Rokgtar

Not everyone appreciates the 69 coupes, but I love them! To me, even though a 70 coupe is similar, there was a distinct change that to me, makes the 70 coupe less attractive. I'd love to find a nice clean 69 coupe for a project... Nice car, BTW.

guitarman376

Thanks Rokgtar, often times people comment how it looks 'different' then other mustangs and guess what year it is and usually they say 71 or 72 (I have a hard time not laughing everytime). I also think they are overlooked, I intend to make my car very special and hopefully a good bit different from other cars at autocrosses/open track some day. I understand why a track only car would want to be as light as possible (throwing 69/70's out of the equation) but as a street car it doesn't matter so much even to me. I have always thought the 69/70 cars had the most aggressive styling whereas the earlier cars had more classic lines (especially 67/68 imo).
I found out the port sizes on the integral box already, but I still am looking for answers to my other q's ya'll ...

guitarman376

Well here's an update sort of. I have been thinking (as I said earlier) that it's a good idea to overhaul steering system while car is apart. I was close to getting a power rack (unisteer or randalls), however after reading post after post of drive ability issues (limited turning radius, return to center problems etc) I decided I am going to convert my car to manual steering at least temporarily.
After speaking with one of Unisteer's 'experts' I was less than impressed with how my questions were answered, not to mention their kit requires use of their outer tie rods ie no bump steer eliminator kit. People with randalls kit say there are return to center issues and even issues with how the car feels when driving. I still think that besides the tcp kit most racks are not yet designed well enough for these cars (and you spend thousands!)
So with that said here's what convinced me to go manual linkage setup
1) cheaper
2) guaranteed to have good road feel at speed
3) simple conversion
4) can use bump steer kits
5) can upgrade to borgeson power steering later if desired
6) i can use the arm workout
BUT I NEED YOUR HELP! I have been searching all over forums/internet for answers about components etc but cannot find the differences with certain components Basically I am hoping the following setup will work on my 1969 car. I have 70 spindles so if I could use all 70' steering that would be cool.
1970 manual center link
1970 manual idler
1970 manual pitman
1970 inner tie rods
69 adjusting sleeves (have already)
baer/similar bump steer kit for 70
So experts please tell me if 70' manual CL's can be used with other 70' manual components on a 69! I read that the inner tie rod diameters are larger with 70's, but to me it seems the 70' setup will work fine. Please chime in, want to order parts soon.

67mustang302

Most of that stuff remained similar throughout year models, like 68-70whatever for example. Once you start changing things though, stuff can be a bit different, so the things you need to watch out for are pitman arm shaft sizes, end link sizes and so on.

rwcstang

you know I have to agree with this...I always felt our coupes have so much potential, you just have to do it right! I wanted to stay away from TT's, Bullet, mag 500's just because everyone has them on their car...Yeah, they look good but I don't want to look like every other mustang. So, I wanted to create a retro look to the 99-04 new edge mustang





anyways, love what your doing to the car! keep up the good work!

guitarman376

Thanks for the support, I have been waiting for years to get the opportunity to begin 'restomodding' my car and cannot wait for suspension, steering, and subframe connectors to be done so I can head to the nearest mountain for some twisties. I've had my eye on your build too rwcstang. I think 69/70 coupes value will rise quickly in the next few years as people realize the potential they have. Of all 70' and earlier cars it seems the 69/70 coupes get the least attention...and they are beautiful cars imo... I know I see many more 68 and earlier cars on the road

guitarman376

Technically not suspension related, but I had to remove snorkel on original air cleaner to fit monte carlo bar. Since it didn't look right, and I'm still injured I made a little air cleaner project. Came out nice, too bad the rest of my engine compartment is blah (I did remove choke tube after pic was shot)

guitarman376

Today I got the steering and suspension totally removed! Also power steering pump and brackets. Before disassembling anything I measured tie rod lengths and strut rod lengths for estimating with new setup. I also manually actuated the hydraulic steering ram and it literally squirted fluid up 4-5" into the exhaust downpipe! Good riddance. Here's a pic so I remember it when its been sacrificed to the recycling gods.
Other cool stuff was tattered tie rods, and battered ball joints, and shot shocks! You couldn't write that good (ok, well) if it wasn't true. Yep so one front shock is blown out so I will be placing an order tonight for front shocks. The strut rods took the longest during the teardown process, because of how much the nuts fought and how many threads there are. On one I had to use my foot and it still only gave after dousing it with pb a bunch of times and giving it a little shock treatment.
The internal mustang-specific coil spring compressor worked like a charm, very safe and easy. I believe during the install process the spring with compressor tool (if needed) may need to be installed before upper control arm, but maybe not.
So this all led to me having a swell day, and when I go to my truck to leave I see I got a parking ticket for $58 in a residential neighborhood for parking more than 2 hours. I keep telling myself, "just think of the maiden voyage, just think of the maiden voyage..."
more pics to come in upcoming days

guitarman376

I ordered koni gas a just shocks for the front, I know they will be stiff but I think I will like them (even though I'm using stock shocks in rear for now). I got back to work today and had a productive day. In my previous post I mentioned possibly having to compress spring/perch before installing upper control arm, and that turned out to be correct. Using a torch and a big hammer I was able to bend the strut rod mount on the chassis back into position (probably within 1/8 to 1/4").
I also noticed something else that is in need of modification. The sway bar from mustangs plus that I have had on the car for a few years hits the outer edge of the front subframe. 2 choices, either grind a good bit of the subframe, or make my own plates that would effectively lower the chassis mount for the sway bar. I'm leaning towards the latter, I just need to figure out if lowering the mount will mess up the angle of the sway bar end links.

On the subject of sway bars...have any of you guys ever noticed your sway bars introducing bind in your suspension? Without the bar attached my suspension travels very very smoothly (roller stuff), but after attaching sway bar endlinks (with both lower control arms and strut rods attached) the travel was way less smooth in the suspension, limited too...
I get that this is what a sway bar does, but even within a short range of motion it really seemed to cause a lot of bind. I know this isn't the cause but I will soon grease the frame mount bushings to hopefully eliminate a good bit of the bind.
Otherwise everything went great so far. I had to install the hardware for the spring perch backwards because with the spring perch compressed I couldn't slip the bolt past the spring. When I came home I found out that someone stole the centerlink that was shipped to my door. :'( I was going to finish steering tomorrow too and possibly get car back on the road. Hopefully mustangs plus insured with ups.

guitarman376

Other than front shocks I finished the suspension today. Needed to go to machinist to have bearing races pressed in hubs, so brakes/hubs are tomorrow. Also I will paint the spring covers and finish the valve cover breather assembly with the new air cleaner. Possibly rent pitman puller and install new one. Here's the only meaty pic of the day.