1952-59 Ford 56 a arm splash shields

Would someone mind posting a pic of there upper a arm splash shields? I'm trying to figure out what I'm missing on my car.

 

And out of curiosity, I'd like to see what oem '57 are like as well.
The pic is what I did, but I have no idea what it was suppose to be, other than the front lower piece is oem reproduction rubber from Dennis Carpenter for this purpose. The kits they supply don't even cover 1/2 of the lower edge of the inner fender well.
The 3 pieces over the control arm are 1/8 rubber sheeting I cut. I really didn't care if it was to factory specs, just functional. If I had done this before I installed the wheel wells, I would have stapled them on rather than the pop rivets.

 

They were dropped from production in early 56. Somewhere I have a service bulletin that I will try to find. They were just a rubber flap and a sheet metal retainer in 55 & 56. Sorry Tex, I can't help with the 57.

 

Here's a pic of my '54. Not sure if they're the same but at least it's a reference.

 

I checked this on my car which is original and has a build date 10-21-55. There is no splash material around the A-arm itself like the 54 above. There's no sign of anything that may have been removed or rotted away. There are rubber pieces where the inner fender meets the frame at the front and rear of the A-arm kind of like on Texas57's car but is attached with heavy staples.

 

The Dennis Carpenter catalog I belive shows a diagram where the front and back strips go....like on mine, and what Bomb described. Mine were originally stapled on...a doable but tedious operation on a bench, not something I'd attempt to do while installed on a car since you can't access both sides at the same time. I saw staple holes on the inner fender around the control arms, but no reference to them anywhere, so I just added the flat pieces.

 

On my 56 there are holes that look like they are for screws, not staples. Perhaps for rivets?
I'm just going to make a cardboard pattern and make them from some rubber sheet material
and screw them in with sheet-metal screws & washers.

Chopd top
On your car, are there metal retainers on the engine side where the rubber is?
Make sense?
Thanks
Jim

 

You might consider pop rivets over sheetmetal screws so you don't have all those sharp pointy screws sticking out waiting to get ya. I'm willing to bet if you looked real close you'll find staple holes...maybe filled with rust/debris, but I'll bet they're there. Look at the pic chopped top posted...his are......

opps I meant his are stapled...thanks Jimmy

 

Hi Tex
I think you meant his are Stapled?

 

The rubber is stapled to the retainer which is sheet metal screwed to the inner fender.

 

Thats what I have on my car Jim. I was wanting to seal it up to keep my engine purdy. I may just make something like Tex did. Looks simple enough to do and looks good.

 

Yes I did, thanks

 

I found reproductions of the retainer and the rubber. So I will be ordering me a set. I noticed also that on the rear of the gravel pan there are some staple holes on it. Is there a seal between the pan and the lower core support?

 

56 long
where did you find the retainers?
Thanks
Jim

 

Yes, there's a flat strip of rubber that is attached at the top rear edge of the shield.

 

There is a seller on ebay that has them new. He also has the rubber that goes in between. He has a lot of 55-56 stuff. He goes by rcb793.

 

You will pay premium price if you buy from rcb793. He has things you won't find easily but you will pay handsomely for his time to find it.

 

I noticed that he was a little high on his items. I haven't looked too hard for the shields yet. If I find another source I will p*** it along.

 

If they are the same as those pictured above on the '54 of chopd top, then they are readily available from any '55-6-7 Thunderbird vendor.

 

Exactly!

 

Steel Rubber has this one, $33.80.

 

Man, rubber stuff is getting ridiculous. almost 34 a pair...I would have guessed 1/2 that.

 

MACS has them for $ 19.95/pair. B5A-16240. Just the rubber..not sure who sells the retainer.

 

The eBay seller I mentioned has the retainers for $85. I do think that is a little high but he has the rubbers for $17.50.

 

I'm with Texas, that rubber stuff has gotten way outta hand.

 

In reference to stapling the rubber. What kind of stapler is needed? I have never seen one.

 

You probably won't either....unless your setting up an ***embly line with specialized equiptment for a projected million or so components.
The subject has been discussed more than a few times on the '57 forum. Even guys that worked the ***embly lines in the 50's had never seen the equiptment used. Gotta be a hell of a stapler , and staples, to pierce new sheetmetal. About the only thing we were pretty sure of, the pattern was random, so it was one staple at a time, hand guided.
For us it's gotta be the hard way.....drill small holes, insert the staple, bend the tangs over by hand. I use masking tape on the rubber over the area, push a staple in to puncture the tape for a drill guide.
Some of the window anti-rattlers are installed this way also.

 

Thanks Tex. I was kinda thinking that but wasn't real sure.

 

I wondered about the stapler too... not something that would fit in a desk drawer! Thinking m***ive and air powered.

There are ways around it, pop rivets work pretty well. Now that you have a picture of the splash shields, copy it out of cardboard and slice up an old inner tube.

 

We put mine on with pop rivets. Much less aggravating than trying to manually fold over the ends of the staples.