60-66 frame swap on a 57 chevy pickup?

[bigblockguy]

It will be just about all you need if you decide to go performance. I have a friend who races a '62 with a 555 in it. Runs low 10's with no tire spin, launches and hooks as well as any truck at the track with ladder bars. All he did to his was swapped the coil springs for racing coilovers and tuned the chassis a little bit, nothing major. When I looked at my chassis this evening, it looks like that the flat section of the frame where the cab sits is almost exactly the same height as the flat part up front where the core support mounts as well as the flat section behind the wheel hump. This may be easier than I first thought. One other thing to think about - I took the front crossmember assembly off of an '86 and bolted it to the '62 frame. Most of the bolts lined up, I'll have to drill a couple and re-mount the steering box, but for the most part it was a straight swap. I'll have to do something about the braces that connect the frame to the crossmember and have motor mounts on them, but that shouldn't be a problem at all. Now I have 5-lug wheels, front discs and a modern steering system. I already snagged a column shift tilt steering column from an early '70's Chevy van. It has no molding or special stuff on it, set up for dash ignition key, so all I need is adapters to fit that in place and I have the steering set up with turn signals on the column. I'll probably do a power brake conversion with an assembly that rests below the floorboard. I have a 9" Ford rearend that's 1/4" narrower than the factory unit, so all I 'll need on it is mounts for the trailing arms, have the axles redrilled for Chevy bolt pattern, and I'll get some of the coilovers while I'm at it. Dang, I sure wish my sheetmetal work was finished - I'm itching to get this thing moving!

[OldJimmy57]

so will the stock 2 link work just as well as the 4 link? Also anything else you recommend do to the suspension?

[bigblockguy]

Stock 2-link works a lot like 4-link since there's no pivot point on the back. If you're going with huge power, I'd box the links on the outsides, but anything streetable will be fine with them as-is. I like the idea of coilovers, particularly adjustables so I can set ride stiffness depending on road conditions, etc. If you want to keep your factory rearend, late 60's - early 70's axles may swap out to give you 5 lug wheels - check on their board. If you're keeping the 6-lug wheels, there are some of the same time frame with discs and that would be a bolt-up swap. Mine will start with a vortec v-6 and will more likely than not end up with over 500 cubes under the hood, which is why I'm going with the 9".
After I read the other thread about this swap and the comment was made that the guy only had to raise his cab about 4", I'm convinced that dropping the front and rear are the way I want to go. That would put ride height exactly where I want it without a flip kit, dropped spindles, etc.

[OldJimmy57]

What other thread are you reading from?