Early Mustangs...

[spazzyfry123]

Not really sure if this is the optimal place to put this or not, but this seems as good as any...If not, moderators feel free to move it.
I haven't really seen any early Mustangs on here. I personally have a '65 coupe that I'm about to nosedive into, but am having difficulty finding the right route to go with. Just curious if there are any fellow 'Stangers on here that could give me an idea of what I should be doing.
The car was originally a 6 cylinder car but has since had a 302 with some goodies and a T5 swapped into it. Still a four-lug car, drum brakes, looks completely stock, but am hoping to change that all around. My intentions are to have a good lookin' cruiser pretty much. I doubt I'll ever get around to racing it, straight line or the curves, so mainly just going for the aesthetics, but still reliable and functional.
My original idea was to get an air-bag setup of some sort to have an adjustable ride height (slammed when parked and cruisin' around the highway, but able to raise it to get over speed bumps and into the driveway and such), but after looking at price differences between a static drop and an airbag setup...Have that and mix in a 5 lug disc setup with deep-dished 17/18 staggered wheels.
Essentially what I'm trying to figure out is where are the places to look to get the right parts and what are the parts to go with for the early 'Stangs? I'm really in the dark with trying to make an old car "modernized" as all of my previous cars were already modern ('99 Camaro SS, Cobras, etc).

Any pictures/tips/whatever you got pertaining to the early 'Stangs will be greatly appreciated!

Until then, this is what I've got to work with...
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010415-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010416-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010418-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010419-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010420-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010422-1.jpg
Going to need to fab up a new exhaust setup when I get to lowering it...Long tubes and all are WAY too low to the ground already.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/P1010421-1.jpg

Thanks guys!
-Tyler

[wiedemab]

There are quite a few options for these cars. It really all comes down to your budget.

For a street cruiser you can just simply lower the stock suspension and replace/rebuild all of the serviceable parts. The Shelby Mod. is pretty simple and doesn't really cost anything - this mod alone will lower the car, so be aware of that.

On the high end - Total Control Products has some really nice stuff. They are owned by Chris Alston's and their G-bar is based on the Air Bar. They now have several upgrade options for their rear suspension.

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/

Air Ride Technologies has their stuff out for the front end and have had the Air Bar for these cars for quite some time.

http://www.ridetech.com/index.php

I'm not sure what the exchange rate is these days from US to Australia, but RRS has some nice looking products for these cars as well.

http://www.rrs-online.com/

Fatman Fabrication has a front suspension setup that uses a Fox/SN95 spindle and strut assembly in the front along with a Tempo R&P (I think it's Tempo).

http://www.fatmanfab.com/catalogpage.php?page=29

Others include

Global West - http://www.globalwest.net/1964-73_Mustang_Home_page.htm

Maier Racing - http://www.maierracing.com/

If you want to do a little more fab work you can go with some of the Mustang II based options that weld into the front. MII will be fine for a street cruiser, but not great for pushing the handling of the car at all.

TCI and Heidts both have kits.

http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/mustangf&r_intro.cfm

http://www.heidts.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=71/home_id=70/mode=cat/cat71.htm

I realize that I didn't give much advice - only options, so sorry for that. I would spend some time coming up with a realistic budget and then start looking over some of these products.

Good Luck!

[jason@gmachine]

pm sent.

jason

[wiedemab]

Dang - I forgot about your stuff Jason. What all are you guys offering now. I think I remember dropped spindles, rear 3-link etc.

I've always wanted to build an early Mustang, so I try to keep up on what is available for them.

[spazzyfry123]

Thanks for the links and information! I'm not necessarily looking for anything radical or really custom...More-so just something to "get the job done" and not be overly priced. With that said, I haven't put together any kind of budget to get the car where I want it, but am trying to stay "on the cheap" (probably not an often heard phrase given the caliber of vehicles on this site :yum: ). I would love to run one of ART's kits, but I really think that would be overkill with my intentions with the car. So with that said, are there other air bag kits available (or places one would recommend to piece together a kit)? If I can't really find an air-ride system that suits my needs and is not overly priced (not saying ART is overly priced, but as stated before...It would be overkill knowing what the kits are truly engineered for), a static drop will be more than fine. I actually just received RRS literature in the mail not too long ago and do like what I see, but I do know there are many more options that you gurus are aware of that I am oblivious to.
Thanks again and keep all the help coming :smoke:
-Tyler

Also...Shelby mod? I'm assuming this is replacing parts with what would have come on a then Shelby car?
And what size drop (inches) would acheive a "slammed" look? I know that is a pretty vague question with a wide variety of answers...But for the question's sake, enough to eliminate essentially all fender well gap on the 17"F/18"R wheel size with fairly low profile tires. Again, sorry for no specifics, but trying to get ideas to make the specifics happen!

EDIT: I attached a few pictures of a couple of coupes that really caught my eye. The rear stance of the orange is perfect to me...It may be the offset of the wheels on the front, but the front isn't quite where I'd like mine to be. The green one is pretty spot on...pretty much perfect all around (may even be the same as the orange, but again...offset of the front wheels may be the drastic change)

[wiedemab]

The Shelby mod is basically a relocation of the upper control arm mounting points. It helps the geometry and lowers the car, similar to what the Guldstrand mod does for Camaros

TCP has a template that they sell. I'm not sure if it equates exactly to what Shelby did back in the day, but it's the same idea.

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/drill_jig.html

I found this by doing a Google Search.

http://www.ftw.com.au/Automotive/Tech_Info/Shelby_Drop_Front_Suspension_Mod..html

[69stang]

This thread has several classic stangs for ideas
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32212

Another good forum
http://forums.stangnet.com/

For upgrading the factory parts check here
http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/products/

[6fastback7]

I have a 67 fastback that im re-doing the suspension in this year..im gona go the ART system with there new Upper and Lower control arm setup...in the end it comes out to be the same price of a coil over system from Total Control...but i live in a city that doesnt take care of the roads enough and i like the idea of having a adjustable suspension on the fly.
If you really want adjustability on a budget TCP does offer a new addition to the line up which is a bolt in coil-over system which uses factory upper control arms...id be curious if anyone has tried it

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/vas_bolton-co.html

[65STANG]

I own the orange Stang above and you're right, the front is sitting way too high. I have the RRS struts and have them adjusted all the way down, so something is wrong because they are supposed to provide a 3" drop from standard. I will be contacting RRS soon to find out what is happening because there isn't that much more weight to go in it now.

The rear is just leafs but I am going to fit Air Ride's Air Over Leaf system due to decreased travel. If I were to do it again I probably would have bought the Air Bar setup - but I just want to get it done now and drive it!

Evan

[vintageracer]

Check out the following website. I plan to use their kit on a 68 California Special I have. The kit installs a true tubular lower control arms on the bottom replacing the strut rod and single lower control arm with a tubular arm with 2 pickup points. This also includes new tubular upper control arms also all for about $600.00. Add a steriods manual steering rack and call it good. No, you do not need a power rack on a Mustang. I would NOT use any of the modified Mustang II cross memebers and suspension. The car will drive good but not have any performance handling since that was not originally built into the Mustang II geometry.

Having vintage raced a 66 Shelby GT350 for 10 years I can tell you that there is a LOT than can be done with the stock suspension geometry on these cars. The CCP control arm kit also makes alignment a lot easier. This kit maintains the original pick up points or allows you to lower the upper control arms ala Shelby.

Yes, there are better suspension alternative available but they also come with a big price. This is one of the cheapest upgrades I have seen that will make the car drive better since you can get much more caster in the front end than was every possible with stock Mustang control arms all while using stock spindles. The rear suspension upgrades are pretty basic.

All this depends on how deep your wallet is!

http://www.classicperform.com/NewProducts/2006/NewFiles/NovaSubFrame.htm

[jason@gmachine]

Dang - I forgot about your stuff Jason. What all are you guys offering now. I think I remember dropped spindles, rear 3-link etc.

I've always wanted to build an early Mustang, so I try to keep up on what is available for them.

yes.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

and a little of this. :)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif


jason