65 suspension build

Hello everybody. I am a newbie to the site and a new Chevy II owner. I have been reading threads from this site for the past few weeks and have been amazed at the wealth of knowledge and talent assembled in one place. I have been looking for a first gen for the past few years and finally found what I was looking for in Washington state. Turns out that I am currently deployed to Iraq, but I managed to swing the deal anyway. The plan is to build a dependable high performance street car that I can drive daily if I choose to. I am going for sort of a road race feel. Currently, I am trying to decide what type of suspension to go for. For the rear, I have been looking at the 4-bar kit from Checkered Racing. I was wondering if anybody has used this in their car or has heard anything about it's performance on the street. The reason I am looking at this kit is because the cost/performance of the parallel four-link design. I would consider a 3-link because of the low unsprung weight and lack of binding, but have not found a reasonable price for this type of set up. In fact, the only kit that I know if is the Lateral Dynamics, $3600 kit. Any input would be greatly appriciated. :D

I don't know a whole bunch about all the different set ups, but have spoken to several people about the different set ups. Are you looking for something that will bolt in or are you prepared to do a bunch of mods. I called the guys at Art Morrison as I really liked the looks of their tri 4 bar rear clip and their 3 link, but in then end decided not to go with them as there is extensive modifications when installing them. To install the rear clip package, I was told you need to remove the entire trunk floor and more. The nice thing is though you do get new frame rails and it's all welded together. There is also alot emailing back and forth until you get the design you want. The route I ended up taking was the Air Bar set up with QA1 coil over shocks. It is basically the same set up as the Chris Alston G-Bar set up. Both kits are basically a bolt in set up that gives a 4 link type set up. They recommend adding some welds to for better strength. Call Frank at www.prodigycustoms.com he is a dealer for most of the different manufacturers.

I went with the TCI 4 link over the others. My car is nowhere near being complete, and the 4 link isn't near being installed yet. Its a true bolt in design, but I will be welding mine in just to play it safe. Came with a driveshaft loop crossmember, adjustable tranny crossmember, and the thing is just really beefy. I skipped the TCI shocks and will use either QA1s or Varishocks.

The one thing I like about the TCI 4 link is that the panhard bar (track bar) is horizontal, so you don't get the swinging motion of the rear end when it travels. Plus that opens up space for a full length exhaust.

Here's a great article on different rears:

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0604_rear_suspension_guide/index.html