Using a different rearend

[GoatGuy]

I haven't searched this entire Tips, Tricks, etc for this topic, but I would like to learn how to set up a different rearend on a car. For instance, set up an independent rear for a kit that came with a solid axle or vice versa. Or set up a Halibrand rear. Where should the mounting points be ? Which rears use coilovers ? Swaybars ? I would like info for converting 70s to the present cars to any of the mentioned rearends. I appreciate any help.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Seriously, your best bet here is to do a lot of image research online. Image search "Corvette IRS" for instance, and you'll get lots of shots of various versions of the unit, installed in various vehicles...many of them custom. There's tons of visual information out there, and the topic of swapping rear ends, though relatively simple to accomplish (even swapping to IRS in a solid-axle car), gets too complicated for an in-depth answer here because every swap will be different...just as in building real 1:1 hot rods and customs.

A thorough understanding of the functions of the various suspension parts and linkage elements will let you see easily where mountings, brackets, etc. would have to go to make something that would work in the real world.

To give general answers to a couple of your questions, any solid-axle and many IRS systems can be set up with coil-overs. On a solid axle, you simply remove the leaf-spring mounts (if so equipped) and replace them with coil-over mounts...just like real.

Swaybars are chosen for a particular installation to effect handling in a specific way, by tuning what's known as "roll resistance" and just because you pull a rear end out of a Corvette to put under a pickup, you wouldn't necessarily use the same swaybar.

"Halibrand rear" refers to a center section (gear carrier, or "chunk") that was originally developed as a replacement for the Ford Model A and early V8 rear axle centers. Its advantage was an easily-adjustable final drive ratio ("quick-change") obtained by using different "change gears" in the extended rear housing. It originally used the old Ford axle tubes and axles, but improvements have been developed over the years and follow on units like Frankland, Winters, Speedway and others have been developed for a wide variety of racing and street applications. You can put a Halibrand-style quick-change rear anywhere you put a solid axle, and you can use coils or leaf springs. Again, image search "quick change rear" for a starting point.

Like I said, it becomes infinitely complicated, but if you understand the basics of function, it becomes entirely logical...as with most things in life.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[GoatGuy]

Thanks Bill. I appreciate the honesty. I will continue to research pics on the web and in magazines. I have a Viper IRS that I was thinking of putting under a '72 GTO, but was also considering a Halibrand type rear.