Hi, Ive just purchased myself a 1978 stout for a minitruck/ratrod project and wanted to replace the leaf springs with independent coils and disk brakes on all corners. I want to get it as low as i can without 'baggin' it and also improve handling/ride etc. I thought about using a commodore rear which will give me disks, independent suspension, and a higher geared diff. And on the front ive been told the mitsubishi L300 front end is the best to work with for hotrods. My question is.... Has anyone done a similar conversion already? and what worked best? Do you think the L300 front will adapt to the stout? Any help or advice from anyone would be greatly apreciated. THANKS!

 

throw away the frame, or sell it, ya sell it.


the front x-mem is graft into the frame on a stout, and it has only a partially boxed frame. the later frames (1970+) can be reduced to just a ladder with bolts and are fully boxed.


id look into a mkIII supra (1988ish) very similar front suspension design with a G code independent rear end (8in). theres a pic floating around on this forum of the whole suspension grafted to a truck frame, just need strut towers.

 

For the truck at the end of Sho's post, search the boards for SupraTruck. With the T.

As for the rest, I would find a frame/truck that is of the 75-78 era. Front has disc brakes already. Its set up for a 20/22R already. Has in most cases an 8" rear end. If you are willing to sacrifice the IRS for a solid axle you could 4 link that and notch it. They frames sit low pretty well stock. You basically would just be doing a body swap at that point.