So I've written tonight on my front and rear suspension posts, and now on to this little jewel. Currently I have a balancer clearance issue. I used the motor mounts to drop the 351 Windsor in order for the Headman Headers to fit under the toeboards. I now have a balancer that sits on the sway bar. The question here is, are there any sway bars that will easily replace the factory one so that I can actually use the car in more of a driving manner than a sit on the shelf like a Hot Wheel manner? I don't want to lose any handling and increasing it would be great, but I also don't really wand to change anything else with the front end. Thanks for the advice in advance. Now on to the list of things left for the coming months. If you have any advice or know of threads that will help, I would like to replace all the steering linkage. Also my headers are in the way of the stock automatic gear selector from moving past neutral. At the moment I have an over from a friend to measure the amount needed for movement and then he will heat the header pipe up enough to smooth it down for the selector to move with ease through all gears. If someone thinks this is an outrageous idea please let me know before I add them to the destroyed while learning pile.
Can you move the sway bay a little lower? I'm thinking an inch spacer between the frame and the sway bar mounts. Can you post a pic of the header versus gear selector issue ?
To fix your sway bar just space it lower till it clears and use these:http://energysuspension.com/products/Sway-Bar-End-Link-Bushings.html your '54 should have a 3/4" sway bar part#9.5156 for spacers cut a piece of flat stock and place it between the sway bar bushing and frame,this will change the length of the end links and here is a solution:http://energysuspension.com/universal-products/sway-bar-end-links-set-sizing-charts.html as you can see they come in different lengths,it shows on this page how to measure.Energy Suspension can be had through Autozone and O'Reillys if they don't have them in the store it should only take one day from the warehouse (saves you from paying shipping) and the cost is usually less than stockers from vintage Ford vendors.Probably would be easier to solve the shifter issue by going to a floor shift.
These are the pictures of the gear selector. Uploaded with ImageShack.us I had thought about putting spacers between the frame and the sway bar but it seemed like the kind of thing that would affect the handling. Are the energy suspension end links the the right size to offset any handling affect that would be caused by the spacers? I don't have pictures of the sway bar at this point but I will try and take some Saturday. Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Almost all '54 Fords used a 3/4" sway bar,I have the Energy Suspension parts on my '54.Go back to the last link I posted which shows you how to measure for the length of the end links,you won't know that length until you install the spacers then you can take the measurement and order the correct links,these will make for an improvement in handling over the OEM rubber ones.Looking at the bottom picture rather than dinging the header it looks like if you were to shorten the shift lever about an 1 1/2" it would clear,you could cut it with a Dremel and then weld it back on,remove the bushing before you weld and then re-install it.
I will figure out the spacer size needed on Saturday and do the measurement for the end links like you suggest. I was looking at a picture of the sway bar just laying flat on the ground after I painted it, and I was wondering if its possible to have put the thing on upside down? I will look into what you are talking about with the shifter. I think that I forgot to mention that at the moment the collector for the headers is also in the way of the rod that connects to the transmission. Hopefully dinging the header or cutting lever will solve both problems.
You sure this might not be easier? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPE-6423/Application/?query=Make|FORD
What about using a cable shift linkage? Not sure if that lever can be rotated at all or if it's permanently set at that angle, but with a cable linkage you could clock that selector arm away from the headers and just route the cable appropriately.
For the gear selecter arm I think I would make 2 - 45 degree bends in it so that it ends up sitting between the header and the firewall, then you can bend a new rod that snakes around the header. You can also bend your sway bar for clearance, just do it cold and dont heat it. I would bend it just inside the bushings making a dip in it to clear your balancer, this will shorten the overall length a bit so you will have to bend the ends out a little to realign the sway bar links.
I would just add some spacers underneath the stab bar, it won't have any affect on the handling. I don't know that you would even need to worry about messing with the end links, it's no different than if the car was lowered...
EchoOfGecko-The cable shift linkage is an idea that I never have thought about, mainly because I don't really understand how those work. I'm willing to learn if you can explain how it works exactly. MarkT-The 45 degree bends seems interesting too. But I do think it would be easier to heat up the $100.00 headers and bend them than possibly screwing up a part that is almost impossible to replace. JeffB2- I did think for one second about your idea of converting to the floor shift but then I realize that I really like having the shifter on the column. I think that being an automatic and having it on the shift is more nostalgic and more my style for this type of car. Mjlangley- I think spacers are the way to go for now since it is the easier fix for me. When I replace the front suspension a few months ago, I replaced the end links too and they were actually shorter than the stock ones that were on there. Thank you all for your help and advice. I will be away until the 14th, so I will let you all know what I did, how it turned out and I will post pictures too.
The Jalopy Journal
