| C4 Corvette Chassis |
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| 1957 Corvette RestoMod Project - Page 2 The Plan and Suspension Upgrade It took me a long time to understand that you never want to start a project without a clear picture of what you want the car to be. I want the car to be reliable, safe, and a performer. To do that, all mechanical parts of the car must be upgraded. Let's face it, the technology of the 50's Corvettes was first used by GM in 1949! That may have been cutting-edge 60 years ago, but it just won't cut it now. But the looks of the '57, I mean, the car is eye-catching and styled beautifully. Thirteen teeth in the grill (the last year for that many), sexy curves, two headlights, and a whole bunch of style. So for the upgrade, I chose the era of Corvette that is both great in performance and relatively affordable - the C4 era. Specifically, the 1995-96 years. Read on for these details. |
| This front-end assembly was bolted to the donor car's frame. You can see where the frame was cut to remove this entire assembly from the donor car. In the above picture, just below the upper control arm pivot, you can see the frame rails have been cut. This frame rail contains the upper shock mount as well (seen between the upper control arm wishbone). Also bolted to the frame is the cradle. It is made of stamped steel, painted black, and holds all the front-end pieces together. The rack and pinion gear (in front with rubber bellows at each end) is bolted to the cradle and is easily seen in the picture. Well, I needed to disassemble all of these parts to get the cradle ready for Newman Car Creations. What Paul does is weld brackets on my 1956 frame and bolt this cradle to the frame. It's complicated work and Newman has perfected the process. See Chapter 3 of my new book 1957 CORVETTE RESTOMOD for the complete description on how to disassemble the front end. Chapter 4 shows you how to rebuild the front brakes, including the calipers. And Chapter 5 gives complete instructions on how to replace all front end bushings and ball joints. |
| Here's the 1996 Grand Sport front-end assembly. Except for a couple of stone dings in the aluminum control arms, it was in good shape. The rack and pinion unit sitting up front needs replacing, new bushings and ball joints, new rotors and shocks, and this will be ready to go! |
| Here's the 1995 Corvette rear assembly. It's in very good condition as well. You can see where the donor car's frame was cut to remove the assembly - red shop rags are duct-taped to the sharp protruding ends. Newman's welds all new brackets to the '56 frame to accept this assembly. This piece came off a 1995 automatic with extensive front-end damage. |
| The carrier for 1995 Corvette automatic transmission cars used a very low gear ratio - 3.07:1. This is great for an automatic and a nice road car. But I want a little more grab at lower transmission gears, so this Dana 36 differential will be upgraded to 3.54:1 gears. I found a source called Just Differentials, and show you my work on pages 15 and 16. I'll rebuild the "pumpkin" myself to keep as much of the project my own work - and save much needed labor costs too! Chapter 9 shows you how to rebuild the Dana 36 Carrier; and Chapter 10 is how to rebuild the differential. Both chapters are needed to restore this important piece of the drivetrain. AND, both chapters are packaged for you at the Bookstore! The wrench in the lower left of the picture is on the lower shock bolt. Newman's needs both of these as well. Paul welds a tab on each bolt. The tab has a bolt hole drilled to attach the sway bar ends (I think). Anyway, I'll find out when the first test fit of the assembly happens! Chapter 6 of my new book 1957 Corvette RestoMod: Basic Chassis Build Instructions for the Beginner, illustrates how to disassemble this rear end suspension and drivetrain. Chapter 7 covers the complete rebuild of the rear brakes and calipers. Chapter 8 details how to replace all bushings and U-joints in the rear end. |
| Next, we'll look at the frame. You will read about my unfortunate early choices, a scary purchase, and an expensive mistake I made. But, it all came out okay and I am back on the road (so to speak) to making my dream car build a reality. Click Page 3 to see what happens next. |
| This is a close-up of the cast numbers on the back of the carrier. #605490-2 is the code indicating it's a Dana 36. Below that is the GM part number. At bottom, the code "25 JUL 94" is the date the casting was made. Just above that is the gear ratio "3.07". Next to the ratio is the ring and pinion tooth counts. I plan on rebuilding the entire unit and installing a 3.54:1 ratio. Stay tuned, I heard rebuilding differentials is pretty difficult when you don't know what you're doing! |
1957 Corvette RestoMod