Front Springs

[cabo]

I have cut my springs too short in front and need to know if
anyone out there can either give me a good ford part number
or a source for the front springs. I am running the standard
Mustang II front end.
Thank you

[Jack21]

Welcome to the club.

Many of us have started down this road. Don could either sell you the springs, or give you a NAPA part number for them. But most would be reluctant to take your money at this juncture because we've been there, and we know what works, and what doesn't. (Think my last count was 5 sets of front springs in the dumpster before throwing in the towel.)

The factory recommended coil springs, and OEM MII front end pieces are not the best setup for your front suspension.

First, you want to replace your factory control arms with the tubular steel ones. I used Heidts "D" uppers, and RCC lowers, retaining the strut rod with urethane bushings. Other lower setups eliminate the strut rod.

Second. You'll want to use coil over spring and shock setup. I'm using the Carerra adjustable shock and 350 #/in spring. It's a little stiff at first, but with a few hundred miles, it softens up. There are a few other spring/shock setups, but the ones that work are coil overs.

You want to get Tom Beroth's (Bethania Garage) upper control arm mounts so you can set, and maintain front end alignment.

It's a coupla bucks to do this now, but you'll have to do it eventually. There are other areas you can compromise on. For instance, I don't see a $20,000, 600 HP motor here. You'll learn to appreciate and respect your car before you need more power.

We've all done a great deal of re-thinking, and re-engineering on these CR's. We do differ in opinion, but we use what has worked for us. The CR, in it's defense, is one of, if not the classiest, and solidly built of the Cobra replicas. And there isn't a car you can buy today, or could have bought in the last 35 years, for any amount of money that gets the attention a Cobra does. I didn't believe it either, (after nearly 2 years, and 12,000 miles) it's a fact.

[fxbill]

Jack,
What was the approximate cost for doing the front end changeover?
Thanks,
Bill

[Jon Miller]

Here are some spring part numbers from the Fat Man Fabrications catalog.

NAPA #277-3039 Mustang II 4 cyl.

NAPA #277-3036 Mustang II 6 cyl.

NAPA #277-3038 Mustang II 8 cyl.

The best price that I've found for the tubular control arms was $400 on E-Bay. The "going Price" is closer to $500. The best price that I have seen for the Carrera coilovers is $370 from Fat Man. Aldan also makes a set for the Mustang II, but I have heard that they are prone to bend at the upper mounting point.

After I did my conversion I sold all of the old parts on Ebay and got a total of about $200, you can figure that in to the overall cost to help convince the wife.

-Jon

[J. T. Toad]

I am building with Don's coilover setup, call him for pricing, but if you want the springs which were included with my kit, I could easily be convinced of selling them

[fxbill]

Can someone check on these and tell me if they're the correct control arms for a changeover?
Thanks!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eb...gephotohosting

[J. T. Toad]

I am no expert, but the lowers with the sweep don't look right. But someone else would know better.

look at
www.heidts.com
suspension -> mustang II -> both tubular arms sections

Can someone answer if the necessary welding worth going strutless?

[Excaliber]

When I wanted to change my Excalibur springs (and Classic Roadster is a virtual carbon copy) I simply went to NAPA with this request:

Gimme springs for a Mustang II, V-6 with Air conditioning and all the options (I foget what year model I used, but that didn't seem to be a big problem in getting the springs).

I measured my old springs after removing from the car to determine their existing height (10 inches in my case). I then measured twice and cut once to my new height (9 inches or so I think). This dropped the front end TO low for decent street driving, but was perfect for the road course I run at the track!

Trial and error for "ride height" IS the name of the game, no doubt about it. Cut them to short, and throw them away and start over.

Makes a strong case for coil overs. NEXT time, that IS what I will do!

Ernie

[Double Venom]

Fxbill,
Those will work just fine. Keep in mind you will need to do some welding with those since they eliminate the strut rod. (Good way to go though.)

The Carrera set up will bolt right in too!
Coil-overs are the way to go!

DV...gotta get back to Da' Fling stuff!

[Janusz]

Fxbill,

There are a number of manufacturers of tubular control arms, with some minor variations, such as the type of welding, the diameter of the DOM tubing and shape of the uppers (to clear the spring tower). You may save some dollars up front by purchasing unfinished units, but taking apart the uppers to powder coat them and then paying for powder coating, could be a break even. If you are going to get unfinished units and looking at powder coating, consider having getting the units without the bushings installed. The other item to take into consideration is whether you want urethane bushings or the original MII bushings. Heidts builds nice units and uses the original MII bushings.


JTT,

The Heidts lowers also sweep back as do many of the other units. The shorter leg goes towards the front of the vehicle, providing more clearance near the steering rack. Because the lowers are installed offset, the ball joints still align. The strutless lowers are provided with support gussets and dependant on the manufacturer, you will have to do some welding and in some cases cutting. Can’t answer whether it’s worthwhile to go strutless, since I haven’t gone there (yet).

[Jon Miller]

This is the setup that I got a few months ago, the price has even come down a few bucks. Carl was great to deal with and the quality is first rate! I went with the rust-oleum appliance epoxy rather than powder coat. I saw that some of the guys were having good luck with it, and the price was right(do a search to find the thread).

-Jon

[Jack21]

For upper control arms, either Heidts ("D") or RCC
(dwayne9.addr.com) will work fine. Lowers, I used, and would go with RCC. They use a shock extender to mate with the CR upper shock mount, and mount the lower portion of the shock below the lower control arm center. This gives you a longer shock travel (as opposed to OEM MII) and a nifty place to lift your front wheel with a jack.

Strut rod? Keep it, and use urethane bushings if this is a retrofit. Actually, the strut rods make for a very strong and solid front suspension if you use urethane to eliminate front to rear motion of the lower control arm.

If you haven't put the body on the frame yet, seriously investigate the strutless setups. It must be welded in.

Coating. Rust Oleum rattle can appliance epoxy black will give you just as tough of a finish as powder coating for $6.95 a can.