1948 Chevrolet fleetmaster.

[npp]

Apr 25, 2017 20:26:13 GMT Dez said:

Lowering these Chevys is a tradition nearly as old as the cars themselves. The pendejos were cruising Whittier boulevard in low and slow 'bombitas' by mid-century. They basically invented the idea of cars not having to be fast to be showy. An idea that's even stronger today when speed is so much more of a contentious issue.

While I'm following your build threads with genuine interest in your projects and admiration for your workmanship, I'm also one of those who don't really get the 'low' thing - that may be because I don't understand where it's coming from. Could you tell me a little more about the history, or post a link to a good explanation?

As a keen trackday driver, I'm obviously biased towards modifications that enhance performance rather than convey a particular visual impression, but then again I'm also irrationally biased against anything that improves performance via electronics, paddle shifts etc. so I'm well aware that all our preferences are subjective.

[Dez]

Apr 26, 2017 19:16:53 GMT johnthesparky said:

Apr 26, 2017 10:10:56 GMT fordf350camper said:

Dez what ride hight do you need to get over the speed humps.Its looking good

It's going onto airbags, so I guess he can just raise it up (?)

Will it still drive when it's fully dropped? And can you add rake with the bags?

Sorry for the questions, airbags seem too good to be true to me!

John

Yep it'll just clear fully dropped. Only about 1/4" clearance though. Bags are independently switched so can add rake or lean. This is going to be a fast system so will bounce around like hydros will. Lift range of the bags is 5" front and 7.5" rear, but they're not direct acting so you actually get
More lift. Ratio is typically 2/3 giving 7.5"ish front and about 11" at the back. More than you'd ever need basically.

Air can be amazing or it can be utterly awful. A lot of times its down to the components you use and the rest is down to how it's fitted. I've done a few setups now (and corrected some ones that had been done by others) so I'm fairly confident in what I'll get from the finished product.

[Dez]

This is the kind of thing this system will be capable of.

[Dez]

Apr 26, 2017 19:41:02 GMT npp said:

Apr 25, 2017 20:26:13 GMT Dez said:

Lowering these Chevys is a tradition nearly as old as the cars themselves. The pendejos were cruising Whittier boulevard in low and slow 'bombitas' by mid-century. They basically invented the idea of cars not having to be fast to be showy. An idea that's even stronger today when speed is so much more of a contentious issue.

While I'm following your build threads with genuine interest in your projects and admiration for your workmanship, I'm also one of those who don't really get the 'low' thing - that may be because I don't understand where it's coming from. Could you tell me a little more about the history, or post a link to a good explanation?

As a keen trackday driver, I'm obviously biased towards modifications that enhance performance rather than convey a particular visual impression, but then again I'm also irrationally biased against anything that improves performance via electronics, paddle shifts etc. so I'm well aware that all our preferences are subjective.

There's are a few explanations, not so much conflicting as concentrating on different influences as key factors.
What they all agree on is the idea of low riding and crusing 'low and slow' is a phenomenon directly attributable to Latin American immigrants in California.
WHY it started is one of the contested issues. Some say it was a direct backlash against hot rodding and lakes racing, others say it was an evolution of the traditional Mexican 'paseo' social event.
Other explanations cite a refusal to be anglicised as immigrants (remember America was still a largely segregated country at this period) or a way of 'marking territory'. Or just simply kids trying to stand out from the crowd and 'look cool' in front of their mates and try to impress girls.
I'd also cite the fairly primeval human desire to show wealth (or perceived wealth) through material possessions. A lot if these Mexicans would be from poor rural families and had moved to find work, so finding yourself employed in boomtown postwar America and for the first time In your life not struggling to get by, but also actually having a disposable income, it's understandable they'd want to spend that money on something other people perceived as 'nice' and show it off too. In postwar America that undoubtedly meant crusing in your shiny automobile. It was literally the American Dream, in steel and shiny paint, with whitewalls.
I find the evolution of subcultures pretty fascinating, especially lowbrow cultures, and I like to think of it as a little of all of the above.

Read this-
www.historyaccess.com/historyoflowride.html

And this
timeline.com/a-visual-history-of-lowriders-2847be00ac30

And this-
auto.howstuffworks.com/10-great-lowriders.htm

And it should cover most of the mitigating factors in the subculture coming about.

[npp]

thanks Dez, will read through all this! 

[Dez]

Last instalment in the 'get it sitting right' section before i start fitting the air.

I think this lot shows perfectly that despite what people think, AIRBAGS DO NOT LOWER A CAR. They lift it back up again once you have lowered it.


I needed the front 1.5" lower. There were a few options as to how to do this, I could have done a full clip but what's there is in good condition and I'd have made myself more work with the steering and brakes and that. I could have done dropped spindle carriers but they're an odd shape at the top so I would have had to widen the track a lot for them to work. I decided the quickest and easiest was to section the front subframe. Particularly easy on this as its bolt on.
So, I did this-


Got it on the bench and marked up. I need to leave the upper centre section in the same Place as that's how it mounts to the rails, plus the engine mounts to it. Then I take a horizontal strip out of the front and rear and slide the rest up around it.


Some cutting-


I had to clean the inside of it out a lot, 70 years of oil, dirt and crud was nearly an inch deep in there!-


And then dropped back in.


Stacking the welds up-


I then boxed in the two steps each side of the rails, welded
Inside and out, and refitted.
Here you can see the engine mount section is uneffected-


But the entire suspension section is moved up, making the car lower-


There's still a tiny bit of rake but not much. Less than 1/2" over the length of the sills, which equates to about an inch over the entire length of the car.


The gearbox crossmember is now less than a fingers width off the floor, so it's as low as the car will practically go without huge revisions to the running gear, so I've achieved what I was after. It will still be drivable at full drop on a flat surface without damaging anything.


Bags in next!

[Davey]

Oh yes all the lows! I love the amount of work going into this.

[paulthewall]

What colour you decided on Dez? (secretly hope it stays olive Green)

[glenanderson]

Nicely done with the front subframe.

What's the "normal" running height going to be, relative to stock?

[Dez]

Apr 27, 2017 9:37:21 GMT paulthewall said:

What colour you decided on Dez? (secretly hope it stays olive Green)

I will answer that by the means of the same visual joke i used on Facebook the other day when asked the same question, that only a very narrow section of the population who are a certain age will get-

[Dez]

Apr 27, 2017 13:05:02 GMT glenanderson said:

Nicely done with the front subframe.

What's the "normal" running height going to be, relative to stock?

Stock was around 11" to the chassis rails (it sat on the p1ss so hard to be exact) meaning at full drop its about 10.5" down, so drive height will be about 6" lower than stock.

[drdick]

Apr 27, 2017 18:10:14 GMT Dez said:

Ha!

[rustydan]

^^ haha I got ya

[melle]

Great fabrication.

[Dez]

Apr 27, 2017 19:20:57 GMT drdick said:

Apr 27, 2017 18:10:14 GMT Dez said:

Ha!

Reminds me, I gave more parts for you to George.

[Dez]

So, I needed the ramp back for actual paid work, so this needed to go back outside now 'stage 1- make it low' is complete. That was a task in itself-






Many bits of wood and trolley jacks later, it was out. It seems to have settled a bit as well. It lays out now, just. In some places it will roll and in others it really won't. I had to jack it up and stuck box section in the suspension to hold it up to move it.
Spring hangers on the floor at the back-


And transmission crossmember at the front-


View from the rear showing it all laid out. There's loads of room under there still, only issue might be getting exhausts around/over/under the trans crossmember.


So there will be a little break for a while whilst I earn some money, then I'll come back and fit the bags.

[glenanderson]

Once the bags are done, you'll be able to raise it up as well as lower it like in that video clip? Clever stuff.

[welshpug]

Apr 28, 2017 7:52:34 GMT Dez said:

There's loads of room under there still, only issue might be getting exhausts around/over/under the trans crossmember.

easy fix for that, don't take it that far back right?

[moggyman]

Apr 28, 2017 9:06:15 GMT welshpug said:

Apr 28, 2017 7:52:34 GMT Dez said:

There's loads of room under there still, only issue might be getting exhausts around/over/under the trans crossmember.

easy fix for that, don't take it that far back right?

Or fit lakes pipe(s)?

[moggyman]

I'll just leave this here.......
www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/stuff-sale/chevy-6-manifold-497538