Manta Mirage Rear Suspension

[Sulley]

I have the stock rear suspension.

#1 - is this set up Corvair trailing arms

#2 - I understand C3 trailing arms will bolt right in is that correct?

[Ken Walsh]

I'm using Corvette suspension (and I think it's from the C3 evolution). As such, you cannot just swap trailing arms. In my set-up, I'm using the Vette suspension as a "five-link" arrangement. Two trailing radius rods running forward from the Vette rear upright to the Mirage frame rails; one radius rod below the axle half-shaft, and one above it; and a fifth radius rod, behind the upright to the chassis, which sets rear toe-in. See my pics in the Mantacars.com registry, under Mirage, Ken Walsh.

[Sulley]

I found your car and attached some images. So the C3 trailing arm is not a direct swap then. I was thinking it was. Now you have to figure out how to get more horsepower out of your car!!

[Blueovalz]

I was thinking along the same lines as Sulley, and that perhaps it was the C2 and early C3 trailing arm that could be swapped, perhaps with the C2 upright.

[Sulley]

Ken where did you have your axles fabricated?

[Ken Walsh]

Ken where did you have your axles fabricated?

As for the axles (half axles, actually), I had a driveshaft shop in Colorado Springs make them. Any good driveshaft shop should be able to fab them and BALANCE them (after all, the half axles are pretty much just "short driveshafts").

The trick on going from a Porsche transaxle to the half axles, however, are the adapters I machined from steel. They are the chromed pieces that mount to the Porsche stub diff stub shafts to the fabricated half axles. I took "one route" to do this; there are others as well.

As for the "radius rods" chromed rods with heim joint rod ends, I cut those from DOM steel tubing and threaded ends/bungs.

Ken