Hey Rik, what is the number on those Monroes?

Stop. Yes the bushings you picture are for a 56 but I do not recommend them. They will last about a month. The 55 bushings have much more surface area to support the load. They will replace the ones in your r2 picture.

In your r6 picture there are many things wrong that need to be corrected before other suspension work is done. Your leveler motor has been run much too far: The connecting link between the leveler and the torsion bar has rotated towards the rear of the car. It should be toward the front, and the longer connecting link going to the right side of the car should be toward the rear. The short link also seems to be bent and should be removed and straightened. Notice also that the torsion bar arm has been pulled very far toward the center of the car. Normally this would make the back end of the car sit VERY low. Under most load conditions that arm is almost vertical.

The last thing I notice is that the small adjustable link that operates the torsion level control box is bent and needs to be straightened.

I fear a lot of damage has been done to your car in the past and it will take some time to repair all the details of the Torsion Level system one by one to make it work properly. Please be patient!.

No, look at the ones at the other end of the arm from what you circled. But change those at the front of the arm also as they will be elliptical now instead of round.

The work at the back of the car is a little easier than at the front as the torsion bars are captive in the rear frame and can not unwind as they can at the front. You can unbolt the rear shock absorbers and the stabilizer linkage and let the the rear axle drop down as far as it wishes.

You have the #4 pin as evidenced by the 4 grooves. That was the longest standard pin but you can make one 1 cm longer without the torsion levers hitting the frame. You will need to check the shop manual about removal of the pin as it is under load.

If the car is level front to rear and you are still resting on the rubber bumpers in the front then your torsion bar has probably sagged to the point where it will need to be replaced. Not so easy to do in DE. Then I would suggest making the longer pin in the front and adding a helper spring around the front shock absorber.

Being a 56, the rubbers where the rear axle mounts are surely bad. Replacing them will add several CM to your overall ride height. I suggest using the '55 style rubbers there. You will need to discard the large round washers you that supported the original bushings, and add a 5 mm thick spacer onto the tubes on the U-bolts. This is a much more satisfactory setup than the original 56.

Use a 1/4" bit as it is a 1/4" tube.

If you could look under the car and tell us the number of grooves that are cut in the suspension pin (the vertical pin next to the shock absorber)I can make a suggestion for a new pin. These are very easy to make. I find the adjustable one unoetig kompliziert. Let us know the length of the one on the other side also.

On these cars the pins are just like heels on your shoes. The taller, the taller the car stands.

The heat riser tube is only inserted into the manifold a very short distance. There is a labyrinth cast there. Just drill it with a 1/4" drill bit--that will take about 3 seconds. If you start bringing cast iron dust you are going too far. You would have to really try to damage anything.

Well, it's not Maryland gas as I just ran my 53 up a steep hill on the local interstate at 80 and accelerating. None of my other cars are having any fuel problems either. In fact, they all love the cold weather. I did just replace a condenser in a 64 Stude that took it into its head to stop inexplicably, That solved it.

For a driver, just changing the valves will probably tighten up the fit in the guides sufficiently unless they are waving like flags. It is much less than fun to change the guides with the engine in the car.

If the nut is pretty well flush with the end of the shaft then the wheel is on all the way. Can't recall if those cars had one double spline to center the wheel; that must match up.

Otherwise you need to loosen the steering column clamp down at the steering gear and the the dash clamp at the instrument board and slide the column up to within 1/16" or so of the wheel.