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HybridZ

question for you straight axle guys


kuntry

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Ok, I had a thought just now and I was wondering how hard it would be to accomplish. I have had a truck in the driveway that Ive been working on for quite awhile now. I just have too many projects and not enough time or cash right now. The fresh 383 has already been pulled to drop in my 240. It looks like the truck is going to be on hold for so long, Im thinking of selling it......BUT..... it has a narrowed 12 bolt posi from a 67 Camaro in it with ladder bars and coilovers. I just measured it and its 44.5"s backing plate to backing plate. Then I measured the Z and it looks like its around 46-47"s. The tubbing is no problem, but I know the ladder bars would have to go. My question is, what kind of setup am I going to have to run to hold this rear in place? I already have the coilovers, so it wont be a problem to fab a couple brackets for those. Its just that this car sits so low, and with no real frame to attach it to, I dont know what the best choice is for installation. Any tips and/or pics would be greatly appreciated.

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ok, thought of a couple more things as I walked back outside. The Z is a '73. And I DID DO A SEARCH.... I just searched the wrong words...lol. I did a search on straight axle instead of solid axle. I redid the search and came up with a couple threads, but they are all for ford (bleh) rears. Has anyone done a 12 bolt rear? Or would it be any different anyway??? Im just not sure and want to have all the facts before I start tearing the back half out of the car. And for you guys running back halves, where is the best place to get the rails, Im not sure if they are universal or made for our cars. Thanks again guys, and sorry for the double post.

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Ford axle, GM axle, it isn't going to be any different to put into your Z. I went with a Satchell link rear suspension (a variety of 4 link). It packages very well and allows the geometry I wanted. With a link suspension in the Z though, you will have to build some sort of frame to accommodate it. I built a full spaceframe, but you could more easily back-half the car as suggested above.

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Thanks guys. I went out sat morning and bought 40' of 2x2x.125 square tubing. I figure theres no sense in backhalfing a car without getting some structure to the rest of the car. Ive cut the inner upright out of the front frame rails, along with the dimples where the crossmember attaches. Im going to notch out the bottom of the tubing and weld in a piece of flat stock a bit thicker than the factory sheetmetal to attach the crossmember to. Ill order the rear frame from Jegs at the end of the week. Hopefully Ill have the front end finished and the frame rails ready to go when it gets here. Ill also have to cut off my ladder bar susp and get the 4 link pieces welded in place. I guess another deadline is getting pushed back. I had origionally wanted to have the car on the road by Halloween, then it looked more like Thanksgiving. Now Im going to do my best to have this thing running by the end of the year.

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