I am interested in doing a Mustang II project, but I do not know anything about the suspension. What exactly can I do to the front and rear suspension. To be specific I would like NOT to use leaf springs, I would settle for a 3 link and a IRS would be nice if feasible. As for the front, would this Mustang II IFS Kit - Complete work? I think not because when I read on in the description, mustang II wasn't under the, "direct fit applications." But I could be wrong. Any help would be nice.
Suspension questions
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Dano78
Founding Member
Sorry guy I kinda laughed when i read this the 1st time but now I see where you are going.
First off... junking the puny 13" wheels and going to at least a 14" or better yet a 15" or 16" wheel 7"-8" (possibly 9" or 10" out back) with lower profile tires will do your handling wonders.
Front Suspension-
No those 'kits' are not what you want. Those kits are to specifically adapt the entire MII style suspension to various types of vehicles. You already got the main piece(s) right there on your MII that these other cars would lack. Back in the day guys would have to graft a raw factory MII main crossmember into the chassis of their street rod if they wanted to run MII suspension. That's what's in my '47 Ford coupe, an actual factory crossmember grafted onto my '47s frame. Looks really good too. But these kits simplify that step with pre-fabbed crossmembers that fit the frame of your particular vehicle.
In your case look below in that link you posed and you'll see a host of upgradeable items such as tubular upper and lower contol arms, different rate coil springs, coil over shock assemblies if you dont want to run stock coils, larger disc brake upgrades, drop spindles, various size sway bars, and so much more. You can thank the street rod communtiy with the popularity of II's front end for the mass amount of aftermarket parts at your disposal.
A cheap and easy upgrade for the II suspension is to swap to Granada rotors (10" or 11"... can't remember) with either stock calipers or GM calipers. This will net you about 1/2" wider track width, but that not all that noticable. It really all depends on what you're trying to achieve witht he car as what to do with the suspension.
Shoot, you can swap to brand new 5-lug rotors that bolt right in on your all stock setup for a measley $60. Chevrolet, Ford car, or early Ford car/truck bolt patterns all available. You can't beat that.
Rear Suspension-
The rear isn't as popular as the front suspension, but is actually typical of all parallel leaf suspensions. The quickest and easiest upgrade would be to add the factory rear sway bar and new rear leaf springs. Upgrade the rear axle iteslf to a 9" or a different 8" with larger 10" drum brakes. Lots of kits now to convert your 8 or 9 inch rear to disc brakes.
You want an IRS or 4-link from what you stated. It's doable, just as any other leaf sprung car. Beware though, you will need to be pretty proficient at welding and fabricating which really goes hand-in-hand installing a 4-link into just about any other car too. The best way would be to back-half the car. Basically cut out the entire underside of the car, old rear subframe and all from the floorpans on back. Then install new framerails and then set up your 4-link. An IRS (independent rear suspension) would be the same way but you'd have to find an IRS that has a track width you could live with. Off the top of my head, a Jaguar XKE rear would probably be the only one I would guess with a track width you could make use of. The XJ6s are just too wide, at about 60". I'm in the works building a narrowed XJ6 rear for my '25 Model T squeezing it down to 56". IRS is really spendy, a 4-link with a soild rear axle would probably be more economical not to mention, set up right, will perform just as good.
Bottom line is.. Figure out what you want the car to do and what kinda of a budget you need to work with. Believe it or not, these Mustang IIs, out of the box, perform very well if you have the sports handling package. You'd be surprised yourself if you drove a II with rebuilt suspension that had the front and rear sway bars. With a few monor improvements, even being leaf out back, still holds to the road very well.
You want real proof that the II's have what it takes, check this guy out. He actually use to be a regular around the forums here. Check out these links-
1976 Ford Mustang II Cobra Alcino Azevedo Jr. - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine
1976 Ford Mustang Cobra II - Low-Buck Bully - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine
He's 100% proof that you don't need a pile of money or a bunck of fancy trash to make a car stick to the road. You just need the right combo. As always Al... Great job!
First off... junking the puny 13" wheels and going to at least a 14" or better yet a 15" or 16" wheel 7"-8" (possibly 9" or 10" out back) with lower profile tires will do your handling wonders.
Front Suspension-
No those 'kits' are not what you want. Those kits are to specifically adapt the entire MII style suspension to various types of vehicles. You already got the main piece(s) right there on your MII that these other cars would lack. Back in the day guys would have to graft a raw factory MII main crossmember into the chassis of their street rod if they wanted to run MII suspension. That's what's in my '47 Ford coupe, an actual factory crossmember grafted onto my '47s frame. Looks really good too. But these kits simplify that step with pre-fabbed crossmembers that fit the frame of your particular vehicle.
In your case look below in that link you posed and you'll see a host of upgradeable items such as tubular upper and lower contol arms, different rate coil springs, coil over shock assemblies if you dont want to run stock coils, larger disc brake upgrades, drop spindles, various size sway bars, and so much more. You can thank the street rod communtiy with the popularity of II's front end for the mass amount of aftermarket parts at your disposal.
A cheap and easy upgrade for the II suspension is to swap to Granada rotors (10" or 11"... can't remember) with either stock calipers or GM calipers. This will net you about 1/2" wider track width, but that not all that noticable. It really all depends on what you're trying to achieve witht he car as what to do with the suspension.
Shoot, you can swap to brand new 5-lug rotors that bolt right in on your all stock setup for a measley $60. Chevrolet, Ford car, or early Ford car/truck bolt patterns all available. You can't beat that.
Rear Suspension-
The rear isn't as popular as the front suspension, but is actually typical of all parallel leaf suspensions. The quickest and easiest upgrade would be to add the factory rear sway bar and new rear leaf springs. Upgrade the rear axle iteslf to a 9" or a different 8" with larger 10" drum brakes. Lots of kits now to convert your 8 or 9 inch rear to disc brakes.
You want an IRS or 4-link from what you stated. It's doable, just as any other leaf sprung car. Beware though, you will need to be pretty proficient at welding and fabricating which really goes hand-in-hand installing a 4-link into just about any other car too. The best way would be to back-half the car. Basically cut out the entire underside of the car, old rear subframe and all from the floorpans on back. Then install new framerails and then set up your 4-link. An IRS (independent rear suspension) would be the same way but you'd have to find an IRS that has a track width you could live with. Off the top of my head, a Jaguar XKE rear would probably be the only one I would guess with a track width you could make use of. The XJ6s are just too wide, at about 60". I'm in the works building a narrowed XJ6 rear for my '25 Model T squeezing it down to 56". IRS is really spendy, a 4-link with a soild rear axle would probably be more economical not to mention, set up right, will perform just as good.
Bottom line is.. Figure out what you want the car to do and what kinda of a budget you need to work with. Believe it or not, these Mustang IIs, out of the box, perform very well if you have the sports handling package. You'd be surprised yourself if you drove a II with rebuilt suspension that had the front and rear sway bars. With a few monor improvements, even being leaf out back, still holds to the road very well.
You want real proof that the II's have what it takes, check this guy out. He actually use to be a regular around the forums here. Check out these links-
1976 Ford Mustang II Cobra Alcino Azevedo Jr. - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine
1976 Ford Mustang Cobra II - Low-Buck Bully - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine
He's 100% proof that you don't need a pile of money or a bunck of fancy trash to make a car stick to the road. You just need the right combo. As always Al... Great job!
The funny thing is I was laughing while I was typing it so don't feel bad for a chuckle or two. 
I would like to thank you, you do not know how much this has helped me, especially the article, now I have a different view about the leaf springs . If you have any more articles about mustang IIs big or small please PM them to me. I was aiming at handling under a MM suspension grip box of the fox bods.
I would like to thank you, you do not know how much this has helped me, especially the article, now I have a different view about the leaf springs . If you have any more articles about mustang IIs big or small please PM them to me. I was aiming at handling under a MM suspension grip box of the fox bods.
Dano78
Founding Member
Believe it or not, I just happened to remember Alcino's article and googled it real quick and posted the links I found. I read the actual article, in Popular Hot Rodding and hoped that I would be able to find it on the net.
There's only one other II that's famous for it's handling characteristics, that I am aware of, and that's the Monroe Handler Mustang II. At it's time it was quite a machine, but after reading about Al's car, it's probably doesn't compare much or provide as much info as Al's article does. Just google "Monroe Handler" and it should pop up some stuff. As for more articles, i'll see what i've got, can't remember if I saved some of the stuff that i cross on the net. There is a good book out there for tricking out your II, I'll see if I can find it.
There's only one other II that's famous for it's handling characteristics, that I am aware of, and that's the Monroe Handler Mustang II. At it's time it was quite a machine, but after reading about Al's car, it's probably doesn't compare much or provide as much info as Al's article does. Just google "Monroe Handler" and it should pop up some stuff. As for more articles, i'll see what i've got, can't remember if I saved some of the stuff that i cross on the net. There is a good book out there for tricking out your II, I'll see if I can find it.
Vegas Stang
New Member
- Feb 27, 2008
- 64
- 1
- 0
I am in the process of installing tubular uppers and lowers as well as coilovers purchaased from Heidts, I will be posting photos as I do the work.
78CobraII
Moderator
If you really, really want a 3 or 4 link rear in your II, I wouldn't give up completely. Almost anything is possible with a bit of fabrication, and the kits available for the '65-'66 would give a good starting point.
Even an IRS would be possible, but I wouldn't go with the 2003 Cobra setup like DVS Restorations is putting in the early Mustangs...its just too wide for the II. Instead there is a kit for the '65-'66 Mustang that uses a mix of Jag and custom parts...it would be a better fit width-wise for the II. And its apparently based on a prototype design from Ford.
Even an IRS would be possible, but I wouldn't go with the 2003 Cobra setup like DVS Restorations is putting in the early Mustangs...its just too wide for the II. Instead there is a kit for the '65-'66 Mustang that uses a mix of Jag and custom parts...it would be a better fit width-wise for the II. And its apparently based on a prototype design from Ford.
Jax Rhapsody
Member
Im not sure on the MII rear suspension but leaf springs arent all that bad. If you wanted to race it some classes require you to maintain stock like suspension. NOw heres something I havent heard of in a while till I ran into some info on 80's Corvettes is fiberglass leafsprings. They react different than steel ones. I dont know if MII's have two on each side or one but you coudd sit down and think of a way to better the rear like fiberglass leaves with steel ones which would act like a shock and spring. Or add a traverse one on top the axle. Just trying to help.
78CobraII
Moderator
Here are some pics from the "Hot Rod" magazine Monroe Handler articles, and links to the text of the articles:
Mustang II Network - Mustang II Scanned Photos - Monroe Handler
The rear of the MII is close enough in dimension to that of the '65/'66 Mustang that anything designed for the early Mustang can probably be modified to fit.
For example the various 3 link and 4 link aftermarket rear suspensions, the old under-rider traction bars, etc.
The main difference is that the II does not have a rear subframe in the same way that the classic Mustangs did. So the bulk of your fabrication would be in providing mounting points for the forward components. Not too difficult for a good fabricator.
I bought a set of the under-rider traction bars, and after modifying the axle mounts to fit the MII rubber isolators (cutting an oval shape for the rubber to fit through) and elongating the "U"-bolts holes a bit, the axle part was taken care of. The problem came on the forward end because the design expected for there to be a subframe to weld to. I expect to eventually add a pair of mounting links to each side of the forward leaf spring mount to attach the front of the traction bar.
You can also use all of the nice tubular control arms developed for the Rodder front suspensions with the stock MII front crossmember. You just have to choose an upper arm that will fit over the factory upper spring cup, and a lower that works with the factory strut rod. Or you can modify the factory crossmember to use the "strutless" lower control arm. There are also coil-over and airbag setups for the MII frontend.
I recommend that you check the Heidts website to get an idea of what's available:
Heidts Hot Rod Shop - Custom Suspension Systems
Mustang II Network - Mustang II Scanned Photos - Monroe Handler
The rear of the MII is close enough in dimension to that of the '65/'66 Mustang that anything designed for the early Mustang can probably be modified to fit.
For example the various 3 link and 4 link aftermarket rear suspensions, the old under-rider traction bars, etc.
The main difference is that the II does not have a rear subframe in the same way that the classic Mustangs did. So the bulk of your fabrication would be in providing mounting points for the forward components. Not too difficult for a good fabricator.
I bought a set of the under-rider traction bars, and after modifying the axle mounts to fit the MII rubber isolators (cutting an oval shape for the rubber to fit through) and elongating the "U"-bolts holes a bit, the axle part was taken care of. The problem came on the forward end because the design expected for there to be a subframe to weld to. I expect to eventually add a pair of mounting links to each side of the forward leaf spring mount to attach the front of the traction bar.
You can also use all of the nice tubular control arms developed for the Rodder front suspensions with the stock MII front crossmember. You just have to choose an upper arm that will fit over the factory upper spring cup, and a lower that works with the factory strut rod. Or you can modify the factory crossmember to use the "strutless" lower control arm. There are also coil-over and airbag setups for the MII frontend.
I recommend that you check the Heidts website to get an idea of what's available:
Heidts Hot Rod Shop - Custom Suspension Systems
Over in the Classics Forum their discussing using the II suspension, over here we're discussing using aftermarket ....
Madness! It's Madness I say!!!!!!
Madness! It's Madness I say!!!!!!
78CobraII
Moderator
Its the human condition...you always want what you don't have...
Reminds me of the "Grass is greener on the other side of the fence".
When crawling over the fence don't snag your balls.
3-0-II
Member
Over in the Classics Forum their discussing using the II suspension, over here we're discussing using aftermarket ....
Madness! It's Madness I say!!!!!!
I've been thinking of adapting a classic stang rear 3 link watts link coilover kit to my II also.
its clearly the best of both worlds
Mustang II out front, classic in the backSimilar threads
