1970 Maverick, with a V8, auto tranny. Was a 6 cyl car. Front end sits alot lower from the V8 swap. Happen to notice,, this car has no shims behind the A arms, on either side,,, is this normal? Would a V8 car, have a few shims, VS a 6 cyl car? How many shims are on your V8 cars' upper A arms, or how thick is each shim pack from bolt to bolt? If they are supposed to have some,,,?????
the old...6 cyl.... v8 spring thing again...when i did my v8 swap i had to cut a coil out to get my front end down. ...
The shims are there to adjust camber.If you take it apart,make shure to put em back where you found em.Not all cars will have them,it all depends on how out of spec your car was last time it was aligned.The more you have,the more your shock towers have spread apart or moved in towards each other over the years.
They only need em after they have been twisted and flexed and used up over the years.Or run without export braces for a long time.
Yes you are correct Matt,but after the front end gets tweaked enough you have to start moving the upper controll arms out to compensate since the lower arm adjustment isnt enough anymore.Old mustangs were notorious for this problem.A really good front end guy who is familliar with these front ends can usually correct the problem with a frame straightener and some welding up of reinforcement brackets to the towers.This is also one of the reasons the 73 and up mavericks/comets have the re-enforced shock towers.
Reason for asking, was looking at an old repair book on 65-66 mustangs,, very simular suspension design to the maverick,, They showed shims to adjust caster, as well as have the strut rod too to either control or make caster adjustments. I dont belive its beat up at all! Drives pretty good, just getting all the parts loosened up to take into a shop,,, so they dont have to work so hard at getting things loose that hasnt been touched in a while. Sounds as if nothing needs to be done in this area, so Ill leave it at that! No, it dont sit high in the front,,, was a 200ci early 69.5,, the top of the tires, used to be above the fender lip, now, it sits probably 1 inch under the lip. Just thought, with the drop in height, would the settings be off,,, Old book says the mustang 6cyl and the mustang V8 had some different alignment specs,,, weight might be the only factor inthe settings???
Yes you should get the front end re-aligned the settings are off with the change in ride height.You are right about what the book said about adjustment.I am not implying your car is beat,sorry if it came accross that way.I was just pointing out why it would have shims behind the A arms.Its not common on mavericks to have shims on them but it isnt out of the ordinary for cars with upper/lower controll arms in general.Production tolerances could have dictated the use of them on your car from the factory for all any of us know.I wouldnt worry about it.I would just get it aligned and enjoy.Sounds like a killer ride you have there.
I know that the old 62 Falcons didn't have the eccentric on the bottom and were only adjustable through use of spacers on the top. I know this because my son and I just did an alignment at home on it. (My buddy had the equipement.) I believe that the eccentric on the Maverick lower control arm probably has enough adjustment to compensate for just about all but the worst alignment problems as I've never seen one of them with shims.
