I'm never comfortable when I run across somebody else's work that doesn't look right. I admit I dont know what I'm looking at half the time but I always trust my gut and feel better if I do it myself.
Not as bad as you though it seems worse to me. It is what I though being the adapter to make it rear steer on the caliper bracket but the adapter is made of 3 pieces one of which being cast iron. The only remedy I can think of for that situation I would recommend seeing if you can get a good thickness piece bent to the same dimensions but you would have to use rod ends instead of tie rods. Also what is going on with that "kustom" lower control arm, that looks pretty scary also. And what does the upper strut mount look like.
Only said because I would much rather have the tie rod link SOLIDLY welded in place(still really needs a gusset rather badly on that 90°) that sees mostly tension and compression(side to side) loads without nearly as much dynamic loading(up and down) as would be occurring if the spindles upright portion had been welded anywhere between the upper and lower knuckles(this strut obviously has no upper balljoint but hopefully you get my drift here). Sprung, unsprung and especially the violently high peak loads cuased from inertial and dynamic loading(weights, gravity, velocity, torsion, inertia, momentum, blah blah) that occurs when we're all bouncing down the road over potholes, unwittingly jumping an occasional railroad track and racing on or off freeway ramps(love those cloverleaf style ramps!) are extremely tough on the spindles uprights and knuckles. BTW.. I don't think I need to tell you but that this is the way things used to be done many years ago when parts swap choices were slim and fancy milling machinery controlled by computers weren't running 24/7 like these days. I've seen many cast parts repaired and modified(including a few spindles) for swaps and improved strength through the years, especially heavy construction equipment, farm implements, and a few personal projects that seemed like they shouldn't have lasted like they did. Some parts still fail no matter how well they are welded though. Connecting rods would be much tougher to do than a spindle but even those can be welded and made to live in lower rpm/power/stress environments. The cast iron material is not as much the limiting issue as the need for a decent welder who understands the particular parts functional requirement and pre/post-weld heat treatments. Welds and surrounding material will become excessively hardened, brittle, and chock full o' stress even if the welder gets it right so still needs to be normalized and treated to get back to and even beyond the original pieces structural integrity and mechanical properties. All that costs money and nobody ever does this because it would be silly to spend that much when we have all the various aftermarket and OEM parts swaps being made/offered these days. Anywho.. after another more detailed peek at the pic's, I believe you're right and they look kinda bad despite appearing to have used good heat and achieved penetration. Easy way to check to be sure is to cut them for internal weld inspection or just break them apart and see what gives first. Might want to wear a helmet and a cup though. lol I'm a convicted adrenaline junky and continually push my luck every single day of my life but even I would just toss those things into the scrap bin. OP, do you have any pic's of the shock tower mod's needed to make this swap fit?
Again, after seeing these latest pic the situation is worst than previous one's showed. A lot more homebru parts than seen from the earlier post. I wud take all that stuff off and go w/ OE or aftermarket if money allowed.
WOW, look at that "control arm"! I wonder what effect that angle has on suspension travel and geometries. Those brakes, i believe as previously stated, are from a newer mustang. To bad the setup wasn't done a bit....better, it had potential to be better than stock stuff. If you go with OEM, you can get a whole kit relatively cheaply, and then you have brand new front suspension...however you'd also have to find new spindles, either stock disc brake spindles, or drums (the drums you can find a plethora of aftermarket disc brakes for)
Where is the best place to find a oem kit. Or should I just scour Craig's list and junkyards till I find some parts.
You'll be searching a long time that way. I wasn't thinking when i said "cheap", since you need EVERYTHING, save for the strut rods. Here is an example on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-THROUG...LY-/301684553925?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 At this price it might be worth it to go to an aftermarket kit and install it, however that does require some fabrication skills..Im sure others will have a better idea of where you could find a kit.
I`d follow Robs advice & throw all that stuff away,what would happen if you took a hard corner at 70 mph & it broke,I don`t think it will work out very well for you.
Yeah, I think this is one of those better safe than sorry moments. Every time I drove car I would be wondering if this was the day the part broke on a corner and killed me.
You would also need spindles and brakes including hoses, Best if you could find somebody parting out a maverick or 68-70 (IIRC) mustang and just get all the front end parts. Or you could go with a mustang 2 front suspension but would require quite a bit of modification. Also Gateway classic mustang has a strut suspension that bolts in I think its around 2k then you need to supply rotors and calipers. Also Fatman fabrication might have a strut suspension that would bolt in.
not policing your post.. but to clarify, isn't it the "67-73 Mustang front suspension"(aside from wider sway bar) that interchanges with our cars? Well, not just Mustang only.. but the typical Mustang, Cougar, Fairlane, Torino, Falcon, Maverick, similar era uni-Ford.. you know what I mean. IIRC, there was also a ball joint change from 3 bolt to 4 bolt(buy them together new or used to avoid interchange issues).. but other than that.. same same? I also wonder which Ford.. maybe even Mercury? model had the longest year run for parts interchange? Maybe Tom or some of the other lifelong Ford guys might know cause I'm too lazy to surf for it. lol
@Withoutapaddle.. IMO, what you want to do with the car should ultimately decide how much should be spent to get there. The issue as I see it with many of the kit swaps for these old Fords is that they are often overpriced, and much moreso if you buy them piece by piece for a stage build, designed as complete systems which end up being much more solid/heavier than necessary when used on these lighter "economy cars". IOW, designing/making a tubular or even billet suspension that's capable of tossing the front end of a big stiffly sprung 71' - 73' Mustang/Cougar/Torino/maybe big LTD too? around off-ramps and through slalom courses with a big-block under the hood means extra unneeded weight being installed into lighter cars, also using lighter spring rates. Which ultimately hits us in the pocket book while taking some potential performance gains away. Although I surely agree that designing in some extra durability margin for safety can be good in very highspeed/highstress endurance type racing even in lighter cars. What I'm getting at here is that these stock suspension can be rebuilt and VASTLY improved upon with simple old hotrodder tricks that even vintage and spec' racers are currently competing with today. And those cars are most definitely not slow by anyone's standards. The lighter they are.. the less ultimate strength is needed to safely get the job done without component damage or failure. The stock spindle many old uni-body's use?.. now that's another story altogether for a race car or higher effort buildup.. and steel is always best. But besides an impact, most people will never corner and brake their car hard enough to care and simply can't get big enough tires on front without major modifications anyways. The other thing I like most about the stock part upgrades is that they can be done in stages at significantly lower initial investments than the aftermarket kits. Have you seen these yet? Unless I was class showing the car or spec racing, it just doesn't even make sense to drop $125 or more into each stock upper arm to even get close to these. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPC-Front-C...ash=item463c2cbd4d:g:r0AAAOSwBahVYiPP&vxp=mtr The biggest improvement to be had here is the upper arms re-engineered geometry to eliminate some of the other most time consuming and expensive mod's to approach the same end result(Arning drop, reinforced boxing). If you think about it.. by the time you reinforce and upgrade some of the stock stuff with better parts and rollerize it.. you aren't saving as much cash as you first imagined. Upper arm build cost could very easily exceed some of the premium aftermarket stuff if you have to pay for welding and suspension mod's/build labor too. Fit the part to the task, shop well, and do as much as you possibly can on your end to come up with something that works within the true application range and you will be much happier with the car. PS. those SPC arms wouldn't be too tough to set up with a coil-over setup either which would do away with the rollerized spring perches.
Dropping 2 or 4 grand on a front suspension right now isnt really in the relm of possibilites for me. How ever my dads a tv repair man so i dont mind have to modify anything aslong as its within reason. Has anyone tried or had luck with suspension kits such as this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-1970-F...a6bbb06&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=6&sd=311126864012
