Takid455

Looking for ideas and thoughts of what works. That is key. The objective is a nice grand touring car with good cornering abilities. Needs to corner and ride better than your mini van.

Short of aftermarket full frames from say Swartz, Art, ect what has been done to the the stock style suspensions? Conversions from later models welcome. Fabrication required mods also OK. Not looking for drag race but more emphasis on corner carving if I had to point in a direction. It is understood that it will never handle like a new BMW , w/ the full frame replacement and even then it is questionable.

I know the 2nd gen F body subframe is one method.

Car in question is a '56 88. Build is going to be focused on retaining stock body more or less but update the mechanicals.

Lets hear some ideas.

TripDeuces

http://www.hotchkis.net/search.html?...mitForm=Search

Hotchkis makes some parts for 55-57 Chevys, are they similar to an Olds?

Takid455

That s a start. Not sure if they are the same to olds. I know the frames are different.


Not sure of if it 'fits' or fits, but I did see a 94-96 Impalla frame under a 56 body once. Car was a project so it still needed fine tuning. Not sure what all happened to it.

MDchanic

This may be one of those cases of "shopping by tape measure."

You may need to figure out your absolute dimensions (wheelbase, track(s), ride height, frame rail size and spacing) and go looking for newer cars with parts that come close to mating up with yours.

If you get the answers you need, this could be an interesting project to watch.

- Eric

oldsmobum

If you plan on subframing it, you might consider a fatman setup, it will be rack and pinion and all of your body pieces will bolt up. A member (jozw30) has a thread about his 55 in the non-olds powered section. He installed one on his car.
http://fatmanfab.com/

Jozw30's build:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ls2-build.html

Or, there is a A far more complicated way to go without subframing it. It involves using control arms from 58 or so vehicles with ball joints and specific spindles. Here is an article and a thread on the HAMB about it:

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ension_upgrade

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=215512

Addco makes sway bars that fit the 50's olds. Not sure if it is a cross reference from another vehicle or not... They show up on ebay from time to time. I have heard that the rear sway is the same as a 64 impala... I have no proof yet though.

Hope that helps.

Takid455

If I do a subframe , I might as well do a whole frame. Just my way of doing things.

Seems early 90's caprices chassis work also. unsure of required mods other than body & drive train mounts