I installed the CPP upper control arms in my car several years ago and really like them http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/anybody-using-these-upper-control-arms.111905/#post-1107814 I had been debating about trying to install the Mini subframe kit and lower arms but never got to it. Then another member here, Maver88, did just that and it got me enthused again. http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/anybody-seen-this-suspension-by-cpp-yet-or-used-it.115492/ You’ll see my installation was done a little bit differently than his whereas his plate is welded in and I bolted mine. Measurements–This mini subframe kit is made for ’67 – ’70 Mustangs, which have a wider frame than our Mavericks and Comets, so the ¼” steel subframe plate must be modified slightly. Some of the dimensions may be slightly different on cars other than my ‘70, or maybe not. You’ll have to measure. Plus, over the years my car was hit twice in the front end, who knows how the metal could have moved around. To get the center-to-center LCA distance right I needed to cut a 3 ½” section out of the middle of the plate and I cut 2” off the front of the plate. I have a huge X large cross flow radiator and, this cut could be different for someone with a different radiator. I added some 1” wide “ears” onto the left and right outer edges of the plate. More about that later. Weight – Some were interested in how much weight, if any, the kit would add to the front of the car. Stock LCA & strut rod (each) = 7 ½ lbs. CPP LCA (each) = 6 ½ lbs. Stock crossmember = 15 lbs. New crossmember = 7 ½ lbs. (This depends on the material you use for the new crossmember) Modified steel subframe plate = 13 lbs. So, all in all the new setup adds just 3 1/2 lbs. more. Original Crossmember – the new subframe plate needs to sit flat on the frame rails and front crossmember as found on early Mustangs. The Maverick crossmember hangs below the frame rails several inches and the strut rods attach to it. It has to go. I used a Sawzall to remove the middle of the crossmember and then ground down the spot welds that attached the crossmember to the frame rails. At first I tried using special spot weld drill bits but it was taking forever and I wore down several bits without making much progress. A friend that used to work in a body shop said that if I didn’t need to save the top piece of metal it is easier and faster to just grind through the spot welds. That’s what I did, then used an air chisel to separate the metal layers. Then I ground the frame rails smooth. Similar to a cowl, the crossmember has a ridiculous number of welds and in some places is made up of three layers of steel. There are small triangular gussets at the rear of the crossmember to the frame rails, each held in with 14 spot welds! New Crossmember – The frame rails are 3” deep so I bought some 3” square .120” wall tubing for the new crossmember and 1/8” galvannealed plate for the end caps. When I mocked everything up I found that the crossmember and my big @$$ Taurus electric fan wanted to occupy the same space. DUH, poor planning on my part. Not everyone will have this problem, just shows that you have to carefully measure everything first. Besides the big fan I also have a double serpentine belt crank pulley on the front of my engine. (BTW, if anyone needs a 3X3 .120 wall tube for their project, call me LOL) Looking around in my metal pile I found a 2 ½” diameter .120 wall round tube that fit nicely between the fan and engine. Made sure that the bottom of the tube was even with the bottom of the frame rails. The photo of the new cross member shows it just tacked in. I knew it was gonna be over a week until I got back to it so I hit it with some weld-through primer. Subframe plate – In addition to the dimensional changes made to the plate I added 1” wide “ears” that I made from the piece I cut out of the center so I could bolt the plate to the frame rail flanges the way CPP intended. The frame rails are very thin metal. I hate overhead welding and I hate welding thick pieces of metal (the subframe plate) to thin metal (the frame rails). So I REALLY hate overhead welding thick metal to thin metal. That’s just me. On each side I have a pair of torqued 3/8” Grade 8 bolts with the CPP support plates holding the subframe plate to the frame rail flange and four 7/16” Grade 8 bolts that go through the crossmember and subframe plate. These are Loctited, nutted, and jam nutted. Control Arms– The stock lower control arms place the lower ball joint directly in line with the frame pivot point. You can see in the photo of the right side CPP arm that the ball joint is offset toward the front about an inch providing some built-in positive caster. Ball Joints–I learned more about ball joints during this exercise than I ever cared to know. I had some issues that probably 99% of you would never have and these issues took the most time to figure out. I came across an interesting discussion online regarding the ball joints used in these kits. This kit and many of the Mustang II front end kits use these same Mopar screw-in ball joints in the lower position. These were supposedly designed as upper ball joints that are normally under compression while many of these kits use them as lower ball joints that are in tension. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reports of these ball joints failing but a few people have complained about them sticking or binding. The cure for that seems to be replacing them with the equivalent Moog part, # K772. The Moog part has more of the metal shell surrounding the ball and has grooves in the ball for better lubrication. CPP BJ on the left, Moog K772 on right. The studs in these ball joints are long. So long that you must put spacers on the studs under the nuts to get the cotter pin castellations of the nut to line up with the hole in the stud. CPP provides an assortment of spacers to accomplish this. Also, with my brake setup and my torque wrench, I found that where the brake line enters the stock disc brake caliper it gets in the way of removing the torque wrench after torquing the nut, so I made an extension for the torque wrench by welding a box wrench end to a cut-down socket for more clearance. My biggest problem – The large end of the taper on a stock ball joint measures .724”. The large end of the taper on the supplied Mopar ball joint only measures .710”. The bottom of the hole in my factory disc brake steering knuckle is larger than that, so the steering knuckle bottoms out on the control arm and the ball can’t move. After contacting CPP a couple times about this they said that every once in a while someone has this problem and they have a tapered bushing that installs over the stud to make the knuckle sit higher on the ball joint stud. They cost $6 apiece. Hmmm, wish I would have known that 2 weeks prior. My thought is, if they sell them for $6 they probably buy them for $3, why don’t they just include them with the kit and save weeks of trying to figure out what to do? I would have gladly paid a little more for the kit to have the bushings available when I needed them. Before CPP answered my question about the steering knuckle bottoming out I headed down another path. Moog part # K719 screws into the same size control arm, has a large end stud taper diameter of .780” and is designed as a lower ball joint. Moog doesn’t make them anymore but they’re still popular with the circle track guys so other companies still make equivalent pieces. I found a pair of Allstar Performance # 56217 pieces on eBay for $30 each, just a couple more dollars than what the Moog parts would have cost and made in the USA, unlike much of the Moog stuff anymore. (I found out that since Moog was bought out by Federal-Mogul their suspension parts are made in 16 different countries with varying quality) The Allstar pieces have a larger diameter threaded stud than stock, 5/8” vs 9/16”. I had to enlarge the hole in the steering knuckle using a 1 ½”/ft (7˚) tapered reamer. This works much better. Now there’s no adapter bushings, no spacers, no special tool needed to tighten the nut, and the ball joints are actually designed as lowers. The dust boot is still compressed more than I like but much better than before. Howe Precision makes some shorter dust boots that I may try in the future. To remove/replace these screw-in ball joints you’ll need a special socket like this. It takes a ¾” square drive so unless you have a ¾” drive breaker bar, ratchet, torque wrench, impact gun, you’ll also need the ¾”-to-½” adapter. Some places charge $40 or more for the socket. I found a place on Amazon selling them for $13 and paid another $8 for the adapter. I'm hoping to do the wheel alignment tomorrow night. I'll report back after that.
The alignment went ok using my Tenhulzen alignment plates: https://www.summitracing.com/search...=part-type&SortBy=Default&SortOrder=Ascending Forgot to mention, I splurged on a set of CPP's billet tie rod adjusting sleeves. Nice pieces and easy to adjust with a regular wrench: https://www.ebay.com/itm/383847444340?hash=item595f172f74:g:jMgAAOSwcw1gpEa4 Went for quick drive. Couldn't really test it out hard as it's raining and the roads are wet. Did notice that the front wheels take bumps smoother, more compliant. Before when I hit a bump the car raised and bounced pretty much. Now it just kind of glides over it. Ran over a couple of places where the asphalt is rippled and it took that much better than before. Can't wait to try it out on some nearby curvy roads.
More pics. The Allstar ball joint- perfect fit. How the front looks without the stock crossmember. Driving impression- the car handles bumps a lot better but has more body roll in curves, I'm guessing because the suspension moves more freely now. Guess I'll have to step up to a bigger anti-sway bar. I have a 13/16" bar now, does going to a 7/8" really make that big of a difference? It's only a 1/16" bigger.
Guys like you just cost me more money! I think I might need to look into this, I'm not interested in going Mustang 2 but improvements over stock are always welcome.
Answered my own question, from the thread "1972 Grabber Handling Suspension option": "Thanks. I found an online calculator here: http://www.auto-ware.com/calcs/swaybar.htm From what I've been able to figure out going from my 13/16" bar to a 7/8" Maverick bar is a 39% increase in stiffness and going to to a 1" Mustang bar is an increase of 86%. The Mustang bar has slightly longer arms and that affects the rate."
I contacted Addco about making a custom 1" or 1-1/8" bar for a Maverick. $350 With these control arms and subframe plate it would be real easy to put on a $140 1" Mustang bar.
way back from 2013.......... http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/performance-sway-bar-1-1-8.91704/ there maybe a few members out there who may sell you theirs??? David
I know it's moot point now but QA1 makes a 1" longer version of a K772 p# 1210-238S, a lil pricey @ $70-80 each no dust boot(you can add p#9034-107 $ 7each) & have to re-adjust preload every so often. But they are fully rebuildable. They also make a 1/2" longer 1210-201S if 1" was too much. but that should help future installers
