Suspension ideas.

Discussion in 'General Maverick/Comet' started by Bad Brad, Dec 23, 2014.

  1. 71Mavrk

    71Mavrk Member

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    DSC_4170.JPG
    I took the outer shock tower reinforcement plates out of a '74 and grafted them into my '71. The plate holes and the tower holes were the same.

    Micah
     
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  2. Dave B

    Dave B I like Mavericks!

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    So, they were never repositioned, like it's been mentioned before.
     
  3. Bryant

    Bryant forgot more than learned

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    thats some good info there.

    so in order to do the shelby drop you will need to modify that reinforcement plate. i would say its worth the effort. i doubt the tcp control arms will fit with that plate. they have the shelby drop built into them.
     
  4. 71Mavrk

    71Mavrk Member

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    They will fit. You just have to do some grinding and flatten out the metal before you install it. This is my test fit in the '74 tower. IMG_0377.JPG

    To do it correctly, you should also graft in the innner bracing:
    DSC_4192.JPG

    Micah
     
  5. Bad Brad

    Bad Brad Member

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    Good information guys!!! Thanks again!
     
  6. CaptainComet

    CaptainComet Large Member

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    Lots of good info in this post. Thanks for the pic of the shock tower bracing on the later cars ... something else for "the list" ...

    Gotta' agree that if you are going to do a big mod the rear suspension, 3 link is very good. We have a 2007 Mustang, and that is solid axle/3 link out back, and I like it a lot. The biggest difference you will notice is that if you are cornering on pavement that is a little rough, leaf springs may feel twitchy, and the rear of the car may feel like it is on the verge of breaking loose, because the tires load and unload and I think you get the leaf springs to feed back a bit. On the same pavement with a 3 link, the car will track much better ... a ton smoother. It can articulate in a way where it's geometry isn't tied as much to the rest of the car .... think rock crawler trucks for an exaggerated example. With coil springs, the compression on them is a lot more direct, too. Leafs can get a twisting involved along with moving up and down.
     
  7. Bad Brad

    Bad Brad Member

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    I think for now I'm just going to do some cheaper mods. I can at least get close to the look I want and have it handle decent. Then after I can actually drive the car I will see where I need improvements. I still have a lot of work to do on my car, so I don't want it to take too long before I can drive it! The good news is my wife can't wait to get it done to go cruise in it! It is always nice to have the banker on your side :) so I will do my suspension, brakes, subframe connectors, and then wheels. Then it will go to my buddies house to get ready for paint. Then I will have to build a 302 with a t5.

    So long story short, I will get it running and then save the big suspension upgrades for another winter.
     
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  8. Hottrod1991

    Hottrod1991 Member

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    M2 will be.cheaper versus modified stock type suspension with uni steer R&P..
    But i wouldnt bother with m2 if youre stocking with a 302/351
    you can also add camaro fender to rad support bars ontop of the typical ford reinforcement bars

    Making a pair of X bars for behind seat/trunk area would also be a good idea
     
  9. Hottrod1991

    Hottrod1991 Member

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    Just change the crossshaft out for a regular one.
    ive read...may have been you actualy, that the drop cross shaft puts more stress on the shock towers versus straight crossshaft arm with shelby drop
     
  10. Bryant

    Bryant forgot more than learned

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    a significant part of using these is the shelby drop. to move them to the stock location is going backwards.

    have you seen any results of the problems from the supposed increase on stress on the shock tower?
     
  11. Hottrod1991

    Hottrod1991 Member

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    No I Ment change to regular shaft, but then do the shelby drop on arm

    Perhaps it was some one else that said it here or on protouring
    i have no personal experience on the subject
    ive decided to go c6 suspension
     
  12. GrabberGT

    GrabberGT Chris

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    Bryce on ProTouring mentioned that there is additional leverage placed on the bolts and mounting points when using the dropped cross shaft. Im sure though that TCP did their homework when developing these parts. I had the drop cross shaft and swapped them out to the straight. I drilled the holes for the shelby drop. This allowed me to notch the shock tower that much lower.
     
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  13. jayman

    jayman Member

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    It would be a complete redesign to make this work. The height of the rear bars is wrong for our cars, the width would have to be narrowed, the lower bars that connect to the front spring pocket are about 2" to short, the torque arm will hit the drive shaft tunnel and is quite a bit too long, the cradle won't line up with any mount points in our cars, etc.

    Ask me how I know......

    If you have a custom fuel cell and you don't mind modifying your trunk floor, you can fairly easily adapt a watts linkage to center your rear. A panhard bar is also a tough packaging exercise. The longer a panhard bar is, the less of an arc the rear goes though during its range of motion. Also, a panhard bar will give you a difference in handling when turning left or right. Most drivers won't notice this, but as you get better at tuning your suspension, you may start to notice this.

    There are articles on the board here on how to tune your spring rate with leaf springs. Or you can have a custom set of leafs built to your specs. Designing a 3 or 4 link to fit under these cars is a real exercise in creative packaging. If you're not worried about maintaining a rear seat, then it becomes much easier. Either way, Caltracks are for drag racing. You probably won't want to be running these when you try autocrossing.

    For the front suspension, do the Shelby drop and also move the mounting holes back 3/8 inch. This will give you the ability to have positive caster with the lower control arm in the center of the adjustment range. Alternatively, if you try to use a stock upper control arm, disassemble the shaft and shaft bushings, and reassemble them with the shaft moved forward which will move the control arm rearward. This will make the arms side specific. Additionally, you can either shorten the upper control arms or add length to the lower control arms to improve the camber curve. I seem to remember that one of the aftermarket suspension companies offered slightly shorter uppers. Might have been CPP. Roller spring perches make a dramatic difference in suspension response time. Dazecars offers a do-it-yourself kit that is pretty easy to install. There are several companies that offer ready to install roller spring perches. About $200 last time I checked.

    Dropped spindles work well with certain caveats. The stock Maverick front calipers will hit the stock control arms. You have to grind off quite a bit of the material in the caliper to avoid this. There is plenty to spare so don't let this bother you. Your better bet is to move to a 12.5" or 13.2" brake kit that uses a caliper and rotors from a later model Mustang. Problem solved. And if you want to autocross, you want better brakes to begin with. Mustang Steve makes a kit that should work with the lowered spindles. It should work with your standard drum brake spindle.

    It's late, so any mistakes I have made should be attributed to me being tired. It sounds so much better than attributing them to the real reasons....Talking out my rear....:cool:

    BTW, Bryant, post more videos. I have been living vicariously through you lately. Since I moved to Midland, I haven't had the chance to play with any car related stuff. I'm going nuts out here.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  14. Dave B

    Dave B I like Mavericks!

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    Ok, I need to know. I bolted the cradle into my car, and it fits pretty close, I realize the rear mounts won't line up, I was going to redesign them, and I figured the rearend is too wide, and the torque arm was never in the consideration. I have a friend that builds these from scratch, so that's more the direction I'm heading, but any insight will help.

    Also, when anyone has done the shelby drop, did they have any issues with the driverside shock tower, and the part where it's clearanced for the steering box?
     
  15. Bryant

    Bryant forgot more than learned

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    Jay, good to see you on the board. I still need to send you your drop plate. i have a few more videos but they are all from the same view of the same course being ran over and over again. ill work on getting them up on my you tube and if you subscribe to it you will easily be able to see them.

    i am working on my pan hard bar set up. it should be done in 2 weeks, just in time for the next autocross event. i will have pictures of the pan hard bar set up. it will clear my 2.5 tail pipes with no problems. when i get it done ill see if its something i want to make for sale or not. in following the ron sutton threads on pro touring i am completely confident in the pan hard bar delivering all the handling and suspension tuning that i could need vs a watts link. ron goes over the tuning of a pan hard. he talks about how to tune it to be neutral or to be biased for turning one way or the other.

    what i have found is that if you have fabrication skills you can build a custom suspension for less than it will cost to buy a direct fit system for another vehicle then have to rebuild it for a maverick.

    my pan hard bar will work with my leaf springs and any link type suspension that i may switch to. im am seriously looking at doing a 3 link. my hesitation is in that ron sutton does not recommend them for drag race use. this is because the upper link takes a lot of load with drag racing launches. i suspect that some over engineering of the upper link will be strong enough for the low level of my planned drag racing use.

    i hope more of us maverick/comet guys do build customer suspensions and share the results on this board.
     

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