When I put the wagon back up on the lift to rebuild the front suspension, I noticed that I had not done such a great job of color sanding and buffing the lower portion of the doors and rear quarter panels. It really didn’t take very long and it really helped the way the car looks. I am really impressed with the quality and depth of the shine that I was able to achieve with PPG Concept Single Stage. It really does have some depth to it.
Reflections
Okay, now that I am finally mostly happy with the paint job, on to installing all the new front end parts that I have been acquiring. The 1st task was to remove the tie rods and cross link, idler arm, and steering arm. Then remove the lower control arms and springs and finally the upper control arms. Last to go was the old power steering box.
Down to the Frame!
Once I removed all of the old parts, I cleaned the frame and firewall and scuffed everything with a scotch brite pad, and then applied 2 more coats of SEM Hot Rod Satin Black. While I was at it, I also touched up some of the pieces that had been previously painted black.
Paint it Black – Again!
After I let the paint dry overnight it was time to bolt all the new pieces back on. I started by mounting the upper control arms. Since the orignal suspension had been hacked up, I had no idea how much of a spacer pack is needed to get the front end aligned. So I started out with three .125 shims in the back of each arm and two .125 and one .0625 shims in the front. It is somewhat in the ball park and I have more shims to play with when I get down to doing the initial alignment.
Once the upper control arms were in place I bolted the spindles to the upper ball joints and prepared to install the springs and lower control arms. I placed the lower control arm on my two tall jack stands and positioned the arms to where they were aligned with the control arm mounts on the frame. I used some rubber lube on the control arm bushings and then placed the springs in the upper and lower spring pockets making sure to keep the drainage holes in the control arm clear. I then raised the lower control arm up using the jacks until I could thread my homemade spring compressor through the upper shock mount and through the lower shock mount opening in the control arm. Once I had every thing aligned, I used the impact wrench to draw up the lower control arm to its frame mounts. A little work with the jacks and an alignment punch and I was able to get the lower mounting bolts installed, but not yet torqued down. Working back and forth with the jacks and spring compressor I was able to insert the lower ball joint stud into the steering knuckle.
Next up was to mount the rebuilt steering box and the idler arm, and then assemble the tie rod ends with their couplers and attach both of them to the cross link. A little work torquing down all of the tie rod and ball joints and installing a bunch of zerk fittings and all of the steering gear is operational again.
Once all of that was done, I greased the front wheel bearings and installed them in the hubs and mounted them to the spindles. At this point I attached the new calipher mounts to the steering knuckles and did a test fit of the 13″ rotors and dual piston caliphers that I had bought from McGaughys Suspension low these several years ago. I had done some research and found that the front suspension on a 1979-81 Camero was the same as the 78-96 full size GM suspension. I am very pleased to say that it looks like everything fits as advertised! Other than there is no way that a 15″ rim will fit this monster brake setup, so I will have to wait until I order my wheels and tires before doing the final install and fit up. If anything will need to be modified it will be the rear suspension stop to allow the knuckle to turn a bit more.
To finish up the front suspension, I installed the new 1 1/4″ front sway bar. The kit that I bought came with a couple of 5/16″ x 8″ grade 5 bolts which seemed a bit wimpy considering the mass of the new bar, so I headed over to Ace and bought a couple of 3/8″ x 8″ bolts which required me to drill out the washers to fit. The other mod that I had to make was to use a burr on a die grinder to lengthen the mounting slots in the sway bar bushing mounts.
All in all I am very pleased with how everything has turned out. From getting rock bottom low prices at RockAuto.com to the super deal that I got on the dropped spindles and 13″ brake set up. I dont know how quick the 5.7 Hemi will move the wagon down the road, but I am sure that it will stop well and also will have a reduced amount of body roll.
Next up! Install the new streering column and then it is time to re-install the engine and transmission. WOOT!
Rebuilding the Front Suspension
Nice 56 Conrad!
I’m in the process of acquiring one like it. Perhaps we can compare notes. I’ll be needing the Sierra script on the right (passenger) side for example and it looks as though I may have a few extra parts not too sure until it arrives next month. Mine is a 270 poly w/3spd on the tree, no o.d. White over Charcoal. Base model. No rack. No third seat. Having some work done to it (A/C) prior to getting it home (Michigan) from California. I’m surprised hiow well and how many of these have survived. Must have been one of the better built cars of the time. Or perhaps just engineering good fortune.
Regards, Mark
Hi Mark!
Glad you were able to find a Sierra! I would have to agree on your comments re the build of the ’55 – ’56 Mopars. The ’57 and later versions, IMHO just did not have the quality of materials and workmanship that was present in the ’56. My wagon was in pretty bad shape when I hauled it home. It had spent sometime underwater at a beach in northern CA where it had become stuck in the sand as the tide was coming in. The wagon had 104K miles on it when it and the driver ended up blowning the engine trying to get it out before it was submerged. When they finally pulled it out of the sand the next day, they hauled it home and put it in the back yard where it sat until I came along in 2007. They didnt bother to rinse the salt water off or much else, when I stripped out the interior I found piles of sea shells and a fair amount of sand everywhere.
Since most of the running gear had been trashed or badly corroded, I didnt think it would be worth while trying to rebuild and restore everything so I went the custom route. Since you have a road worthy one that still runs I would look at keeping it stock. The two questionable areas of the original design that I had was the front suspension and rear axle.
The front suspension is a king pin IFS design which is very stout, but it was set up for the bias ply tires and rough roads of the day. I am not sure if you can get enough caster into the stock suspension to make it track well with radial tires, but I would give it a try. There are several options to convert the front over to disc brakes which I strongly recommend if you plan on driving it much in traffic, not that the drum brakes are so bad, it is just that the anti lock disc brakes in modern cars are so good that heavy traffic can be problematic. The other issue is the rear axle. The rear hubs are attached to the axles using woodruf keys, which can be sheared off under accelleration. If you keep the stock 270 poly engine with a two barrel you should not have a problem.
Station wagon parts can be a bit of an issue to locate, esp door and window rubber, I am still looking for a good solution. As far as trim goes, the tail fins can be hard to come by and also the rear tail light trim are also one off items. (I guess to keep costs down Dodge used left over ’55 Dodge wagon bodies to which the bolted on the chrome tailfins, unfortunately that required a different trim than the rest of the ’56 bodies). I ran across a guy that had done a very nice complete resto on his wagon, but was missing the passenger side tail light trim and was pretty much dead in the water trying to find it.
I do have the Sierra die cast scripts but mine are in pretty bad shape due to corrosion. A good plating shop should be able to bring them back, but it might be spendy. Without doing any of the badging or scripts I have about $6000 in replating and stainless polishing. Its a big car with a LOT of shinny bits!