Well I finally started the suspension part of my 51 build. I pulled it in to the shop Sunday and started tearing it down for a bit of slicing and dicing. First I pulled the front sheet meta, then the flathead and trans came out. Next I pulled out the Plasma and went to town on the motor mounts and front suspension. I had to trim the top and bottom of the frame before installing the frame plates, then came the crossmember and top hats got burned in. I then bolted everything in place to see how it all sit and I found I have to trim the bag top cups to get it to sit right on the ground. So I will do this later this week and finish cleaning the front of the frame before I spray on the Epoxy sealer then move to the rear end. I have a T-Bird rear IRS to put in their so the rear will drop as much as the front and it too will be bagged. Well this is all for now I hope to have the rear done in the next two weeks.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Nicely done! How much higher will it sit with air in the bags? The angle on the upper arms seems too extreme to work as it sits.

 

Don't know yet but the lower arms will almost be parallel with the ground at ride height. I have not hooked up any air to it yet, I hope to do that this week before cutting the bag upper cups. It will be set to correct geometry for driving but still able to set about 1/2" off the ground for parking and show cruising.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Nice clean 51!........wish our's was this nice to start with!.....but we will not be detered!
your new front suspension looks great!.........wer'e going with a MII as well....like your ifs rear idea too........but you do need to re-think your choice on your engine/trans combo.......your effie really needs a blue oval heart!........later man, Doug

 

Oh it will be! The Chevy thing was so last week. I have a 450+HP 351W with Chevy TBI fitted to it that I have had for some time. It is a full roller motor that turns over 7k and has always been in 4x4's but has been crying for a street rig. I am not sure on the trans yet but it will be an auto of some type depending on funds.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Well there you go!........your effie will be thanking you for it!......My son and I are "darksiders" too, and I try to keep a "open" mind when it comes to "others" choices and how they invision what they are lookin to do with there rides...........that's what hot roddin is all about!.....I'm all for swapping/upgrading/cutomizing, but I guess the "old school" side of me prefers to keep the drivetrain part of it with the same manufacturer....I don't know if there's anything left out there, that a SBC has'nt been put into!!

Doug

 

Well my son was nice enough to find time to help out old Dad tonight. We got the temp air lines hooked up and set the front up at ride height. This should be just about right for the front and I have about 6" of clearance under the cross member.
Then he helped me put tires on the IRS unit and set on the ground so we could see just were it would sit aired out. As luck would have it with this unit all the way down on the stops it still rolls fine with out any CV bind and with the running boards sitting about 1" off the ground the top of the IRS unit will be right up against the bed floor so it should work out great. I may set it just a few inches higher depending on what I decide for rear tire height. But so far I could not be happier with the start of the mock up as it will be allot less work than some of my other projects have been in the past. Also it looks like we will have the same camber front to back when it is laid out

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Tonights progress was more a step in tear down then building but important all the same. I pulled the bed, rear diff, springs and hangers as well as what was left of the rusty exhaust pipes. The IRS will work out great for what I am doing and that is a very low rolling fair ground cruiser and a great driver everywhere else. I will have about a 5-6" clearance under the truck when at ride height and about a 1/2" under the running boards when aired out

So this is were the truck will sit when aired out!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Can we say............"in the weeds"!!......lookin good Kevin! Must be nice to be able to work outside this time of year. Even with our garage heated up to about 60, it don't take long for it to cool back down when it's -25 outside with over 4ft of snow on the ground!!......that's one of the main reasons were moving back to so. colorado, later this year! If possible could you take a couple of pics of your frame, from the cab, back to the rear, we seem to be "missing" the x-member's behind the rearend, for what ever reason and it would be nice to have a reference of where they are located so that we can replace them. Keep up the good work brother!.........
Thank's!......later, Doug

 

It's great to hear work coming along and the family being there to help get her done. Keep up the good work and keep the build pictures coming.

 

No problem I will get some pic's and dim's for you on Saturday. I spent part of tonight getting the rear rails boxed and tacked in place and I will finish it up in the morning. I also have the IRS cradle ready to go in and it is already cut down for the frame width so I hope to have a very low roller by Sunday with the bags set up as well. I will have plenty of pic's to follow.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

We have started an auto club in our small town. I am putting together a 51 as well as another guy. You make the project seem pretty simple and have given me a boost to get to work on mine. Thanks for the pics, your ride is looking righteous.

Freddie

 

Thanks Jetman but you know it was the other DarkSiders on this site that got me doing this. Do a few searches and you will find several cool builds. I do tend to take allot of pic's because I do allot of how-to write ups for other site's so I like the visual aspect of it all and I find if you show the step by steps it helps others as well. I will get more pics today and try and make the rear IRS set up easy to follow as the IFS is already easy as pie.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

I will be doing an install thread on this IRS unit for others to follow if they want to see just how I did this one.


This is all the way up 9" under the boards on flat ground.


Ride HT with 5" under the boards on flat ground.


All the way down with 1/2" under the boards in flat ground.


Unit complete except for shocks and the final lower bag mount. Not bad for one day's work!



Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

We put the sheet metal back on today and I had to notch the bed just a bit for the upper control arms as I thought I would have to do. I also pulled the motor out of my storage area to start looking at dropping it into place. It is a 69 351W that was built for desert racing a few years ago and was dynoed at over 450 HP at 5500rpm. It has Chevy TBI injection and runs like a rapped ape. I still need to figure out what I want to run for an auto trans, I would like to go with an AOD but have not looked into that yet.
Then for some reason I thought I had measured the old bench seat that I pulled out of our 67 SS 396 Chevelle when we put factory buckets and a 4spd center consol and it was to wide or was it. I have been tripping over this seat for almost a year and was able to no one who wanted it, well that turned out to be a good thing because it fit perfect! I will make some mounts and rais it up about 4" or so but should work out great and it is in perfect shape with a bit of dust to boot.
















Kevin
LFD Inc.