When I redid my 56 Victoria I thought about Mustang II and everything else! Of course money was a limiting factor. I settled on a rebuild with new ball joints, rubbers etc. While at it I installed the lower A-arm spacers to lower it. I've driven the car this way for years now. I love the way it looks and rides! Takes highway corners hugging the pavement! I've seen none of the "bump steer" mentioned elsewhere and no change in alignment. After lowering the front and rear I had the alignment checked and it was completely in spec! That was a surprise. If you think about the early Ford lower A-arms were very long. An item not looked over on the race tracks and on many latter sports cars. I have a Lincoln disc brake set up but haven't made a solid call on using it. The car stops fine as is, all the brakes were redone and a double master cylinder added for safety. Not to mention the stock disc assembly is heavier than a drum setup.

So my 2 cents! A rebuilt 50's Ford front end, completely in spec, lowered or not, works great! Of course to all owners, it's your car, do it your way! Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

The only reason I was thinking of changing to a Mustang II front end is because I had one given to me for free and my car has been wrecked and both of my lower control arms are bent. As well as my tie rods.

I would like to convert to power steering but all factory slave cylinder units that I have found are around $1500. I have Granada spindles and 11 in. roters but, I have never installed them.I have found a power steering conversion that uses a saginaw 700 gearbox and adapter plate to fit to the factory ford location.I also found a saginaw power steering pump bracket for a y block.

Michael t.

Just remember the MII stuff was designed for a Pinto, probably about a ton less weight than a '56.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

MoonShadow   I like to keep things close to stock unless I really know more that the Engineers at Ford, however I don't. How did you lower your stock front and keep the geometry as designed by Ford.  At the moment I am reviving my 55 T-Bird.  Previous owner did a front end lowering job by .... heating the coil springs ... Needles to stay one broke on me I replaced it with a new replacement part.  It rode just fine but I would like to lower it a modest 1 inch.     Thanks, Bob

AKA   Bob-93021

In my 56 Customline, I did keep the stock suspension (except for the 2&1/2" dropped Granada Spindles), but made the BIG mistake of using Rick Wurth's (Wurthit Designs) Power R&P set-up. This was supposed to be a straight-up "bolt-in" kit that was anything but. I had a huge problem in fabricating a bracket to hold the hyme joint around the clutch linkage. When I finally got all the brackets to fit without the steering binding and went to lower the motor in, the oil pump rested on top of the power rack!. It was just a nightmare. I had to shim the motor and tranny up with aluminum plates and shim the rack down so the oil pump wouldn't hit the rubber dust covers on the rack. Mr. Wurth got an earfull from me and I don't think he is selling these any longer.

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

I used the 1" blocks that space the coil spring plate lower in the A-frame. They are really simple, I installed mine with the front suspension assembled. Used a jack to support the lower A-Frame (car was on stands of course). Drilled out the rivets holding the spring plate on. Inserted longer bolts (in kit) and let the jack down a bit. By using the longer bolts I was able to gain enough space for the blocks. I loosened on end bolt, slipped the bar in, reinserted the bolt. Did the same for the other end and then the other side.

I'm not sure why there was no effect on the alignment. Maybe on of the site Guru's could comment on that. I theorized that lowering the spring bottom mount, while allowing a lower stance did not alter any of the steering geometry? But I've been wrong before. Anyway I'm sure happy with the setup and unlike heating or cutting springs I can remove the blocks and bolt everything back together if I want. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I'm not sure why there was no effect on the alignment. Maybe on of the site Guru's could comment on that. I theorized that lowering the spring bottom mount, while allowing a lower stance did not alter any of the steering geometry? But I've been wrong before. Anyway I'm sure happy with the setup and unlike heating or cutting springs I can remove the blocks and bolt everything back together if I want. Chuck in NH[/quote]

Hi Chuck,

I am not quite Guru Status but the reason nothing changed when you dropped the spring pockets is that you didn't change the length of the suspension arms or their mounting position.  You should see a slight camber change as the arms are now further "up" in relation to the chassis at normal ride height.

I have never seen it in the '57 manual but the '56 manual has a table of the part #'s and specs for 8 springs which seem to be what was used in '56 (see page 359).  This includes the height at normal load which for all springs was set at 9.59", there are 3 wire dia's used and slightly different free heights ranging from 14.09 to 15.95.  Also different but not identified is the number of coils.  This is table is a good point of departure to specify new springs from a spring vendor.  To lower the car one specifies a lower free height,  to get about 1" of drop you need something like .75" reduction in normal load height. 

I assume the T bird spring rate was the lowest at 290 lb/" of deflection.  Back when this stuff was much more available I took two springs from a '56 2 door 6 cyl which had probably one of the springs that had a rate of 360 Lb/".  I shortened those springs by a calculated amount to reduce the ride height about 1 1/2" which also has the effect of raising the spring rate to something like 420 lb/".  They are in my Bird right now.  The ride is fine but I do believe the rate could be somewhat higher, maybe 500 lb/" which would reduce body lean in hard cornering.  Today there is the spring vendor Eaton that will custom make springs and I would get a set from them rather than try to find the old stuff and modify it.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

The 57 front ends were strong & well designed. In good condition they work well. So strong in fact that when I had all the original bushings replaced in mine,(in 2008) we found the upper ball joints were original. Yes the standard steering is a bit heavy & slow but it works well. Converting to a Mustang II setup seems like an odd move in a 57. And if an original II setup, as John H noted, it's to light for a 57... And a side note on front end conversions, a friend has a 48 Merc with a Mustang front end in it. The welding was done improperly by an unqualified person & or with incorrect welding material, & the front end collapsed one day! Fortunately at very low speed.. one day after he had been driving the car at 60 mph over a bridge!!

Paul

I used the 1" blocks that space the coil spring plate lower in the A-frame. They are really simple, I installed mine with the front suspension assembled. Used a jack to support the lower A-Frame (car was on stands of course). Drilled out the rivets holding the spring plate on. Inserted longer bolts (in kit) and let the jack down a bit. By using the longer bolts I was able to gain enough space for the blocks. I loosened on end bolt, slipped the bar in, reinserted the bolt. Did the same for the other end and then the other side.

Chuck   Good explanation, this is simple.  When I get the bird going again I think this is my best option.  I will be happy with a 1" drop.    -Bob

AKA   Bob-93021

Actually my car was lowered about 2" with this method. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire