Thread: 1950 chevy truck hot rod, old issues looking for ideas

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your about to spend a buttload of money for little improvement. you need room for the pump and reserve tank which i doubt you'll have under the truck. in the bed is your only option . if you have 4 corner coil overs there's no reason you can not dial in the ride.

this is why i always prefer the camaro clip over the mll style front ends. the ride is nice and handling is good . on a personal note i refuse to install those cross members anymore. in the last 10 years or so i have replaced 4 due to fatigue cracking. they are made from thin sheet metal and tend to crack out at the lower control arms.

Originally Posted by shine

This is why i always prefer the camaro clip over the MII style front ends. the ride is nice and handling is good. On a personal note, I refuse to install those cross members anymore. in the last 10 years or so, I have replaced 4 due to fatigue cracking. They are made from thin sheet metal and tend to crack out at the lower control arms.

I suspect that they crack due to the design of the lower control arms. Aftermarket manufacturers have decided that the original MII strut, for whatever reason, is not the way to control the lower arm. Elimination of the strut introduces stresses into the system that did not exist with the original design. Famed automotive journalist Pat Ganaal has stated that he sees a couple hundred failed front suspensions when he is on rod runs every year and I suspect that elimination of the strut has a lot to do with that.

The Camaro suspension is, of course, a fine system, but maybe a little wide for the early trucks. I personally would opt for the mid to late 80's Jaguar XJ6 before I would the Camaro, but that's just me.
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Originally Posted by shine

your about to spend a buttload of money for little improvement. you need room for the pump and reserve tank which i doubt you'll have under the truck. in the bed is your only option . if you have 4 corner coil overs there's no reason you can not dial in the ride.
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my truck is a long bed, I really think there would be plenty of room under there
Also, just to clarify a little, I don't disagree with your first sentence, but more than half of my motivation to go to air bags is just that I think it is cool as hell to be able to drop a truck on the ground when it's parked. I know I know, some guys would say it's hokey, but I think it's cool. So that's mostly what I like about it, and if the handling can get a tad better too then all the better.
I figure it would be in the range of 1-2 thousand, which I'm fine with.