Fatman Fabrications decision (kill the Fox?)

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Looks purty. Seems to be pretty well built, I hope the production pieces look nearly that clean. How much of the Fox front end do you actually reuse? The nice thing about kits that salvage OEM parts is being able to service the car later. Yeah, I'm a little picky.:rolleyes:

BUT if it uses a stock rack and pinion off a Fox, you can take advantage of the nice power and manual racks that Flaming River makes for 79-93's. Also, if it uses the 94-04 hubs and brakes (calipers, rotor, pads) servicing wouldn't be too bad.
 
krash kendall said:
So, they're not completely removing the shock tower like the MII set-up. They are just modifying it. You can see they did the passenger one, but left the driver's side for comparison. Very slick looking rig.


i don't think you even have to modify the towers at all. the struts and knuckles look like drag car pieces to me, though. so that means no factory replacement parts there. looks a lot like a MII rack unit as well. can't tell from the pics but i wonder if the LCA pickup points use the stock frame mounts or if those are removed if so that looks a nice bolt in solution vs the MII or Griggs kits. i still prefer the rear steer rack kits but this would be a better choice than cutting the car up IMO.
 
Here is what I remember from my discussion with them. The shock towers can stay or go your decision. The modifications are a bolt hole in the rear section on the frame rail near the firewall and you do have to cut off the lca pickup points near the front. The rack I believe is a stock fox unit. The struts are the big piece to the equation. They are NOT fox units, supposedly modified and year specific. I do not know if a guy could make something else work, I have not looked into it yet. I believe the lower arm is fox body. I like how clean everything turns out(keeping in mind this is their display piece). seemed like a good alternative.
 
The K-member, the LCAs, the extensions to the rack and the upper strut mounts look to be all you need. The rack is a Flaming River late model rack, Aerospace brakes, the spindles are AJE racing spindles and the struts are an aftermarket race strut. All this stuff could be stock stuff, the only stuff needed is in my first sentance. The stock LCAs are a stamped piece and don't typically work with tubular K-members, at least I've never seen any one one. I'm pretty sure you'll have to use those LCAs as they are probably engineered for the application. You'll likely have to run a late model pan and pickup as well.

I really like it, it'll be something I'll seriously consider when I get closer to that point. I love the bolt in aspect of it, just about anyone should be able to install this, but I'm wondering what your typical newbie running the alignment machine is going to think.
 
chiefer said:
Here is what I remember from my discussion with them. The shock towers can stay or go your decision. The modifications are a bolt hole in the rear section on the frame rail near the firewall and you do have to cut off the lca pickup points near the front. The rack I believe is a stock fox unit. The struts are the big piece to the equation. They are NOT fox units, supposedly modified and year specific. I do not know if a guy could make something else work, I have not looked into it yet. I believe the lower arm is fox body. I like how clean everything turns out(keeping in mind this is their display piece). seemed like a good alternative.


well, so much for being a true bolt on. if you're going to cut the LCA mounts off might as well go all out and cut it all off. while it might be easier to weld on new LCA mounts than entire shock towers should you ever want to return the car to stock at some point in the future it's still not going to easy by any stretch of the imagination.
 
I guess if the struts aren't required they expect you to use a regular
Fox/sn-95 coilover kit. Also, what kind of steering column do you use w/ a Fox rack in a classic? I hope the coupler attached to the rack in the picture will answer that question.

Having to use a latemodel pan wouldn't bother me, but that does add cost and some labor for most people.

I think I'll get excited about it when they at least put it in their webpage as a finalized product. Hate to have a Flaming River incident all over again.
 
Well, I like the idea of a bolt in front suspension on a 67 - 70 mustang! I've been going back and forth on whether to use Fatman, Heidts, Rod and Custom, etc. etc. I like the Heidt unit but I don't want to cut my frame rails. I like the double A arm with no shock towers. But now I have a possible bolt in kit that utilizes newer technology!