With the 14' racing season behind me, it's time to start my much anticipated winter project--adapting 67/68' shock towers and front suspension to my 65' Mustang. After this mod I should have gained enough engine compartment room to allow me to install a nice set of raised port racing heads and the desired big tube headers to enhance the power of my street/strip 427w. Once completed I will have gained at least 2" between the shock towers.
One may ask why not go straight to a Mustang II rack and pinion? Its for both cost and appearance. All told I'll have barely a grand in my project, including 100% all new front suspension parts. Can't touch a full on fitted rack and pinion with decent brakes for double that. This mod will also help me maintain some of the factory appearance, which I've tried to adhere to. A side benefit of going to the 67-70' suspension is that caster and camber changes are made with screw type adjustments and no shims will be required at the UCA as this becomes a fixed position.
Here are most of the parts that are needed for this project:
When I ordered parts, I specifically targeted the 68' model. Although the parts can be spec'd from any 67-70' Mustang or Cougar, it is best to avoid the 67' specific model due to some odd 1 year only parts such as the LCA's and strut rods. The 69/70' shock towers are shaped somewhat differently than the 67/68' parts, but are still useable if you have the parts. I do not believe that there is any clearance or fuctionality advantages in either series of shock towers and I chose the 67/68' series because it is somewhat closer in appearance to the 65/66' parts. If it was and available and affordable option, I might have installed the 69/70' Boss 429 shock towers for even more upper tower clearance. They have yet to be inexpensively reproduced and finding used ones in good condition would be next to impossible. An option is to further notch the new towers, which is something I plan to explore before the project is completed.
Very few suspension parts are carry overs when doing this project. Only the outer tie rod ends and its connecting piece could have been reused from my 65'. I orderd them new too as they are inexpensive. The remaining parts MUST come from a 68-70' to make the swap work. Most of the parts pictured above are quality made by Moog and Dynacorn. The hardest part to source was the pitman arm, which is an early 67' 1" V8 manual shaft unit that is needed to adapt the new front suspension to my original 65' steering column. This arm was only available for part of a year until Ford introduced the 2pc rag joint steering box. I sourced the arm new from John's Mustang in Houston Tx.
It may also be possible to install a 68-70' 2 pieced 1 1/8" rag joint steering box, shaft and pitman arm, but for an original look one should use a late 67' 1 piece column with the 65/66' bushing and turn signal.
The coil springs must also to be changed as part of the conversion. Many catalogs list both the 67/68' basic V8 and 6 banger cars as using the same spring. With my Caltrac rear suspension, I wanted to get the softest spring rate I could find to help with weigh transfer, much like the 65/66 6 banger springs I've used. After a little research I discovered a 67/68' specific 6 cylinder spring with a little softer rate than the dual V8/6 combo part:
The only real negative that I have found with doing this project is that it limits the choice of what front wheels that can be used. Most commonly used offset wheels might rub the front fenders, especially when turning. The reason is that the 67/68' Mustang suspension and body is actually 2" wider than the 65/66' Mustang. One might be able to install a modern Mustang wheel with a deep back space, but for my needs I want to use a classic type wheel. Luckily all I had to do was look in my storage garage for a set of original type 14x5" 65' styled steel wheels:
I like them and they will be replacing my old Magnum 500's.
Let's get to the fun part. I began the project by first removing the motor, the full front cap, and virtually every loose part out of the engine compartment. During outer body part removeal, I used lots of masking tape in critical places to prevent scratching the still beautiful paint:
The old suspension also needed to be removed:
This is how I left her the first evening:
Although I already had a generic Monte Carlo bar, I opted to order a Scott Drake reproduction which is said to be the best fitting bar out there (besides an original Ford bar):
Before I started hacking away at the car, I took a few measurements from a never damaged 60K mile 65' convertible. Not surprisingly, I found that the shock towers on the project car had sagged inward (which was also verified by the Monte Carlo bar.) Not having ready access to a port-a-power, I used my engine hoist's ram to shove the towers apart:
Opps, I went a little too far so a come-a-long was utilized to pull the towers a little closer together:
The Scott Drake bar then fit the car like a glove. When bolted in place it will be a valuable guide while aligning the new towers.
One may ask why not go straight to a Mustang II rack and pinion? Its for both cost and appearance. All told I'll have barely a grand in my project, including 100% all new front suspension parts. Can't touch a full on fitted rack and pinion with decent brakes for double that. This mod will also help me maintain some of the factory appearance, which I've tried to adhere to. A side benefit of going to the 67-70' suspension is that caster and camber changes are made with screw type adjustments and no shims will be required at the UCA as this becomes a fixed position.
Here are most of the parts that are needed for this project:
When I ordered parts, I specifically targeted the 68' model. Although the parts can be spec'd from any 67-70' Mustang or Cougar, it is best to avoid the 67' specific model due to some odd 1 year only parts such as the LCA's and strut rods. The 69/70' shock towers are shaped somewhat differently than the 67/68' parts, but are still useable if you have the parts. I do not believe that there is any clearance or fuctionality advantages in either series of shock towers and I chose the 67/68' series because it is somewhat closer in appearance to the 65/66' parts. If it was and available and affordable option, I might have installed the 69/70' Boss 429 shock towers for even more upper tower clearance. They have yet to be inexpensively reproduced and finding used ones in good condition would be next to impossible. An option is to further notch the new towers, which is something I plan to explore before the project is completed.
Very few suspension parts are carry overs when doing this project. Only the outer tie rod ends and its connecting piece could have been reused from my 65'. I orderd them new too as they are inexpensive. The remaining parts MUST come from a 68-70' to make the swap work. Most of the parts pictured above are quality made by Moog and Dynacorn. The hardest part to source was the pitman arm, which is an early 67' 1" V8 manual shaft unit that is needed to adapt the new front suspension to my original 65' steering column. This arm was only available for part of a year until Ford introduced the 2pc rag joint steering box. I sourced the arm new from John's Mustang in Houston Tx.
It may also be possible to install a 68-70' 2 pieced 1 1/8" rag joint steering box, shaft and pitman arm, but for an original look one should use a late 67' 1 piece column with the 65/66' bushing and turn signal.
The coil springs must also to be changed as part of the conversion. Many catalogs list both the 67/68' basic V8 and 6 banger cars as using the same spring. With my Caltrac rear suspension, I wanted to get the softest spring rate I could find to help with weigh transfer, much like the 65/66 6 banger springs I've used. After a little research I discovered a 67/68' specific 6 cylinder spring with a little softer rate than the dual V8/6 combo part:
The only real negative that I have found with doing this project is that it limits the choice of what front wheels that can be used. Most commonly used offset wheels might rub the front fenders, especially when turning. The reason is that the 67/68' Mustang suspension and body is actually 2" wider than the 65/66' Mustang. One might be able to install a modern Mustang wheel with a deep back space, but for my needs I want to use a classic type wheel. Luckily all I had to do was look in my storage garage for a set of original type 14x5" 65' styled steel wheels:
I like them and they will be replacing my old Magnum 500's.
Let's get to the fun part. I began the project by first removing the motor, the full front cap, and virtually every loose part out of the engine compartment. During outer body part removeal, I used lots of masking tape in critical places to prevent scratching the still beautiful paint:
The old suspension also needed to be removed:
This is how I left her the first evening:
Although I already had a generic Monte Carlo bar, I opted to order a Scott Drake reproduction which is said to be the best fitting bar out there (besides an original Ford bar):
Before I started hacking away at the car, I took a few measurements from a never damaged 60K mile 65' convertible. Not surprisingly, I found that the shock towers on the project car had sagged inward (which was also verified by the Monte Carlo bar.) Not having ready access to a port-a-power, I used my engine hoist's ram to shove the towers apart:
Opps, I went a little too far so a come-a-long was utilized to pull the towers a little closer together:
The Scott Drake bar then fit the car like a glove. When bolted in place it will be a valuable guide while aligning the new towers.