back half 70 Rivy

Jim & Alan and the rest of the gang....you all have helped so much but I must ask you to hold my hand once again and walk me thru this.....I tracked down a Supercharger via Mr Hampton Now I would like to tub the car (1970 Riv.)..the car will be mainly for show but would like to run it now and then....The price of the supercharger took my breath away for a moment or two but I recovered....Reading these the threads on back halfin' scared me to death
will the Riv have to be done from scatch or are there kits that will adapt to the car and what kind of cost should I prepare my self for:jd: ........pain in the butt rookie...RJ Hall

 

back-halved

RJ,
I am in the process on back-halving my 65 Lesabre.
I will be fabricating my own frame rails out of 2X4@11ga.
tube steel.
Although, there are several chassis manufactures which can
supply you with the necessary sub-frame & suspension parts
you need.
They are:
S&W race cars - out of Pa.
Chassisworks - out of Calf.
Chassis engineering - out of Florida
Good Luck! :beer
Tom

 

www.cachassisworks.com
www.competitionengineering.com
www.swracecars.com
www.chassisengineering.com

I'm going through the same thing that you will be going through so I know all these websites, I used to go on them daily. If you are interested in ordering from a Canadian company, I have the link for them. In Canadian dollars they are very cheap and the guy that owns the place races IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock.

www.bearsperformanceinc.com

 

SW also has a sale going on now. Free wheel tubs with the purchase of any back half package.

 

I have a question that may or may not make sense.

On some cars (like A-bodies I think for example), you can just cut the rear frame rails and move the rails inboard, with appropriate gussets and reinforcement. Z-ing the rails sideways if you follow what I'm saying. I believe on most of these the rails are left inboard all the way to the back, they do not usually step back out to the original location. Since this is intended mostly as a show/street car, would this method work?

Or is there some significant reason that i am missing? You still would have to fab a crossmember and make new ladder bar or four link bars to mount the narrowed rearend. And of course wheel tubs and appropriate sheetmetal work.

You could go real low-budget and put a leaf spring rear set-up. Nice street ride and certainly capable for the intended application.

Am I just missing something or could you do this pretty cheap by using your existing frame rails? RJ stated that he is not building a full on race car, so I don't think the weight issue or chassis flex is such a big concern.

 

Back-Halved

Terry,

The method that you have discribed, I have seen.
This method helps when re-attaching the bumper,
it allows you to re-use the original brackets & body mount
locations.
I may go with this method when I start fabrication.

You could re-use the original frame rails, but this would require additional cutting out of the spring/shock crossmember.
In addition the frame rails turn inward as they pass the rear tires,
this could cause a clearance problem for suspension parts,
when installed.
Installing new steel makes for a cleaner installation.
Just my 2 cents.

Tom :TU: