MakiMaki

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone in advance for reading my post. I am the ultimate newbie Mustang owner. I just bought a 65 Coupe last week, and absolutely love it. I am really excited about it. It has a Ford 302, 3 speed m/t, runs pretty darn good, but really does need some help.

I think the car is in pretty good shape over all. The car rumbles (shakes/vibrates to the point it scares the life out of me) a lot at highway speeds...... which I believe is due to the alignment/steering/suspension? --maybe even a tranny or engine mounting prob??. It has great acceleration in first and second gear, but loud as all hell. Hoping to put a 4 or 5 speed m/t in when I get some of the other probs taken care of. -Any advice on this is greatly appreciated.

I am going to rebuild the front end (steering/suspension) soon, as the wheels are even bowed inward just a bit. -- Are the wheels most likely bowed inward due to bad steering set up, or is this controlled by other things?

I also want to lower the rear just a little bit.... it seems to up about 1 or 2 inches too high for my taste.... I intend on looking at other posts to see how this is usually done, but also wanted to ask for myself. Can I remove some of the leaf springs to accomplish this? Is this not recommended? And what would you guys do to get around 2 inches lower?

I really do have a lot more questions, and I know I probably asked too mush already, sorry for the series of questions at one sitting, as I don’t want to be a hog for help here, unless that’s cool with you all.

Thank you all very much for any advice you may have. I will post some pics real soon. Bye for now.

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hammeron

nice stang, hope you have many fun filled years with her

67t5ponycoupe

I would recommend doing a complete suspension upgrade. Mustang Depot has one called the Ultra suspension and Mustang plus has one called the Grab a trac. Both very good. As for the rear being high, there has to be a reason for this because mustangs usually sag in the back. My guess would be that someone has put air shocks or shackels on the car. Either way they need to come off. Both of the kits I mentioned should give you a good ride height. Make sure you replace the the tierods and idler arm at the same time.

EmperorOfChicken

Welcome to the forums! I'm pretty mechanically challanged [&o] But I can tell you that when you say its loud as hell...Does it have headers and after market exhaust? Most old mustangs are just loud, and I love it! Good lookin car!

EDIT: Pony coupe, I have air shocks on my 65 coupe, it prefectly level without bottoming out ect.(and the more air the higher less lower yada yada ya) So I personally dont think thats the deal, maybe it is, on my car I can put more air in through a nozel in the trunk so maybe you should let some out? I dunno, good luck!

67t5ponycoupe

I see the pic now. Doesn't look like it has shackels, must have air shocks. That rear is way up there. I dig the old school five slot dish mags. They old way is to use air shocks so you could put really fat tires on it.

67t5ponycoupe

BTY pulling leafs out of the springs is not really an option.

MakiMaki

Bless you all. I love the help here. Please keep it coming folks, I think it might be air shocks, im going to take a picture of what i can see, and post in just a minute. But really folks, you are extremely responsive, bless you for it.

I love this.

MakiMaki

OK, I looked all over the trunk, couldnt find any valves. Do all air shocks have the valve accessible like that? Hers's a couple more pics, maybe it will be helpfull. Thank you all very much, you really do make this fun and exciting.

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[IMG]local://upfiles/42698/9959237B360843B3921FBA83EBEA6E19.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/42698/0780465F5871497BBBF12968F468F151.jpg[/IMG]

EmperorOfChicken

Looks like gas shocks to me, but I'm not 100% sure, sorry, tomarrow in the AM I'll take some pictures of my setup to compare to yours (I have air suspension) I'll try to get it up on a lift, but right now they are all taken [&o]

67t5ponycoupe

Those don't look like air shocks so I'm not sure how they are getting the back up so high. That shake you feel at high way speeds usually tends to be idler arm or tierod ends. Not a good idea to drive it like that. FYI when the rear end is up that high it throws off the front end geometery. It will give you are negative caster situation. That will tend to make it hard to steer and wear out front end parts.