hi all from the uk I have just purchased the car and have decided to stick with the original front running gear the houdaille shocks are absolutely bust or need rebuild I know there are gentlemen who can rebuild but with the cost of shipping etc makes this a rather expensive option .the affordable option is a telescopic shocker but nobody I have found or the ones I have seen cannot be fitted with the original sway bar .so my question is has anybody done a front shock conversion and if so have you any pictures or drawings even .any help would be greatly recieved .
I used Ch***is Engineering on mine and their sway bar kit. They have closed up shop ,but here are some pix. shock mount and sway bar front view I can't get a picture of the shackle but the lower shock mount is part of the spring shackle. you can also see the sway bar link to a plate that is attached to the axle through the perch pin bolt. I recommend looking for a vender that may have these parts before they are gone.
BillyB, just ran into the same problem. I'll take photos in morning and show you my solution with part numbers.
We make a tube front shock kit that will work with the stock 40 front sway bar or our bigger front bar.
Thankyou so much I saw the ch***is engineering via google and then saw they were shutting down this is ashame as it looked like they had some great products the pictures are awsome and a great help iam just about to go on the weedestreet site and have a look the pictures of your set up mr angledrive would also be appreciated thankyou from the uk
There are a set of houdaille on uk eBay now , look in pretty good condition might be worth a look if you really want to keep the stock shocks up front
I must say joel your workmanship awsome I have just bought my 40 tudor and must say the metalwork is quite good I love the salt flat racer era m***ive fant of the pierson coupe so iam trying to keep it lookinglike early 50s style .iam now 53 and first saw a pic of the coupe in my early 20s fell in love .going through and refurbing the tudor so can get on the road asap so the help you are giving me will get it there a lot quicker
I’m not up to speed on Houlidale shocks so not sure what the model is but these are the items , I notice they have been miss listed as halibrand which is why you probably didn’t find them. Hope that help https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/362189587421
This is not the best way, but solved my problem keeping the original sway bar. Mounts were 34 ford from SoCal. Shocks were Spectrum off ebay. 12.75 extended and 8.625 compressed. I drilled axle for lower mounts and frame for upper mounts. Had to shorten spacers to move upper mount in correct position. Ford had a tube shock kit that mounted to lever shock mount and upper mount attached to original shock holes in frame.
Since you are in the UK how about looking at the old Armstrong shocks that were used on MG-TDs as well as other English cars from that time period. They bolt directly to the Ford frame using the original shock mounting holes. They are a lever type shock that works similar to the Houdailles. I sold my last pair on the HAMB cl***ifieds last year but there should be a reasonable source for them in your area. The shock in the photo is upside down but hopefully you'll get the idea
Apple Hydraulics in New York sell them rebuilt...no cores required. 2 sizes. The smaller ones were used on AH Sprite, TR Spitfire, MG Midget etc. Poor quality photo but you can get the idea.
I know about the armstrong shocks and just feel the modern telescopic would help on the original front end .everybodies advice is very much welcomed as you gentlemen have been around these cars a long time and what has not been tried and tested isnt worth knowing .angledrives solution looks like a good proposition .only one more question the sway bar is attached to the axle with a shackle that also acts as an attachment for the shock absorber .are these acvailable new and the bolt which attaches to the sway bar and this shackle.once again your help and knowledge is of great value and thankyou to all of you gents who took thetime to help
Front end, front shock mounts. used a stock ford top mount, shortened it a bit for so-cal shocks, and then the bottom mount uses a 38 (I think, its been a while since i bought them) perchbolt with a tapered shock pin that bolts into the perch bolt friction shock mount, the idea being to keep it stock looking, and I didn't like the shackle plate TCI type bottom shock mount that I originally bought. Stole this off another Hamb member. This would be what I recommend.
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