Restoring a car has always been on my bucket list. I got serious and bought a '53 Sunliner. I've always had older cars and worked on them myself but never a big project like this. The car was driven 6 years and spent the rest of it's life in barns but along the way, the engine disappeared but the body and frame condition is really good. The plan is for the car to look good and be fun to drive and reliable enough to drive cross country. It seems overwhelming at times but I see what others have done on hamb so I know it's doable. The interior and trim are removed, the fenders are off so now it's time to start putting it back together. Any advice on improving the suspiension, brakes and steering would be appreciated. The car did not have power steering or brakes.
Welcome from Texas! You should join the '52-'59 ford social group here on the HAMB as you will be able to get some great information from there. Lots of good people, cars, and info. Here is the link to it: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/1952-59-ford-social-group.282/ I would use Ford Aerostar coils (part # Moog-CC850) up front for about a 2-2.5" drop, and Posies Super Slide 3" lowering leaf springs (part # 302) for the rear. I have this suspension set up on my '56 Ford, and love it. Link to Aerostar coil springs: http://www.amazon.com/Moog-CC850-Va...67&sr=8-1&keywords=ford+aerostar+coil+springs Link to Posies Super Slide 3" lowering leaf springs (scroll down to page 38): http://www.posiesrodsandcustoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-Posies-Cat-PROOF-4-4-14.pdf Be sure to start a build thread. I would like to follow your progress.
Depending on how you want the car to drive you can go pretty much stock on the drive train. I drive my stock 6 cylinder 53 sedan all over (central Texas to Lake Tahoe two years ago). The factory option overdrive makes all the difference.
Thanks, Hunter73. I'll check out the links you sent for the suspension and join the Ford group and will start the thread and post some picks taken while I diss***emble so that I can figure out how to put it back together. I just browsed through the Posie's catalog. There's a lot of great kits to improve the car besides the suspension. Thanks. Thanks also for the note on the drive train. The car didn't originally have the overdrive transmission and I checked ebay and I think I saw some. I haven't seen any threads where others have found and added factory overdrives. I do see adapter kits for swapping out transmissions. I wasn't crazy about the idea cutting a hole in the floor but since deciding to restomod I'm ok with it. At first, I had planned to restore but restomodding it will make it "mine".
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