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Thread: 57 BelAir from Holland

  1. #11
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Mrbelair, I like how you narrowed the C4 batwing. I had a customer wanting a narrowed batwing because he's narrowing the suspension and we raised it higher in the frame than stock, and he went with one from a Viper. We raised the humps as well, so I don't even think he needed to do that. Unfortunately it's going to take a lot of welding and machining to make the Viper batwing fit the C4 center section casting. I think it would have been much easier to narrow the C4 batwing but I couldn't talk him into it. Someone told him they didn't think he should weld on it so he stuck with that.

    I'm not sure I understand why you went with the notches in the frame. With the halfshafts level I have about 3 3/4" between the halfshaft and the bottom of the hump. Since it's an IRS, you actually get quite a bit more than 3 3/4" drop at the wheel. I did a frame once with Shockwaves and we were able to get it almost to the ground with a stock frame hump. I think the stroke of the shock was more of a limiter than the frame itself.

    I assume you're going to raise the dogbone attach locations too? The top one should be level or slightly high in the front.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  2. #12
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    Most of the 57's with C4 IRS examples I see on the internet have (for my idea) a stance that is to high in the rear. Right now I want to use 20" rear wheels with a 285/40 tires that are 29" high and that adds up. I hate a too high stance with those big diameter wheels. Maybe I over did the notch a bit, but I better wanted to be save then sorry. The batwing has now 3 mounting holes each side and it looks like the lowest holes already give me the desired stance. I can still lower the car 1 or 2 inches with the upper holes. I know that the 4 link dog bones are not 100% in the right place, but when you lower a stock Corvette these locations will also change. For now I keep them like that. My Chevy will not be a serious autocross car, but I rather lay it on the ground at a car cruise.

    C4 rear.jpgC4 as.jpg

    Next up is making some sort of pinion support for the IRS and I am thinking in the lines these designs.
    The mounting points of the shockwave rear shocks will also be a challenge.

    foto-14.jpgfoto-15.jpg

    Right now this is the stance at ride height and I think I can live with that
    Last edited by mrbelair; 12-29-2014 at 11:38 AM.

  3. #13
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Eric, with your adjustable ride height via moving the the batwing I would think you'd need to make an adjustable torque arm mount and adjustable dogbone mounts as well. At one time I had two holes for my batwing too, but I decided it complicated things too much so I picked one ride height and stuck with it.

    This is the rear ride height on my C4 conversions. It's about 2 1/4" below stock suspension height, plus a 1" tire drop. The front is slightly lower than ride height since I haven't adjusted the coilovers yet and it's designed for a 3" suspension drop. Do you think this is too high in the rear?


    20120325_0013.jpg 20120325_0006.jpg

    I certainly understand your desire to drop it further but I'm actually worried about getting them too low for driveability. I think 4" at the frame is the lowest I'd go for ride height if a guy wants to drive the car.

    I had one customer (my upholstery guy) who wanted his lower, so we did that for him. This frame has raised rear humps to accomplish an additional 1" suspension drop for a total of 3 1/4". It's designed so at ride height the top of a 55 wheelwell will sit on the top of the lug nut circle. Notice that the Viper batwing really didn't buy us anything since the humps were elongated. It will help with batwing to knuckle clearance. I could have put it higher in the frame but it wasn't necessary to get the ride height the customer wanted. We also raised the k-member an additional 1/2" to get the front down more, which I feel was unnecessary but that's what he wanted so I did it.


    20140713_001.jpg 20131124_012.jpg 20140713_012.jpg

    This is what I did for a torque arm on my Nomad. It's more complicated than what you showed above which should work fine:

    02140015.jpg
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  4. #14
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    Laszlo, my ride height will be adjustable but I am not planning of changing it every few weeks or so. When I am satisfied it will properly stay put. My plan is to make a pinion torque bracket with the same 3 adjustment holes, so they can move together if necessary. The dog bones will stay where they are for now, until they give me real problems.

    The stance of your Nomad seems fine to me, but not radical. Are you using 17" or 18" wheels? My frame will have 4 inch ground play at ride height and no parts will hang below my frame rails. I have a 70 Chevelle with 4" ground play and can drive it around pretty much without troubles.

    Nice job on that modified chassis. I also thought of narrowing my rear axle (for deeper wheels), but I am already way over my head in this project as it is for now. My $60 smooth firewall is finished and I am very happy with it

    foto-26.jpg foto-25.jpg

    Thanks for your opinion and advice, I appreciate it very much. Your 56 project inspired me to do this C4 suspension conversion.

  5. #15
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Mrbelair, no my stance isn't radical but it's as low as I think you can drive the car. In the picture shown, the frame is only about 3" from the ground at the front of the door and it has a slight rake to it. It should be about 4" at designed ride height. The only way to get the rear any lower, as you know, is to narrow the batwing or notch the frame for the batwing.

    If you don't move the dogbones up with the batwing so they're level or slightly high in front, it will affect the anti-squat characteristics of the car. I'm not sure how severe that is.

    My rear wheels are 18x10.5" and the front are 17x8.5".
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

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