Try emailing or phoning MacDonald bothers racing as they make 4 link kits, get yourself some trammels and a couple of different lengths of 25mm rhs, it makes checking diagonals etc easy as, Happy Easter to you and your family mate
Check your free standing spring height without them on the shock or by backing off the adjusting nut, which ever one is longer should go on the drivers side.
I enjoy your video. Thank you for posting it. The four/five link system is great, but I've never been a fan of coil overs, let alone under the weight of a 57 Chevy. The springs and mounting hardware for the coil overs look too inadequate. My preference would be real coils atop the axle housings and fitted under a solid cross member from rail to rail.
CZcams TWA Motorsports has a video on fitting the Ridetech system to a 55 chevy. Also Maffett Motorwerks has a video. I did notice on the 55 chassis there was a hole in the top of the of the chassis and wondered if 20 inches from that point would line the shocks up vertically, according to those videos the shocks are vertical. Good luck
Yeah all good now Stephen, following the curve of the chassis shows that measurement to be much closer to where it needed to be, who knows why they show a straight line lol
With that sub frame, I would have checked measurements diagonally also to check for square. You don't seem to have any preload if you set the Coil overs vertically?
@@Blanchy10 no I didnt see your edit, I saw it in the instructions but it seemed to be saying to do before testing for drivabilty rather than while doing mockup, it didnt mention doing it prior to mockup, it says how to set ride height for mockup without pre loading the coil overs
Sorry mate, I was meaning to get back to you sooner, It just kept slipping my mind to check. I placed the rear coil over mount in such a position as to make the coilover look vertical side-on . The hole in the centre on the mount ( which when in place, is on the inside of the chassis) is 950mm from the outside edge of the rear crossmember to the centre of the hole ( tape held in a straight line.) I just hooked my tape measure onto the rear cross member and measured forwards. This seems to look correct and the curved tabs on the bracket also seem to match the contour of the underside of the chassis. When I followed the instructions on the Ridetech sheet it didnt seem to make sense and the bracket didnt seem to fit the curvature either. This made sense for me. Hope for you too
Hey Tom stupid instructions don't help shocks are there most affective at full vertical. The more the Angle the less affective they work I'd do away with the mounting brackets and fabricate a tube bar right across like the front mount. In engineering terms it spreads the load across the chassis frame rails evenly. Remember engineering requirements are very slack in the US unlike the engineering standards i had to work with here in Australian car industry. Great video tom cheers. Melbourne
Thanks Les, unfortunately I already wielded the mount brackets on, with the shocks vertical, have to see what my engineer thinks of it, but I agree with you and all you said
Have you been working on the XB ? Your right with the Anti Seize. We use it at work. It Is messy & gets everywhere. Can you email Ridetech & send them a pic of where the bracket would end up using their instructions?
The 5mm from one side to the other on the front bar, probably wasn't even straight when they made the chassis. Then it's had 60 years of abuse and who knows how many builds. I think you got of lightly it's only 5mm😂. Main thing is that it's straight with the front wheels. As for the rear mounts, if it doesn't feel right it ain't right. Hoping that someone who has done one before contacts you. Be very interested in the outcome. If you measure following the curve of the chassis and not straight back like the pic is it any closer? Happy Easter
Cheers mate, yes your right it would be closer if following the curve, in fact I just checked and its almost spot on the rear of where i have the bracket now, so that has to be it. Found it too hard with a measuring tap , but just checked it now with a long flexible plastic ruler so you hit the nail on the head. I was just going by their diagram which showed it straight which has got to be wrong, all 4 links Ive seen have the coil-overs basically vertical, very misleading instructions.
Inclined to agree. More important to be square to the chassis than it is to be diagonally even. If it was made with lasers and robots you might trust the diagonal dimensions, but hand made that long ago not so much.
Finishing the coupe is a long process, it is currently waiting for the engineer to run tests before i can go any further, and Im not chopping and changing, i have other builds on the go which need completing also
It's great to have a longer episode!
cheers mate ! glad you liked it
Try emailing or phoning MacDonald bothers racing as they make 4 link kits, get yourself some trammels and a couple of different lengths of 25mm rhs, it makes checking diagonals etc easy as, Happy Easter to you and your family mate
Thanks for the tip mate, but looks like its all worked out now, Rustydog1805 comment was on the mark.Happy Easter to you too mate
Check your free standing spring height without them on the shock or by backing off the adjusting nut, which ever one is longer should go on the drivers side.
no worries mate, thanks for the tip
I enjoy your video. Thank you for posting it. The four/five link system is great, but I've never been a fan of coil overs, let alone under the weight of a 57 Chevy. The springs and mounting hardware for the coil overs look too inadequate. My preference would be real coils atop the axle housings and fitted under a solid cross member from rail to rail.
Thanks for watching! I appreciate your comment
CZcams TWA Motorsports has a video on fitting the Ridetech system to a 55 chevy. Also Maffett Motorwerks has a video. I did notice on the 55 chassis there was a hole in the top of the of the chassis and wondered if 20 inches from that point would line the shocks up vertically, according to those videos the shocks are vertical. Good luck
cheers mate, i did watch those also
i believe you were using the measurement for a 1 piece frame. where you have a 2 piece frame.
1 piece frame = 20 1/4”
2 piece frame = 14 1/2”
I'd go with the straight up version .
yeah definitely thanks mate
❤️
Hey Tom I know the diagram showed 20.25 in a straight line. What does it look like if you measure 20.25 following the curve of the frame?
Yeah all good now Stephen, following the curve of the chassis shows that measurement to be much closer to where it needed to be, who knows why they show a straight line lol
With that sub frame, I would have checked measurements diagonally also to check for square. You don't seem to have any preload if you set the Coil overs vertically?
Yeah maye we did that earlier before I wielded the reinforcement kit in.
@@phatridesgarage3760 Did you see my edit about Preload? You seem to have none allowed for if that axle is at ride height.
@@Blanchy10 no I didnt see your edit, I saw it in the instructions but it seemed to be saying to do before testing for drivabilty rather than while doing mockup, it didnt mention doing it prior to mockup, it says how to set ride height for mockup without pre loading the coil overs
WELD IT IN
Did you ever fighre out the shock angle i am about to install the same kit in a 57
Sorry mate, I was meaning to get back to you sooner, It just kept slipping my mind to check. I placed the rear coil over mount in such a position as to make the coilover look vertical side-on . The hole in the centre on the mount ( which when in place, is on the inside of the chassis) is 950mm from the outside edge of the rear crossmember to the centre of the hole ( tape held in a straight line.) I just hooked my tape measure onto the rear cross member and measured forwards. This seems to look correct and the curved tabs on the bracket also seem to match the contour of the underside of the chassis. When I followed the instructions on the Ridetech sheet it didnt seem to make sense and the bracket didnt seem to fit the curvature either. This made sense for me. Hope for you too
Hey Tom stupid instructions don't help shocks are there most affective at full vertical. The more the Angle the less affective they work I'd do away with the mounting brackets and fabricate a tube bar right across like the front mount. In engineering terms it spreads the load across the chassis frame rails evenly. Remember engineering requirements are very slack in the US unlike the engineering standards i had to work with here in Australian car industry. Great video tom cheers. Melbourne
Thanks Les, unfortunately I already wielded the mount brackets on, with the shocks vertical, have to see what my engineer thinks of it, but I agree with you and all you said
Have you been working on the XB ? Your right with the Anti Seize. We use it at work. It Is messy & gets everywhere. Can you email Ridetech & send them a pic of where the bracket would end up using their instructions?
Not much mate, just waiting for the Engineer to get in touch with me
@@phatridesgarage3760 👍
And where's the missing hardware!?😡
haha beats me, but I guess if your working in one of those places, and take 1 or 2 parts from each kit , before long you would have a full system
I wouldnt waste my time mate, sure it would be ignored
👏🍺👍🏻
The 5mm from one side to the other on the front bar, probably wasn't even straight when they made the chassis. Then it's had 60 years of abuse and who knows how many builds. I think you got of lightly it's only 5mm😂. Main thing is that it's straight with the front wheels.
As for the rear mounts, if it doesn't feel right it ain't right. Hoping that someone who has done one before contacts you. Be very interested in the outcome. If you measure following the curve of the chassis and not straight back like the pic is it any closer?
Happy Easter
Cheers mate, yes your right it would be closer if following the curve, in fact I just checked and its almost spot on the rear of where i have the bracket now, so that has to be it. Found it too hard with a measuring tap , but just checked it now with a long flexible plastic ruler so you hit the nail on the head. I was just going by their diagram which showed it straight which has got to be wrong, all 4 links Ive seen have the coil-overs basically vertical, very misleading instructions.
Looks like a great kit. Hard to trust anything that still use feet and inches. 😂
Apologies ahead of time
Inclined to agree. More important to be square to the chassis than it is to be diagonally even. If it was made with lasers and robots you might trust the diagonal dimensions, but hand made that long ago not so much.
well, you know the yanks, they refuse to acknowledge metric still haha
When are you going to finish the coupe . instead of chopping and changing all the time ...
Finishing the coupe is a long process, it is currently waiting for the engineer to run tests before i can go any further, and Im not chopping and changing, i have other builds on the go which need completing also
Surely you know that it's bolt in so someone can install it at home themselves ?
Yeah , welded it because its what i wanted rather than some self tapers
Poor instructions and lacking hardware. Thanks for the heads up 🙂.
No worries! haha
I'd stay clear of that company for those reasons alone.