strong>Tri-5 TECH POINT: In 1957, the stockthird-memebr rear end was strong enough to take all the punishment thatthe factory engines could dish out, inclduing the 283 horse F.I.equipped 283 small-block. When racers and street guys began dropping inhigher horse small-blocks, W-motors and eventually big-blocks, theshoebox's stock rear couldn't take the abuse. Today the aftermarketofferrs a wide variety of beefy rear end options, from 12-bolts to9-inches to Danas, so your Tri-5 can take all the horsepower you canthrow at it! What's the point of living if you don't feel alive? You must havesomething to run through your veins and get your motor running, becausewithout it, life is just like watching a mundane episode of Oprah. Idon't know about you, but I'm not about to sit around and pay homage tosome talk show host while I gorge on a box of Bon Bons.
Here's a look at the TCI relocation kit in its entirety. Everythingneeded is all there.
When you jump behind the wheel of a vintage cruiser, you should feelinvigorated. Sometimes that's hard to do given the inadequate handling,braking, and overall drivability of a stock Tri-Five. What Tri-Fivesneed is some sort of kit or package that can bring them back to life--anautomotive defibrillator, so to speak. What they need is what we here atSuper Chevy call a "Five Alive" package, and Total Cost Involved hasjust the parts we were looking for.
Just because we're going to call it "Five Alive," doesn't mean thatTotal Cost Involved (TCI) does. In fact, TCI doesn't even have a package likethat. What TCI does have is an assortment of kits that can be orderedindependently, or all at the same time. TCI is a company thatspecializes in bringing vintage American rides into the 21st centurywith updated suspension and brakes. Whether it's a Ford Model A or aFirst-Gen Nova or Camaro, its catalog covers a wide variety of cars andtrucks. Somewhere in the middle of all those part numbers, a handful ofproducts for Tri-Five Chevys are available.
The '57 was taken up to Total Cost Involved's shop, where George andJeff threw it up on th
For this story, we rounded up this '57 Hardtop. The car is pretty much stock,with all the underpinnings that Chevy had originally intended on it.Although the timeless lines and fins covered in the near-perfect blackfinish are cool to look at, all it takes is a quick trip around theblock for you to step out and say, "Man, that's a nice cruiser"--which isexactly what we are trying to escape. What we want is a car that's notonly cool to look at, but can handle its own on the street. Total CostInvolved has designed several upgrades that accomplished this.
From front to back, this '57 is getting new running gears. Although wewill get to the front setup next month, we're going to start with therear. One problem that Tri-Five owners are more than aware of is thatstuffing some meaty tires in the rear requires some reconstructivesurgery. Because the leaf springs mount on the outside of the framerailsand take up a good amount of real estate in the wheelwells, thisprohibits Tri-Five owners from running anything besides pizza cutters.One way to get around the problem is to install a ladder bar setup orfour-link, but the problem with this is it's a lot of work, and manyowners aren't willing to cut their car that much. Weighing the options,Total Cost Involved came up with an alternative solution that doesn'tcall for a major change in the rear. TCI has engineered a kit thatrelocates the leaf springs. The TCI kit chops off the leaf-springhangers and shackles, and moves the leaves up in to the framerails.
On '57 Chevys, the leaf springs mount on the outside of the framerailson two hangers that
Relocating them up into the frame clears up nearly 3 inches of valuablespace, and the best part is no ladder bar or four-link setup was needed.Along with clearing up some room, the kit also brings the back of thecar down to what we think is a more appropriate ride height. (Anotheroption is to move the spring mounts inboard of the framerails)
TCI gives users two options when setting the ride height of the vehiclein the rear. Depending on which mounting position is chosen, the kitwill lower the car either a 1 1/2 or 2 inches. To complement the newrear setup, we're also ditching the rest of the running gear. Therearend is going to be replaced by a Moser Ford 9-inch with GM axleflanges. This '57 will receive an engine upgrade, however, and the stockrearend isn't going to be able to cut it.
...The rear leaf-spring bracket is mountedto the frame using rivets. Using a cut-off wheel
At the end of the Moser rearend, the drum brakes are being thrown asidefor TCI's disc brake kit. Sure, we could have gone with 13-inchcross-drilled and slotted rotors with four-piston calipers and the like,but remember we said all this car needs to be is a kick-ass streetcar,nothing more. For that reason, we went with TCI'sbottom-of-the-totem-pole GM rotor with single-piston caliper conversionkit. The rotor and caliper is all GM, but to mount it up, TCI hasfabricated mounting brackets that will allow the brakes to be used withany rearend. The setup uses a Wilwood internal parking brake. We alsohad to get a set of Wilwood Chevy Special axle flanges to bolt thebrakes to the GM flanges on the Moser housing
Assembling the rearend and brakes is no different than on any other car.As for the relocation kit, it takes a bit of work. The install calls forcutting, grinding, and trimming, but anyone with at least one hemisphereof the brain functioning can handle it. The "advanced learning" neededfor this install is the ability to weld. The install does call for afair share of welding, so if you have these skills, you can do ityourself.
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The front brackets are tack welded to the frame. Start by drilling outthe tack welds, and
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On the TCI spring pockets, there are two holes you can choose from whenmounting the leaf s
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...There is a 1 1/4-inchhole in the frame. Use this hole as a reference point, because one
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For TCI to clear out 3 inches of room, the kit relocates the leafsprings inside the framer
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With your lines drawn, begin cutting. The total area to be removed isapproximately 3 inche
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It may be necessary to do a little grinding to clean things up a bit andhave a proper fit
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Once your initial cuts are made, place the pocket up into the frame. Ifthe mounting hole i
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Once the pocket is installed, tack it into place. Then measure 57 inchesfrom the center of
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At the 57-inch spot, mark the frame and place the new TCI shackle hangeron top of the fram
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From there, measure 4 inches from the line drawn on the frame toward therear of the car an
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With the rear mark in place, take the shackle notch plate and place itagainst the frame wi
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All of the material inside the trace of the notch plate needs to be cutout to bring the le
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...Once mapped out, he cut out the area and welded inthe notch plate.
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With the front pocket, rear notch plate, and shackle hanger tacked in,measure everything o
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The TCI kit comes with new leaf springs, so there's no need to botherwith the old ones. Wi
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Remember when we said we're tossing the old rearend? Here's why: abrand-new Moser Ford 9-i
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Along with the new Moser 9-inch, we ditched the drums and went with aTCI rear disc kit. TC
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Once the TCI discs were installed on the Moser 9-inch, the rear wasmounted to the leaf spr
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With the rear in place, the shock mount and shocks can be installed. Bymeasuring 18 3/8 in
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Next, mount the shock mount bar from mount to mount. On the bar thereare two perches that
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Done for now. Next month we'll head to the front of the '57 and then outto the track to ch
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WILWOOD ENGINEERING
4700 Calle Bolero, Dept. SC
Camarillo, CA 93012
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Moser Engineering
2-60/-726-6689
moserengineering.com
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Total Cost Involved
1416 W. Brooks St., Dept. SRM
Ontario
CA
91762
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