Hey Guys,

I've got a 65 mustang project that I am currently working on the suspension. So far, I have purchased but not installed the following:

620 1" Drop Springs
Roller Spring perches
Bilstein Street Shocks

My question is, how do I know if the upper and lower control arms should be replaced? They look pretty clean, but I don't know. I will be doing the Shelby drop also. Is it worth spending the crazy amount of money on TCP or Global UCA/LCA's?

The previous owner had the car set up as a "fake" vintage racer. It currently has a 1" sway bar, cut springs (not sure what rating but they are blue), and Koni classics. I pulled one of the koni's and I can compress it very easily by hand so I assume it is shot. Thanks in advance for the help guys, I really appreciate it!!!!

 

my $0.02:

replace the upper if it's damaged or if the pivot caps won't stay in place. replace the lower if the ball joint is worn out, the boot is torn, or the arm is damaged. everything else on them can be replaced to bring into spec.

 

thanks for the response! Both uppers and lowers look o.k. as in no obvious damage. The upper boots both seem to be leaking though.?.

 

Also, is there a test or something I can do to know if the ball joints are worn out? Thanks

 

re: upper leaking. wipe the grease off and look to see if the boot is torn. if it is, replace either the ball joint or the boot. otherwise it's just where someone got a little crazy with a grease gun.

as for testing the joints, take the wheel off and pry around and look for movement of the spindle in relation to the arms. you shouldn't have any noticeable play. just be careful to not tear the boots. torn/cracked boots allow water and dirt in which washes the grease out and wears the joint out.

 

Like jcoby said, you can replace just the boot on the UCA if it is torn. But if the boot is torn on the LCA you cannot replace just the boot, has to be the ball joint.

Your Koni's may not be shot. They should be adjustable so you can make them more firm. Here is the adjustment proceedures: http://www.koni-na.com/comp.cfm

I am doing an upgrade on my 65 front suspension also. I have all my parts except for my adjustable strut rods which will be here on Monday. I am pretty much replacing everything. If there is anything else you need, feel free to ask.

If you are thinking about replacing parts, do yourself a favor and check out Opentracker Racing Products website at http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/ John makes some great parts and they have excellent customer service. You may want to get his roller spring perches at the very least. These are supposed to be one of the biggest improvements you can to to the front suspension. Good luck!

-James

 

thanks for all the responses. James, I talked to John at Opentracker and I came up with the following for my front suspension:

Opentracker upper control arms
Opentracker lower control arms
Opentracker roller spring perches
Bilstein Shocks
560# 1" Drop Springs
Opentracker steering rebuild kit w/ roller idler arm
New poly bushing on front of strut arm and new rubber bushing on rear
Also doing the 1" Shelby Drop
Car already has a 1" sway-bar with poly bushings

Does this sound like a great set-up or am I missing anything? Thanks again for all your help guys!

 

That is pretty much the setup I went with also. But, I also wanted to eliminate as many of the rubber boots as I could up front. So I went with the Baer Tracker outer tie rod kit. It replaces the outer tie rod, adjusting sleeve, and replaces the outer tie rod ball joint with a helm joint. I think that Shaun at streetortrack.com is still running the Baer Tracker kit on special for $149 right now. Then I just got new inner tie rods (MOOG) and I kept my old center link, but I cleaned it up and primed and painted it black. I also spent the extra $100 and got the LCA with the spherical bearing from John that way I could use adjustable strut rods and not have to worry about putting the LCA in a bind. Here is my list of parts.

Non-roller UCA (Opentracker)
Spherical Bearing LCA (Opentracker)
Roller Spring Perches (Opentracker)
Roller Idler Arm (Opentracker)
1" Drop GT Coils (Opentracker)
1/4" Poly Spring Insulators (Opentracker)
1" Shelby Drop Template (Opentracker)
Baer Tracker Kit (JEGS)
Koni Front Shocks (JEGS)
Street or Track Adjustable Strut Rods (SOT)

I think that is all of it. The only thing I will update in the future will be the UCA. Shaun from SOT is developing a rollerized tubular UCA that looks pretty darn good.

One thing I will recommend when doing the Shelby drop is to get a "Step-Up Bit" or "Unibit" that goes from 1/8" - 1/2". I got mine from Sears for $20 but it was well worth it. I bolted the template up, drilled the 1/8" hole, unbolted the template, used the unibit to drill it out to 1/2", and then finished the hole with a 17/32" bit. You can get the 17/32" bit from Day at dazecars.com He sells it cheaper than anyone else. I paid $18 for mine locally after running around to 10 different places trying to find it. Also, DO NOT use drill bits from Harbor Freight for this!!! I broke two of them before I learned my lesson and switched to the unibit.

I would also recommend cleaning up as much as you can while you have all the parts off. I cleaned the heck out of my shock towers (lots of surface rust), primed them, and painted them black. They look brand new again. I was used Rustoleum Satin Black and it looks pretty darn close to original.

I am in the process of putting all of mine back together this weekend so I will let you know how it goes. If you have anymore questions let me know.

-James