Today I took my car to have the upper control arm bushings replaced and they called me to give me some bad news. It ended up that the upper control arm is in bad condition so I have to look and order new ones so they can replace it. So I have to look around to see where I can find them and hopefully it wont take long for them to come in. More bad news is that I bought the bushing set about 3 months ago and I bought the ball joints around on Febuary. Now I have to find the whole complete upper control arm, and I will have some parts left over that I have to pay for again. (sorry I'm a little disapointed.) I was thinking of doing the shelby drop since they are going to take everything off again. What do you guys think? Also what do I have to do I've read about it before, but I don't remember everything at the moment. Do I just have to measure and drill new holes? Then use those new holes instead of the old ones? Also I want to lower the car a little I was thinking of cutting half a turn on the springs. Does anybody have an idea of how much it would probably lower. I want to lower it about 1"-2". My springs are the original for a 200cid. don't know if that matters. How much does the shelby drop actually lower the car? or is it just for handling and performance? Thanks.

 

Yes, you just drill new holes with a template and use them. If your car still has the 200 in it, then it might lower it an inch. My 67 has the 200 with all original suspension and I dropped an inch.

 

The shelby mod will lower the car by moving the wheel and unsprung suspension bits up into the wheel well. Cutting off parts of the coil springs will do the same thing.


That will mean two things. First, the car will probably be a lot lower than you want it to be. Second, and here's the important part, both actions will sharpen the angle of the upper ball joint. Especially the Shelby mod. Your ball joints don't have that much range of motion. On full compression, like a pot hole, the ball joint will be cranked beyond it's range, and snap. That's a bad thing.

Years ago, I did the Shelby mod on a '69 GT. I left the stock springs in place. To compensate, I used a simple alum wedge on the bolt-on ball joints to correct the angle. Seemed to work perfectly. I put a lot of miles on that car, and never had to replace the ball joints. I havn't seen that kit around lately. But I havn't been looking for it, either.

In the rear, I used a simple alum 1" block and some longer U bolts.

 

opentrakkerracing products has modifed upper arms with the ball joint adjusted for the shelby drop and beyond

 

You will need a good alignment with the drop. Both are very much worth doing. I would do the drop first then if that wasn't low enough, then cut the springs.

 

I agree with evil....NPD sells a modified ball joint that has extra travel for this application..

 

Bob, in reality you're not going to get that extreme travel while street driving. Not enough to bind up the ball joint, anyway. I know lots of people that have been daily driving with the Shelby drop and have had no problems. Pretty soon I'm going to be one of them. Problems usually only ensue when you go farther than the typical 1" drop.

The Shelby UCA drop generally only drops the front 1/4-3/4". Since most Mustangs tend to ride very high in the front, this is usually a good thing. Since he wants to lower the car even more than that, I don't see a problem there.

Do the drop, Guy, you'll appreciate the improved handling.

 

+1 on the drop. Coupled with a new front end and a rack & pinion it handles like a slot car now.