Working with a 4-link rear suspension from Bob Coffin of The Shop in Arizona, Rick added his own replacement for the typical angle iron bracing originally used by Crown. He used left and right hand thread rod ends and aluminum threaded struts from the Speedway Motors catalog.

The angle of the half shafts seen is this picture reflects that the car is on jack stands. All this changes when the weight of the car is on the wheels, as we'll see later in the feature.

It's a very impressive looking setup, and the rod ends will help keep the car running straight under hard acceleration.

The inboard passenger side bracket for the 4-link makes tight clearance for the differential dipstick. These are the little annoyances that every rodder runs into during a build. Later in the build, we'll see Rick's solution to this problem.

In the lower right of this picture we see the original Crown lower strut rod relocating bracket. Rick added a second, higher hole as per Bob Coffin's recommendation. He explained the original hole was better suited to bias ply tires, whereas the relocated attachment point will take full advantage of modern radials and optimize the Corv-8's handling.

The half-shaft U-joints used are stock Corvair heavy duty items with grease fittings, obtained from a Corvair parts supplier. They were re-greased before assembly.

Click a road sign for more about the Norris Corv-8.