1956 Buick Special Info Needed

[Kiwi Ants]

Hi all. I have a 56 Buick Special. No power steer or power brakes. I would really like power steer. Is this add on option easy to find? I am in NZ so Buick parts here are non existent. So I would need to get something from the states. I suppose I am looking for some guidance on "If its possible?" and if it is "How hard is it to find?" Re the brakes is there a factory option or is aftermarket the only way. The car is original with 80k miles so am trying to keep as original as possible. Thanks all

[JohnD1956]

1 hour ago, Kiwi Ants said:

Hi all. I have a 56 Buick Special. No power steer or power brakes. I would really like power steer. Is this add on option easy to find? I am in NZ so Buick parts here are non existent. So I would need to get something from the states. I suppose I am looking for some guidance on "If its possible?" and if it is "How hard is it to find?" Re the brakes is there a factory option or is aftermarket the only way. The car is original with 80k miles so am trying to keep as original as possible. Thanks all

 

Welcome Kiwi Ants.

 

The power steering and brakes should be relatively easy to locate, but you need to get all the parts from a 1956.

The steering column and steering gear are different than what is in your car already.  So they both need to be changed. Also you cannot use the 54/55  steering gear. And it would need to be determined if you could use the 57 Steering gear .  Note that the 56 PS option introduced the rag joint between the steering column and steering gear to Buicks. I have heard, but am not certain, that the manual steering in a 56 is one where the steering shaft is attached directly to the steering gear, which is similar to the 54/55 set up, which is why you cannot use them in your car.  Don't forget the brackets for the Power Steering pump.  plus dual pulleys for the harmonic balancer and the water pump so you can add the belt to the engine.  To be investigated is if the signal light wiring in your column matches up to the wires for the PS column.

 

For the power brakes you'll need the factory master cylinder/ power booster , which is mounted in the same location as your master cylinder.  It is a one year only application, and they do not come up for sale often. In addition you would want the brake pedal and perhaps the hangar and floor plate as well. You would also need a vacuum canister, which if you wanted to make it look original, is mounted on the inner fender well on the drivers side.  Be sure to get the vacuum hoses and the brass "T" for the vacuum port that is located on the front of the intake manifold.   After market systems are available and easier to find the parts for, but there has never been any definitive studies that indicate either of these systems are any better than the manual system you already have.

 

Good luck with your car.

[Pilgrim65]

Hi , welcome 

I have a 53 special with no power steering or brakes and initially thought same as you .

but we have a similar problem , not being in the states it makes the swop difficult and very expensive .

Johns excellent knowledgeable advice above gives you an insight to the size of the task . Locating and identifying correct parts could be difficult and sounds like you need some Buick expertise,  hopefully you get parts right first  time otherwise shipping to and fro will add cost .

i investigated myself but cost was considerable and by the time I had received all the information , I had grown used to driving her and 3 years on don’t find it a problem , steering bit heavy when starting manover , but ok when driving , existing brakes good.

So as it’s my classic and don’t drive everyday ,decided  I couldn’t justify the cost.

be interesting to know what you decide and how you get on , please post.

good luck 

pilgrim

[Beemon]

There is a pretty neat modern brake setup being sold on Ebay that replaces the fresh air box plenum on the firewall. I cannot justify this modification because IMO the stock power brake system is good enough for me to feel confident driving 80-90 mph on mountain passes. I don't want to say I'm reckless, but I am very spirited in my driving and have yet to have an "oh sh*t" moment with the brakes. I also think this modification is ugly and changes the firewall too much, but could be justified depending on what you want. It's literally a bolt in swap with no hassle, or so I've been told. One way to increase your braking efficiency is to find Roadmaster backing plates and hardware for the fronts. They are 12x2.5" drums instead of the stock 12x2.25" drums and work pretty good. I did this swap on my 56 Century not because I needed to but because I wanted to.

 

There are disc brake kits that can be relatively inexpensive to install. This starts to get into the range of questionably and is probably only desirable with the firewall kit. I would not use disc brakes with your stock manual master cylinder. I have been told the systems work fine with the stock master cylinder but I have never tested this exact combination. Since ball bearings are becoming increasingly hard to find and the stuff offered on places like RockAuto are junk, I've been reusing questionable 60 year old or so ball bearings on the fronts (for instance, one of the inner bearing outer race tolerances was so poor that the race spun inside my hub). If you can locate 1960-70+ front drums, you can knock the rivets out and use the hubs with tapered BR3 and BR5 roller bearings if you turn the inner ball bearing race down to a thickness of 1/2" as a bearing spacer on the stock spindles. The disc brake kits supply these spacers and bearings with their hardware, so that could be a plus. In fact, I am going to test the validity of whether or not you can really use the discs with the stock power master cylinder over break as a final nail in the coffin. I've been working with a colleague on pressure differences brake efficiencies these last few months and the papers say it could work but pedal effort might be tough even with vacuum assisted brakes.

 

For power steering, there is also a kit on Ebay for that as well. I wouldn't bother tracking down a stock 60 year old steering box unless you know 100% certain it is tight and in good working order or you have a mill/lathe combo to re manufacture the hard parts inside that are not made brand new. Otherwise, if you send it out for rebuild, the best you're gonna get is a seal kit and 120 degrees of steering wheel play. Ask me how I know this. This Ebay kit is also a direct bolt in swap. You can use the original pump for looks or forego it completely with the new pump in the kit. The seller was willing to split the kit when I inquired earlier this year. You would simply need to modify the drag link with the available kits (manual and power steering cars use the same drag link but different internals for 56). The pitman arm spline count is the same so that is not an issue, and the kit comes with a new pitman arm as well. You do still need to find a power steering column but because its a rag joint, it is easily and effortlessly connected to the steering column. Others on the forum have adapted the CPP 600 steering box. Do a quick search on the forums and you'll find Leif in Sweden's posts (Ebay kit) as well as VickyBlue's posts (CPP box). They are good reads.

[60FlatTop]

That car should steer fairly easy. Imagine the expectations of the buyer taking that car off the showroom floor. You have the last of the king pin cars. They as well as many other suspension points can be the issue. And the steering box can be worn, adding to the effort. Even a set of 78 series tires is going to add a bigger footprint on the ground.

 

What are the symptoms you are experiencing? If you went out and bought a bunch of 60 year old power parts that were worn out you'd still have problems. A few years ago I got involved with a mid '30's Rolls-Royce with power steering added (with a couple other improvements) I was jokingly calling it the Phantom Fongool. It i fixed and quite proper now.

 

First check would be to pull the drums, backing plates, knock off the tie rod links, and see how that bare spindle moves around with no load. Or just knock off the tie rod end, leaving it all together. I've done that and seen one wheel move a lot harder.

 

Bernie

[1956322]

On 12/14/2018 at 12:20 PM, Beemon said:

There is a pretty neat modern brake setup being sold on Ebay that replaces the fresh air box plenum on the firewall. I cannot justify this modification because IMO the stock power brake system is good enough for me to feel confident driving 80-90 mph on mountain passes. I don't want to say I'm reckless, but I am very spirited in my driving and have yet to have an "oh sh*t" moment with the brakes. I also think this modification is ugly and changes the firewall too much, but could be justified depending on what you want. It's literally a bolt in swap with no hassle, or so I've been told. One way to increase your braking efficiency is to find Roadmaster backing plates and hardware for the fronts. They are 12x2.5" drums instead of the stock 12x2.25" drums and work pretty good. I did this swap on my 56 Century not because I needed to but because I wanted to.

 

There are disc brake kits that can be relatively inexpensive to install. This starts to get into the range of questionably and is probably only desirable with the firewall kit. I would not use disc brakes with your stock manual master cylinder. I have been told the systems work fine with the stock master cylinder but I have never tested this exact combination. Since ball bearings are becoming increasingly hard to find and the stuff offered on places like RockAuto are junk, I've been reusing questionable 60 year old or so ball bearings on the fronts (for instance, one of the inner bearing outer race tolerances was so poor that the race spun inside my hub). If you can locate 1960-70+ front drums, you can knock the rivets out and use the hubs with tapered BR3 and BR5 roller bearings if you turn the inner ball bearing race down to a thickness of 1/2" as a bearing spacer on the stock spindles. The disc brake kits supply these spacers and bearings with their hardware, so that could be a plus. In fact, I am going to test the validity of whether or not you can really use the discs with the stock power master cylinder over break as a final nail in the coffin. I've been working with a colleague on pressure differences brake efficiencies these last few months and the papers say it could work but pedal effort might be tough even with vacuum assisted brakes.

 

For power steering, there is also a kit on Ebay for that as well. I wouldn't bother tracking down a stock 60 year old steering box unless you know 100% certain it is tight and in good working order or you have a mill/lathe combo to re manufacture the hard parts inside that are not made brand new. Otherwise, if you send it out for rebuild, the best you're gonna get is a seal kit and 120 degrees of steering wheel play. Ask me how I know this. This Ebay kit is also a direct bolt in swap. You can use the original pump for looks or forego it completely with the new pump in the kit. The seller was willing to split the kit when I inquired earlier this year. You would simply need to modify the drag link with the available kits (manual and power steering cars use the same drag link but different internals for 56). The pitman arm spline count is the same so that is not an issue, and the kit comes with a new pitman arm as well. You do still need to find a power steering column but because its a rag joint, it is easily and effortlessly connected to the steering column. Others on the forum have adapted the CPP 600 steering box. Do a quick search on the forums and you'll find Leif in Sweden's posts (Ebay kit) as well as VickyBlue's posts (CPP box). They are good reads.

 Beemon I can tell you that I've been running the scarebird disk brake set up with the factory power master..probably not the optium set up but I haven't had any real world problems with it in the two years of daily driving it...

[Beemon]

5 hours ago, 1956322 said:

 Beemon I can tell you that I've been running the scarebird disk brake set up with the factory power master..probably not the optium set up but I haven't had any real world problems with it in the two years of daily driving it...

 

I guess my three main concerns would be:

1. Can you lock up the brakes?
2. How is the pedal effort?
3. Did you do anything to the stock proportioning block?

I wish for an aftermarket kit, they would have picked a donor car that has more exotic rotor and pad combinations but beggars can't be choosers when you don't have the money to see what car brand exactly has 11" rotors that are slotted with the best brake pads available to man. lol

[1956322]

Oh I can definitely lock up the brakes.. Stops well and even.. Little pedal effort.. Didn't do a damn thing with the original proportioning block.. I'm just running basic semi metallic pads maybe I'll try cermic next time around.. Plus tapered bearings