1967 mustang, manual steering, v-8. My car makes a popping sound in the front when Ihit bumps. It drives all over the road, especially on black top. Steering jerks from left to right and is hard to keep on the road. What can I do to correct this problem?

 

My guess would be worn out ball joints, do you know how old yours are? Either that or it needs an alignment

 

I have no idea. I know that the tie rods are wore out but would that cause this problem? One more question. There are two busing right under the radiator that go to the driver and passenger side wheel. They are approximately four inches in diameter. What are these bushings?

 

I think you may be talking about the strut rod bushings

I'm not really sure on whether or not the tie rods will cause it to rock side to side, but I'm guessing they would.

Someone else will post I'm sure and help you more than I can

 

If the car's front end has never been rebuilt, then the best answer is...it's time to overhaul the steering & suspension.

upper/lower arms with new bushings and ball joints
sway bar bushings
strut rod bushings
inner/outer tie rods
pitman arm bushing
Idler arm bushing

Sounds like a lot, but you can do it yourself over a weekend for about $500. After a front end alignment, it will feel like a new car!

Merry Christmas to you!

 

My 66 had a bad pop after I always let off the gas the weight would drop and pop!
Then it was hard to hold in the road after that. Turned out driver side shock tower was cracked so bad it was flexing out and hitting the headers.

 

The cracked shock tower was what I was going to say.
I wouldn't drive the car until you have the front end checked, you could possibly have a catastrophic failure and lose control.

 

+1 on the rebuild. I would do all of it, and maybe do the "Shelby drop" while I was in to it.

 

+1 on the full rebuild, and then when it is rebuilt don"t forget the performance alignment

Please align to these specs “1967-1970 Mustang, Falcon & Cougar Performance Alignment with Shelby drop”.

These specifications are in order of importance.

1. NO more than .25 degrees difference between driver’s side and passenger’s side.

2. +2.0 to +3.5 degrees caster.

3. -.5 to 0 degrees camber. No positive camber, please. There is no problem having a slight variation from driver’s side to passenger’s side to account for the crown in the road.

4. 1/16" to 1/8” toe in

If you run into any problems attaining these specs, please call me (your phone number here).

If you don't have the time or money for the full rebuild and want o isolate a possible cause of the issue check the LCAs where they attach to the frame over time the LCA ends will collapse and that will cause the LCA to body move for and aft under pressure on the bushing sleeve causing a popping sound and extreme wondering.

 

"especially on black top"????? lol, haven't heard that term in YEARS!!!! Now that is out in the country talk.....btw check out the shock towers ideas are first imo, too.