1952-59 Ford Quick questions

Ok, so I am trying to put the front brakes on my 57 wagon with only the sop manual POC to go by. There were no springs on her when I got her. So this is how had it set up with a brown spring and blue spring left over. Found out the blue spring is for self equalizing brakes so don’t need it. But what about the brown one? If I have her set up correctly in the photo I need another kit. Or does a red spring go on the front shoe and a brown on the rear shoe?

question two: how do I get the bushing on the sway bar? I have a stock set up and was able to get one side on but the other is a no go. Tried soap and nothing. They just aint going on. I am to the point that I may cut a slit in the side to open up the hole a bit more so they will twist on.

thanks,

mike

 

I think the springs have two different colors on them, and the blue spring is for the self adjuster on a later drum brake? I found a picture of a later drum setup with self adjusters and you can see a long and short spring on the brake shoes on top and a different spring on the self adjuster on the bottom. EDIT: I guess what I was trying to say is it looks like they gave you a set of springs for a later car with self adjusters OR some sort of universal spring kit that is supposed to fit cars with or without self adjusters. I have ran into this on brake kits for 8 inch rear axles (Falcon, Mustang, Maverick) with 10 inch brakes and the "nails" for the hold down springs are too long. Turns out that the off shore produced brake shoes are too narrow by a small amount AND the nails are too long as well. They are both made to some sort of metric measurement and is the only things the big box parts stores carry. My wife's 66 Mustang was all original, my wife has owned that car for over 50 years! The only new wheel cylinders I can find fit fine and work fine BUT they have metric bleeders. These are the only metric parts on the car now! Not a big deal, but pisses me off none the less. If you have springs that fit and are strong enough to pull the shoes back against the wheel cylinder pressure when the brake is released I wouldn't worry too much about anything else. Just my opinion but I have had to adapt to ill fitting parts that still work okay.