Has anyone installed a 80's model front suspension in their Maverick? I looked through the tech articles, but nothing on the later model mustangs. I am planning to install a 1986 Mustang front end in my Maverick. Let me know. Thanks for the responses!
the problem is the mustang frame rails are higher up in the car. so if you try to attach the fox mustang k member to the maverick rails it will sit too low.
Faster yes easier yes cheaper no. The one big draw back however is the fox k member its really heavy i would suggest if your going to try it to get a tublar aftermarket k member. And is there such a thing as two low lol. Now is that suspension better than whats in the car. Well rear suspension yes but front im not so sure on. We dont have chevys we have fords which unlike the chevys actually have some real racing histroy behind them not just dragracing and redkneckcar i mean nascar. The suspension in our cars is the same as the mustangs and they were pretty damn good on the track. I have researched it alot for my project and unless you need extra room under the hood there really is no point changing the suspension in the front. Alot of pepole do and thats fine if you want to put like a 460 in your car. The Mustang II was used in street rods and have been adapted to everyhting else cause of its simplicity and toughness. Our cars dont really need it.
I'm playing with the idea in a somewhat different light. I have made a make shift adapter to install the late model SN95 ball joints in my stock lower control arms and I scabbed together a very nasty looking caster/camber plate to see where the alignment angles land (very rough estimates). So far it looks promising but I haven't made any real headway yet. My intentions are to adapt aftermarket caster/camber plates for a Fox or SN95 to the shock towers and a Mustang 2 power rack I just haven't had the time to get any farther yet. Here's where it sits right now, there's plenty of room to get proper camber but I need to estimate where it's at for caster before I spend any more cash (into it for $63.00 right now). My motivation for this was simple, I do not want to run the factory power steering and did not want to pay the ridiculous prices for after market rack & pinion set ups, I may end up with a stroked Windsor someday and the more I looked at my brother's 99 Cobra the more I thought I could make it fly. When I found the complete strut set up for $50 buck I knew it was time to play!:bananaman
1986 Mustang front suspension I am exploring all options, putting this 351W into my Maverick, the clearance issues drive you batty and they cause you to look at all of your options. I have this mustang front end just sitting there and the fabricator in me says just go for it and the common sense says there are alot of knowns to this process. Just trying to wade through what challenges you guys have experienced to see what will be the best way to go. Thanks,
Nah, yours looks to be much cleaner! Are you going to use Granatelli's coil over conversion? That was the direction I was headed.
check out streetortrack.com they have a coil over conversion that fits our cars that was released late last year. it doesn't give you rack and pinion but the suspension looks to be of high quality and fairly reasonable
I looked this up. Heres a video...pretty awesome! http://www.youtube.com/user/StreetorTrack?feature=mhum#p/a/f/1/DnVgYVsHDk8
the dual a arm suspension that the maverick kinda has (lower arm isn't perfect with the strut rod) is a better suspension for steering and handling. switching to a strut suspension only benefits in loosing some weight. this is only really beneficial for drag racing. so what you do should be determined by your intended use. i wonder if you took a tubular k-member from a fox body and cut the top sections off of it to get the mounting hight down to where the maverick frame rail is, if it would work. that would maintain the proper a arm geometry with the rack and pinion. the next step would to make a jig and make a new k member that will bolt into the maverick frame. hmmm i might have to work on that some day when i finish the other 100 projects that i have bouncing around in my huge head.
i installed a sn95 balljoint in a stock arm(wish i took pics)w/steeda coil over kit.have not decided on steering setup yet.
I have to disagree, the stock power steering on these cars sucks. I never understood why they used it so long. It's leak prone and a little play turns into a lot of play in short order (my experience with the last 3 Fords with this same set-up). My main drive to do this honestly has nothing to do with how it drives/handles or weight savings, it has to do with seeing if I could do it. I just couldn't get it out of my head wondering if you could convert to struts without buying a $3500.00 kit! If it goes as planned I think I can have it done for about the same amount as a stock rebuild.
