I took some time off from working on the Henry J. It's been a busy couple of months with work and other projects, oh, and getting married! So now that the wedding is over and things are back to normal I can go back to my normal past times...
I finally have the front suspension reassembled so the car is back on 4 wheels and is a roller. I had the lower A-arms sandblasted, then I took them to a friend to weld in 3/16" plates to the bottoms of them to mount tabs for a cross-bolt mount shock. I found a pair of Bilsteins on Craigslist that are meant for a 1980 camaro. The length is perfect for the ride height I'm going for. After my buddy welded up the shock tabs, I painted the arms with one coat of Por-15 and a couple coats of black Rustoleum.
I also cut 1.5 coils off of the stock springs in hopes that it will result in the right ride height. It was a complete shot in the dark, so we'll see if the ride height is right once I get the engine & transmission in the car. As it is, it looks promising.
I kept considering cleaning and painting the upper a-arms and the front area of the frame, but I decided that I didn't want to postpone reassembly because I still want to get this car running asap.
This isn't a great shot, but it shows the shock tabs we welded to the bottom of each arm.This allows for a lot more shock options.
Here's a shot with the rotor installed. I call this success! My plan came together: modern, powerful, easy-to-source disc brakes on a Henry J without resorting to an aftermarket IFS clip.
And here's what it looks like with the wheel mounted:
And finally, here it is back on all 4 wheels! I'm expecting the front to drop another 1.5 inches or so once the engine is installed. The Buick 215 that's going into it is probably half the weight of the original straight 6 so the spring rate will be relatively stiffer than how it was in stack form. You also get to see the '51 style grill loosely installed. Next weekend I'll roll it into the garage and see about dropping that buick V8 into the engine bay!