1956 Chevy Nomad - A Cure For The Wandering Nomad

We slid the new Performance Online gas adjustable shock up through the coil spring and bolted in place. This basically completes the suspension; of course we had to do the other side in the same manner.

The original steering arms are now bolted in to the new spindles with the supplied hardware; a drop of blue thread locker is always a good idea on suspension bolts.

The Performance Online brake kit comes complete with wheel bearings, but first we must pack the bearings. You can do this by hand or use one of these neat bearing grease packing tools.

And there you have it, all new control arms, springs, shocks, and brakes. Since we changed from drum to disc brakes we will need a new power master cylinder.

With the inner wheel bearing and grease seal installed, slip the hub and rotor assembly on the spindle. Install the outer bearing and washer and then tighten the large spindle nut and add the cotter pin.

The new polished aluminum master cylinder from Performance Online was gently clamped in a vice and bench bled to remove air from the unit.

The Performance Online caliper bolts directly to the new dropped spindle. We installed the brake pads and the hydraulic line before bolting the caliper to the spindle.

Don Prieto’s Nomad had been converted to a dual master cylinder in the past, so our master cylinder and power brake booster bolted right in place. Brakes lines were routed to the distribution block on the master cylinder.

Using a hand-held vacuum bleeder makes bleeding brakes a one-man job. Since we had installed a new master cylinder we had to bleed all four brakes.