stock rear suspension mod

[gmonde]

going to the good old nhra rule book states,that rear trailing arms may be replaced with nhra accepted ones(is there a list of accepted ones some ware?)and it also states that heim joints are acceptable on the upper trailing arms,can the guys running rear coil spring cars chime in,are the nhra techs picky or strict on rear fabricated parts,the last time i opened up the jegs or summit catalogs they dont list to many after market parts for a 70 rebel machine but the rear suspension does mirror the 69,70,71 gm's(same bushings) thanks gmonde

[greg fulk]

In my 8 years of running stock I've only had one tec guy look under the car! & I think he was looking at the fuel cell opening. As for a "list"? My Cutlass has stock lower & adjustable uppers....their kind of a home-made looking thing. But the car was built in the mid 80's so their may not have been any aftermarket one made for it at that time. So I guess what I'm saying is if ya need to make something as long as it dosen't look cobbled you'll be ok.

[Dave Goob Cook]

I think the deal is that it all has to "bolt on", no welding, and must attach at the same points as stock. I think you can reinforce the mounting holes, which is a good idea.

I have Southside Machine uppers and lowers in my car, but SSM is no longer, the Lakewood "lift bars" are an exact knock off.....then you have TRZ, HR PartsnStuff, UMI, and a few other places that make bolt on stuff.
As for the AMC thing, as usual, you're on your own to figure out what fits.

[gmonde]

the plan is to use the stock lowers (boxed.solid bushings)and fabricate upper arms w/heims,if iam reading this right ,it should be ok

[Tom Goldman]

The boxed and solid bushed or urethane bushed stock lower arms should be more than adaquate for the Rebel. ......Consider that your rear suspension is remarkably similar to a Chevelle, many of them are out there running sucessfully for years with reinforced stock lower arms. ...... The upper arms are another story, and I would definitly replace them with tubular units with adjustable heims. .....Also relocate the axle end of the upper bar higher than the origional mount point. .....The old GM relocator kits have been used on the model 20 axle with some modifications, altho considering the weight of your car, I'd put a Dana 60 in it. ..... I've twisted a pair of Moser axles in my 70 AMX model 20 in less than 200 runs, and thats at 3200# !! Look at some of the sucessful Chevelle Stockers out there, you will be suprised how basic the rear suspension is in some of the best working cars. .....Good luck with your project, It took me a good 2 years ,and a lot of learning what dosnt work, but I finally ran more than 1 sec under with my AMX in D/Automatic. .....Tom

[Mark Yacavone]

"I think the deal is that it all has to "bolt on", no welding, and must attach at the same points as stock. I think you can reinforce the mounting holes, which is a good idea."

Dave, that is correct, unless you happen to have the Alf Weibe set-up, Then that rule is out the window.

[gmonde]

well heres the deal the model 20 was swaped out two years ago with a ford nine inch,now a 8 3/4 rear is going in due to the steel housing,all of the location points are stock and noted in the rule book i can raise the upper control arm mounting points witch are built in to my jig for the amc coil spring car,i had the model 20 with a doug nash 5 speed and the moser axles didnt last a new york minute,put the nine inch in and got 50 passes before the teeth on the ring and pinion went south,went to an automatic and of coarse the car was happy,and already learned alot thanks for your feed back gmonde