Hey Folks,
I have torn down my '58 Big Brake car and had a bunch of questions for y'all about what I have found:
-On my 5 leaf HD springs, the 6 straps that hold the springs together look different than the ones in the drawing in Noland's book - Noland shows the strap as being solid all the way around to the rivet but mine wrap the springs with the ends meeting on the top of the spring in the middle. Is this correct and the drawing is wrong?
-How were the frames for RPO cars handled/ordered in terms of their needs? Were they just base frames modified on the line? Particularly, I know the rear shock mounts were knocked off on the assembly line and the RPO ones welded in their place, was the same true of the rear axle bump-stops? I am asking because the RPO cars didn't have the forward-most rear bump-stops because they interfered with the rear air scoops. What I am really after is that my car looks like these brackets were ground off as I can see where the grinding was done. I at first thought someone had mounted radius bars on the car later in life, but now believe it is where they ground off the stock mount on the assembly line. Is this correct??
-Lastly were there front left, front right, rear left and rear right drums or just front and back? I have stamps on the front rim of the drums where the part # is that says W2, W3, and W4 and wasn't sure if these were casting mold #s or if these were specific to certain wheels (Wheel 1, Wheel 2, etc.).
I have a bunch of pics of my RPO parts I plan to post and add a link to - hopefully I can do this before the end of the week.
Thanks in advance!!
Ken
I have torn down my '58 Big Brake car and had a bunch of questions for y'all about what I have found:
-On my 5 leaf HD springs, the 6 straps that hold the springs together look different than the ones in the drawing in Noland's book - Noland shows the strap as being solid all the way around to the rivet but mine wrap the springs with the ends meeting on the top of the spring in the middle. Is this correct and the drawing is wrong?
-How were the frames for RPO cars handled/ordered in terms of their needs? Were they just base frames modified on the line? Particularly, I know the rear shock mounts were knocked off on the assembly line and the RPO ones welded in their place, was the same true of the rear axle bump-stops? I am asking because the RPO cars didn't have the forward-most rear bump-stops because they interfered with the rear air scoops. What I am really after is that my car looks like these brackets were ground off as I can see where the grinding was done. I at first thought someone had mounted radius bars on the car later in life, but now believe it is where they ground off the stock mount on the assembly line. Is this correct??
-Lastly were there front left, front right, rear left and rear right drums or just front and back? I have stamps on the front rim of the drums where the part # is that says W2, W3, and W4 and wasn't sure if these were casting mold #s or if these were specific to certain wheels (Wheel 1, Wheel 2, etc.).
I have a bunch of pics of my RPO parts I plan to post and add a link to - hopefully I can do this before the end of the week.
Thanks in advance!!
Ken