the Mustang II IFS. From my recollection, these may have a configuration that might bring things down closer to what is needed. I might try these tonight to see how these would work with the rear suspension.

Here are some shots taken:

I took the rear cross member off and re-fabbed the connection ends for the frame so the X-member would fit lower (into the frame channels). This made for a more stock configuration of the X-member by making the face fit into a more vertical alignment. I got the X-member to fit and tacked it in with a few welds. I then checked, double checked (and many times over checked) the position of the axle with plumb-bobs via measurements from the front axle position before I tacked in (welded) the front of the lower bar mounts to the frame. The front of the lower bars are now in a new configuration. The top of the connection point flange is now on the bottom web of the channel that comprises the frame. After cross member and lower bars were tacked into place, I then found that I lost my 3 degrees of upward pinion angle (to match the motor driveshaft angle) at ride height. I left the lower bars positioned and removed the cross member welds again and move it farther back on the frame by about an inch. Leaving the lower bars locked, I kept the wheelbase position lined up on the frame where it needed to be. By positioning the cross member back farther, the differential rocked back into the 3 degree pinion angle like a cradle. I re-welded the cross member at this point to the frame.

OK, I am feeling a little better about the rear in progress at this point, but I still have hurdles to overcome. Control-wise, I was able to get the rear end mounted properly and height movement will not cause the rear-end to move laterally (forward or aft) on the frame as much now. I checked this like "Trees" did his, by moving the rear end to the most top position, then down to the bottom. Everything moved freely and nothing was in a bind. By lowering the bottom arms, the arc of the radaii formed by the length of the arms, are closer to a vertical configuation and thus the rear does not move forward or back in its full range of motion and affecting the wheel base susbtantially. This will force the rear wheels to stay within the area of the rear fenders, irrespective of their vertical position during operation.

I am not happy with how the front of the lower bars now attach to the frame. I am considering lengthening the lower arms so the mounts project into the X-members of the frame. This will give a stronger mounting point for the lower bars of the rear suspension and get things to mount up in the plane of frame, in lieu of below it. The only thing that concerns me here, is whether there is enough strength in the holed X-brace of the frame to hold a rear end mounting. I will check with Scotty, Feiss and Schmitty on their thoughts about this potential issue.

Now I need to try to get the point loads of the rear tires of my old 36 and give this with the ride height of the springs to an expert to see if I can get springs to fit this rear end configuration. If this is not possible, I will look into coil overs that will fit this set-up.

Here are some shots taken:

I lengthened the lower bars of the rear end to place their forward mounts into the X-brace of the frame. I bought some 1" x 3" x 1/8" rectangular tubing to accomplish these extensions. Everything is just tacked in place for mock-up purposes. I checked the travel and everything moves freely to the frame and about 3" lower than ride height. I think this will be fine. I am much happier with the mount locations now and I am considering some reinforcment for the X-brace members of the old frame where these forward, lower bar mounts connect up.

Here are some shots taken:

Bob Schmidt came by and weighed my old 36 Ford with some scale pads that he has access to. We also weighed the rear end of the new 36 so I know the approximate weight that will be applied to the rear coil springs. The top of the throw is 13" and the ride height of the springs is 10." The weight applied will be about 1080 lbs. This translates to a capacity of 2 springs of about 180 lbs/in each. This combination will not come off their mounts and should bring the fenders into a good look for the ride height. I am getting close to calling up Feiss to come over to look at my rear end mock up to see if he likes the strength of the X braces being accessed for the lower bar mount points for the rear end.

I painted the frame in mid November. It's been too cold outside to paint some of the remaining suspension parts, but it was warm enough outside today. I got done with wrapping momma's Christmas gifts, so I was able to paint the rest of the associated parts. Then I bolted the rear end up to the frame.

Here is a shot taken today: