modified or alternative rear suspensions for smooth rear valance?

[miketyler]

I created a thread in the body shop about the cool look of a custom rear valance and bulletless bumper as seen on some G-machines. To acheive this, the rear springs/shackles have to go or move forward about 6" or so. What are the options that would acheive this? Coil over shock system? Are there shorter/stiffer springs available?   

[HP2]

Alternatives are only limited by your wallet and/or fabrication ability. Options could as simple as shorter leaf springs, or as complex as an IRS set up. Live axle set ups could be multi or mono leaf springs with panhard bar, watts link or satchel link, three links or four links with coil overs, torque arm or truck arm with coil over or coil springs. Anything is possible.

[miketyler]

Yeah, I have seen some pretty exotic setups. Shorter springs seem to be the simplest scenario. What can you tell me about those? Can you cut and shorten your existing springs, move the shackle forward in the frame rail or go with a slider setup or?  Cutting/welding springs is probably frowned upon huh?     

[go-fish]

Is this just to get rid of the bumperettes? Not bashing, just want to see what you want out of the suspension. Is it a cruizer, drag, auto-x, or custom (just for the look) ?

[miketyler]

no offense taken   

The car is a cruiser. I want to lose the bumperettes and the raised flares on the valance. Was hoping there was a smart way to shorten the rear spring segment and move the rear shackle forward clear of the lower valance.  Not looking for much more than that. I don't think it's worth sacrificing ride quality or mega $ aborting the current leaf spring system.

Good stuff so far. I started this discussion in the Body Shop but it quickly led to shackle relocation.

 http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=41025.0

[go-fish]

Any system that isn't leaf is going to alow you to smooth the valance. I have a tri-angulated four bar and plan on getting rid of my dual exhaust valance and go to a smooth pan and smooth that one. If you have even minimal fabrication skills you can duplicate the tri-four bar.
This is better than a "4 link" as seen in drag cars. It is a street suspension. You can get the tubing, bracketry, rod ends, etc. forom Competition Engineering right out of Summit or on their website for more products. There are a number of other vendors too. As for the rod ends, you will want the ones with polyeurethane bushings not the heim joints.
If you were to fab it from scratch you can leave your leafs in place temporarily (to keep you rear in place), fab up a lower bar (on the bottom side of the rearend) and run it from the axle tube bracket to the inside of the frame rail to allow for a wider tire in the rear. Next you would need to weld some ears/tabs on the top of the axle tube and run your upper bar in some fashion to the the body. Prefferably to a reinforced portion behind where the back seat is. Maybe weld a piece of DOM tube or a thick metal plate between the frame rails. If you put the top bars angleing to the center of the car it wil be "tri-angulated" and will keep the rear in place better when carving corners.
The coil-over shocks are easy. They make kits already to convert the hydraulic shock to coil-over.
I hope this helps.
Select the " ABAR20700   70-74 Chrysler "E" Body Rear AirBar" under ***Muscle Car AirBar***   and take a look at the kit. It's easy stuff if you can weld. If you can't, you can tack it in place and take the pieces to a good welder, they are small enough.
http://www.ridetech.com/instructions/instructions.asp

Here's somevthings that are interesting:
http://www.chassisengineeringinc.com/page7.html
coil over kit http://chassisengineering.com/shopDetails.asp?CatId=10&SubCatId=51&ProductId=1003
ears for upper bars http://chassisengineering.com/shopDetails.asp?CatId=10&SubCatId=52&ProductId=1266
Shock mount http://chassisengineering.com/shopDetails.asp?CatId=10&SubCatId=52&ProductId=1540

[miketyler]

Wow - that Airbar product seems really slick. I wonder what the ride is like? Still, is a lot of work and $ to accomodate a custom smoothed valance.     

[go-fish]

I had the air springs ommited from my order and use QA1 coil-overs.
If I were to do it over I would save my money and do it myself. You wouldn't believe how easy it is. As long as your rear end is set up good right now, you can't go wrong, just get it in the air with the full weight on the rear tires and start making bars and brackets.