Can I get some guidance on suspension choices?

[Austinbelair]

My father and I are about to re-start our 56 Belair build and I know there are pretty much no tri-fives on here but you guys are knowledgeable and I have nobody else to ask.

We won't be auto-x'ing the car but I do love some spirited driving the corners. I will probably be pushing it hard but my father will not so I am kind of stuck.

I need to get something figured out and ordered so I can get someone to install all of it.

Right now I am looking at Heidt's Triangulated 4 link setup or the Art Morrison Tri-4 Link. I've been reading that parallel 4 links are more geared toward drag racing and that will not be happening with this car at a track. I've heard a track-arm would be a sweet way to go BUT nobody sells a kit for 55-57 Chevy to run that. So far, it seems my options are this:

AME Tri 4 link
Heidts Tri 4 link
Air Ride bolt in Parallel 4 link

Front suspension will be Tubular uppers and lowers with coilovers and rack and pinion or the regular 500 box setup with a fat sway bar.

I've already got the car mini-tubbed and will either run the stock housing with aftermarket guts or buy a Currie 9" setup.

In laymen's terms, what rear suspension do I want?

[Rod P]

a ti-angulated or parallel 4 link both handle well...DSE makes a parallel that is great on the track

the simplest setup would be the RIDETECH coilover system level 2 and I would just add in the sway bar

the single adjust shock in that kit will allow you to ride like a caddy or race like a stock car

[Josh@Ridetech]

With the four link from Ridetech, it's about as bolt on as you can get. The front crossmember/brackets bolt directly onto the frame rails. The only welding required is putting the axle brackets on the rear end housing. Here are a few pictures of the install for you to check out.

[Austinbelair]

So I'm assuming there isn't much deflection with that setup? My only concern with the Ridetech setup was the lack of a sway bar. Are there provisions to add one to this setup?

[Josh@Ridetech]

With these cars, if you're not going to be racing the car hard, I would stick with the rubber bushings that come with the four link. For street driving, the rubber bushings are much quieter and solid enough to still make the car handle extremely well. If you're looking for a full on race car, we have an option for the bars to be built with heim joints on both ends. The heim joints that we use are a kevlar lined joint and do stay much tighter and quieter than others than most of the other brands on the market. You may notice an increase in the NVH in a newer car that is well insulated but in a hotrod or heavily modified car, the noise transfer won't be noticed as much.

On a rear sway bar, we don't offer one for a couple of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is space constriction, there isn't alot of room left to run one. Unless you're running a big tire, the need for a rear sway bar isn't really needed. We've had a couple of these cars here as test mules. The results that we received were great on the street and on the track!

[syborg tt]

Agreed we took the sway bar off of our 57 and it handles much better without it.


Marty-MJ