Got the brakes bled...finally and now have brakes indeed. Backed it out of the garage then up and down the driveway to make sure no disasters were pending. Due to the Aerostar springs and the drop using the Granada spindles it is low in the front. Had a penguin stance though and spent the afternoon re-setting the alignment. Took it out on the road and it stops just fine without power brakes, very nice. Not so good getting into the driveway or turns. Too low...Aerostar springs are coming out and the original springs I had in it going back in for test drive number two.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark

Did you take any pictures of the car before you removed the aero springs? Would you take some "after" you get the orgional springs in and post them? I would love to see how low "too low" is.

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

Gary, there is a photo on Page 2 of this thread where I test fitted the Aerostar springs. One of the problems is that the Granada spindles widened the track of the front wheels. I have about 3/4 inch plus between the upper ball joint where I had maybe a 1/4 inch before. This caused the tires to rub the inside of the fender well on bumps and turning a tight radius was a major problem. I finished putting it back on the springs I had yesterday and spent most of the day futzing with the alignment. It is lower than before but only an inch or so but it is driveable and only rubs if I hit the driveway bump to fast on turning in. I am going to call it good for now. Here are some photos from this evening. The driveway slopes toward the street so the car isn't level and it does sit lower in the front. The measurement is now about 25 1/4 at the fender lip. The disc brakes make it stop straight without pull. I like it. I'll get a couple photos on level ground tomorrow. Getting dark here now.



57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Nice car! It's great to see it together!

When I installed the Granada spindles (1.5" drop), I mocked up the front end without springs, installed tires and wheels (205x75R15 = basically stock), then jacked up the A-arms and checked clearance lock to lock. I ended up putting about 3/8" of spacers under the lower bump stop to limit the suspension travel. I haven't noticed any rubbing issue at all with Aerostar springs.

Actually, I'm more concerned about ground clearance over some of the absurdly high speed bumps at the local supermarket!

Here are a few photos from this morning. I have 225/60 15's on Torque Thrusts which are 7 inches wide with 3.75 backspacing that limit how low I can go.







57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark

Thanks for the picks, I have be getting my parts together to do the disk swap, and wondered about the aero springs. I like the height yours is with orgional springs. If I need it lower I can cut the springs. Car looks great, I too am a fan of the old torque thrust.

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

Looks great to me too.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

I put the Grenada spindles on my 56 several years back, got the whole setup from Drop-n-stop. There were two versions, I got the one with the most drop and as I recall, it was around 1.5-2 inches. Did not do anything with the springs.

My '54 convertible had the springs shortened before I bought it and it does throw the geometry off and is almost impossible to get a decent front end alignment. I am going to go back to the stock springs and do the Grenada setup with it as it works so well on the Fairlane.

Jim (site owner)
'56 Club Sedan - Ted Eaton built 429 hp '292/318, '54 Sunliner - stock '302