Norm Peterson

What roller spring perches do is take some of the "stiction" out of the front suspension and let it move more freely. That's a good thing, as itlets the tire tread stay in more constant contact with the pavement, so your overall average grip is better.

At some point, the chassis could stand a little reinforcement, and adding something similar to the factory convertible reinforcing might be worth considering.

As far as "horrible handling" goes, any leaf spring car that has extended shackles is going to be that bad. As in they'll change the handling behavior of a car whose suspension is in otherwise decent shape from 'OK' to 'like it's almost completely shot'. I mention this because installing long shackles was a popular mod 'back in the day', and from limited personal experience is just about as bad as if the frame at the shackle attachments has rusted through.


Norm

Daze

Yes it is the inside that needs to be sized for the bearings. If you have a die grinder I would use that first to nock down the inner seam and to surface the intire inside of the cylinder and then finish it off with a brake hone. There is no need to clamp it down I simply hold them in a gloved hand. It takes quite a bit of work to get it fitting right. Go slow and check the fit often.

Adrenolin

I do have access to a die grinder so I'll use that first then finish it with the hone. Will be awhile yet but will let you know. Thanks.

Aussie66Fastback

no one's really mentioned the rear suspension.

I've tried stiff rear springs and sway bar. I am about to change the bushes and dump the sway bar. The best "cheap" setup Ive seen so far is Maier Racing panhard bar and their leaf springs that are 5 leaf front half, 3 leaf rear. Scott Heath and another guy put me onto that idea. The front half of the spring is more of the control arm part. THe back half looks after the ride compliance. The panhard bar stops lateral movement of the diff with respect to the body.

The expensive versions include RRS 3 link coilspring rear or (unless you are Daze) an independant rear setup.

Anyone else got ideas here?

btw 67fbshell...what are you considering at this stage?

67 evil eleanor

So lets hear what the ultimate suspension is for our old steed. I have read lots of info, TCP's, Global, Opentracker upgraded roller stuff, Mustang 2 types, IRS setups, and so on. For me its very confusing what is actually the best. I need a recipe for everything between the steering wheeland the lug nuts. Some test results would be great (lateral G's). Maybe broken down into two categories of street performance (mild track), and track (all out competition). Tires being the same for comparison.

69thunder

Air bags, I forget the company name. It is a relatively new kit for mustangs. Amazing reviews so far.

67fastbackshell

I'm most likely going to go with upgraded suspension, but we will see how far gone my bank account is when we get to that point.

Front
http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCa...dropped_AT.jpg

Rear
http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCa...800-M10_AT.jpg

Steering
http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCa...RCKM-02_AT.jpg

Connectors
http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCa...TWRB-02_AT.jpg

http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCa...-SFC-01_AT.jpg


Expensive, good lord yes. Worth-i sure hope so.

andrewmp6

Only thing id change on that list is the rear http://www.evolutionmsport.com/evmCa...products_id=49 or http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/rpss_fd.html with the tcp one the sub frame connectors you like come with it too.

Norm Peterson

Quick looks only.

Either a torque arm or 3-link would be a better rear suspension arrangement than a triangulated 4-link if you're going to drive it HARD (including corners). Arguably nicer in a DD, but not as necessary. The PHB or Watts link required by the TA or 3-link does make exhaust routing slightly more difficult.

I really don't like the looks of this from a structural point of view. Chassis structure is no place for rod ended links, and it looks like the ends of those links do not lie in the planes of the plates at least at the shock towers (translation: potential bending and fatigue issues) Loading that slender front lateral tubular member in bending like that(by the two forward diagonals) is just plain wrong. There are much better solutions.


Norm

Daze

That is a loaded question. A suspension that works well for one application is not going to be good for another. There are three main aspects: handling, ride quality, and traction hook up. Often times improving one of these things will take away from the others. I guess what I am saying is the "formula" is different for a street car, a track car or a drag car. With all that said I can tell you what I did and what I am going for. I live in NW MT. which means lots of narrow windy roads and pot holes. I wanted to be able to drive fast, take sharp corners at 90+ MPH and I wanted to have a comfortable ride. To those ends I upgraded the stock suspension and was very satisfied with the results, almost like a new car. here is what I did to my 64.5:

PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
UCA drop
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
Roller perches
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
Adjustable strut rods
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
1" sway bar
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
GT coil spring just slightly stiffer than stock
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
5 leaf rear
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
KYB gas adjust shocks
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT!!!
PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT!!!!!

I am beating a dead horse but the performance alignment is huge NOT TO FORDS SPECS. Now I was very happy with this set up. the car was fun to drive, hugged the road and allowed me to take corners as fast as I wanted. Thing is I am always pushing the envelope and have always found IRS very interesting so now I am working on putting a Jaguar IRS in my Mustang. This will make the rear so much better that the front is going to need an upgrade to keep up so I am also building my own coil over set up.

Over all some good rules of suspension are:

The parts are designed to move so if you can free them up even more the car will handle better
Mustang suspension does not like geometry changes
Stiffer is not always better in springs
and there is no such thing as a good "package" unless you are wanting the street/track profile the kits are all geared to
Most people don't like the results of adding a rear sway bar to a classic Mustang


Lets break down the options:
TCP, Ron Morris, Global west, fat man
Basically these companies offer variations on the same theme. A coil over or modern strut type front suspension has better leverage. This allows for more consistent tire to road contact and allows for softer springs which in turn improves handling and ride quality. that is why these kits are so expensive they really do a lot to improve the way the car handles and drives. A classic Mustang with one of these kits will respond in the front more like a new car.

You mentioned a Mustang II set up, and IMHO the ONLY reason to do that more room in the engine compartment. Too much changes on a set up like this. Ackerman angle is wrong and suspension travel is reduced which hurts ride quality. A mustang II set up is still better than a completely stock original set up but not as good as a modified stock front end like the one I described above.

Opentracker makes wonderful parts. He has two goals in mind and if you understand his goals his products make a lot more sense. First he wants to free up every aspect of the front suspension. in other words roller everything. This is brilliant because the more freely the suspension can move the better it can do its job. The second thing he does is maintains the stock appearance so that his parts are vintage legal. That is why all his stuff is still biased on the original ford design instead of starting from scratch. perfect example would be his roller UCAs compared to a set of tubular UCAs.

As far as IRS. It is the worst thing you can do to your car IF you are drag racing IRS does not do well in hard launches, but if you are not drag racing than it is a huge improvement in both ride quality and handling on the street where road conditions are always changing.

As far as the catagories you mentioned you want things softer with a street car and stiffer with a track car. Springs shocks, bigger sway bars all that.

For a street car I always recommend softer springs, and really good shocks, kind of the best of both worlds. the ride is softer because the springs are softer but the good shocks keep the front end more consistant like stiffer spring would. For a street car never go more than a 1" sway bar and you probably won't want to put a sway bar on the rear. Free up the suspension and let it do its job because in the real world rod conditions are always changing.

For a track car or drag car the pavement should be smooth so run stiffer springs, bigger sway bars both front and rear make sure your rear end is set up with traction control options like traction bars. Also for theses cars tire scrubbing is not really an issue so replace the performance alignment with an aggressive alignment lots and lots of positive caster and lots of negative camber.

Trying to do both can be hard. Basically you will have a car that is a bit of a harsh ride on the street and not quite stiff enough on the track.


If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask. I live for Mustang suspension