Suspension upgrade Qs for '65 coupe

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, the rear suspension is all put together. All I have to do is detail the undercarriage and I'll be out of there.

1 quick question. If it's necessary to lower the rear to match the front, will I have to drill new holes or otherwise mess with the sway bar? Part of installing the bar was to jack the rear up by the differential so that the weight of the car is supported by the springs, then drill the holes in the frame going by the bar's position. Will a 1/4" change in ride height alter the spring and frame mounting point's position in relation to each other too much and give me any side effects? It seems like the bar's movement is limited since it's not a factory bar, but I could be wrong.

I should have some pics up as soon as I get around to detailing. BTW, what do you guys suggest for the rear undercarriage if it was previously daily-driven and kinda crappy?

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, no detailing yet, but I got a couple pictures up on myspace. I'm kinda limited to shots of the general area since there's a 12 picture limit and I need to leave space for shots of other projects, but whatever. It's under "my pictures", of course. Enjoy.

http://www.myspace.com/deltamustang65

P.S. They should let us upload more than a few pictures on MW.

[mdjay]

Originally Posted by DeltaMustang65

1 quick question. If it's necessary to lower the rear to match the front, will I have to drill new holes or otherwise mess with the sway bar? Will a 1/4" change in ride height alter the spring and frame mounting point's position in relation to each other too much and give me any side effects?

It's usually a situation where it could bind the end links. It's not likely that 1/4" would cause a bind!

[DeltaMustang65]

I'm planning on getting started up front on monday, since I work this weekend. Gotta admit I'm a little worried about the stiffness of the springs. The back is very firm, and the leafs are rated at 195 lbs I believe. The coils are over twice that, and yes the front is heavier but I can't help but wonder if the car is going to be balanced and if it's going to get all skittish on the crummy streets here in Stockton.

Also, does it make a difference if I do the Shelby drop first? Should I remove both coils and drop both sides at the same time and then install all the new parts, or should I do one side at a time? As I've said before, I've never done any of this before. If you guys can help me avoid any pitfalls, that would be great. Thanks.

[DeltaMustang65]

Can I simply loosen and retighten the end links after dropping the rear 1/4 to help avoid binding?

I have everything out but the coil springs themselves. I removed all the old rubber undercoat and sprayed on some more, looks much better. Even better, it took a lot less time than the rear.

I reused the shock tower caps, got 'em looking like new again.

If I have time after work tomorrow, I'll get started on the Shelby drop. It looks like it might be kinda hard drilling accurately in that area, though. If I don't run into some weird-ass problem, I can probably finish everything up if I have a whole afternoon to myself.

I'll let everyone (if you're still around) know how it turns out when I get it on the road. I should definately have it done and in for alignment before my B-day.

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, it's my birthday and I'm done putting the suspension back together!

I didn't take it to get aligned because I wasn't sure if it's necessary since I didn't do the Shelby drop after all. Is it a good idea to get the car aligned after simply upgrading the sway bar and going with 1" shorter springs?

I think I'm gonna wait until Spring when I get the front disk kit, and do the drop when I install new control arms. It IS possible to unbolt the upper control arms with the engine in the car, right...? It's just a 289, but it's making those bolts very hard to reach.

The passenger side spring perch rubbers are split kinda bad and the ball joints don't look too good, either. Seems like the perfect time to replace the rest of the front suspension is when I've got the brakes off. Something to look forward to, I guess.

Seems kinda quiet around here lately. Is that normal for this website around this time of year? Seems like everyone has stopped working on their cars since the weather is so crappy.

[DeltaMustang65]

The Mustang doesn't ride half bad, I'd say it's not quite harsh, maybe borderline. It corners MUCH better though, and body roll is non-existant when driving around town. I haven't been TOO rough on the car since I'm not quite done with the suspension yet.

Is it a good idea to just rebuild or replace bushings in the control arms if they aren't damaged or tweaked, or should I be getting new ones since these are roughly 40 years old? I really don't want to spend 500+ dollars on new control arms unless it's necessary.

[rwhite65]

I dont see a need to get new ones unless there is something wrong with yours.
Ryan

[DeltaMustang65]

This isn't a suspension question, but it's weight distribution related and I didn't see the need to make a whole new topic for this. I want to relocated the battery to the trunk, and I'm wondering if I need a battery box for safety or can I mount the battery exposed? If it matters, the tank is original, not a fuel cell. I plan on re-mounting the tank so it isn't torn so easily in an accident.

[DeltaMustang65]

Has nobody done this? I asked around at MP before I posted here and they didn't know nor did they even have this done to any of their track cars, which I thought was really odd.

It seems like a really easy mod to make, but I'm having no luck getting any advice. I'll probably just get a box from Sac. Mustang. It couldn't hurt and it seems like the safe thing to do, to me anyway...

[bmxmon]

I havent done it, but do plan on it sometime down the road. (i just think that the engine bay looks cleaner) I guess the only problems I could see with an exposed battery in the trunk would be if you had a gas leak, vapor, and then had a spark. Even with that, if you had it enclosed you have to open the box to attach the cables, so it would be open to any vapors anyway, when the chance of a spark would be greatest I would imagine. I dont think you'll have any problems. Are you going with a metal or plastic box? I've seen a really cool billet battery hold down before, if your into that kinda thing. Anyway, I wouldnt be worried about it, IMO. I cant believe others havent chimed in...

[DeltaMustang65]

Yeah, the site has been pretty slow lately, but it seems like things are picking back up.

I think most boxes have little holes for the cables and are pretty well sealed. If I can't get my hands on a decent one for some reason, I'll just leave it exposed for the time being. I rarely drive it, so there's almost no chance of explosions.

[DeltaMustang65]

I got my battery relocation kit and battery box yesterday! Here's the box...

http://sacramento-mustang.com/images/mp_elebattrnk2.jpg

I should be able to install it early next week, when I have a day off. I'll take some pictures for my photobucket once it's done.

After this, I'm gonna pick up some new upper & lower control arms. Apparently Sacramento Mustang doesn't have the poly roller spring perches, so I'm probably going to get this stuff from good 'ol MP when they have their anniversary sale.

[bmxmon]

Looks good! I like the metal box look myself, hopefully I'll be doing something like you in the future, though many many things are inline first. Let us know how it goes!

[DeltaMustang65]

Almost done. I just have to go find a longer pos cable so that I can use the engine block ground. Hopefully Kragen's or Auto Zone carries those because Sac. Mustang doesn't. The Sac. Mustang guy said that grounding it in the truck works fine, but I have serious doubts and I poked around on similar topics and found others who tried to ground in the truck with poor results.

Other than that, all that's left is to undo a few bolts, pull the old battery mount from the nose and take some pictures.

Then I get to drop another $500 in parts in the front suspension of course, yay.

[DeltaMustang65]

I'm almost done with the relocation. All that's left is to run the cables to the engine compartment, they're in the cabin right now. Any suggestions on getting the cables past the firewall? I'd like to keep drilling/cutting to a minimum.

http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/deltamustang65/

The three latest shots were taken during the battery relocation.

[bmxmon]

Nice! I dont know if I would run the cable through the interior, I've seen them burn the carpet before. (friends that had them run for subs and whatnot) Kinda a fire hazzard imo.

[DeltaMustang65]

Where should I run them if not through the interior?

[bmxmon]

I would run it under the car, along the rear frame rails/along the front subframe, on the outside away from the exhaust.

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, I don't want to set my interior on fire, but I don't want the cables exposed to the elements, either. I've seen topics here before about drilling holes in the rails and routing the cables THROUGH them up to the engine compartment. I'm thinking that I should either do this (I would love to hear from someone who's done this already), or run the cables through the cabin and wrap them in insulating material. With the latter option, I'd still have to worry about drilling through the front on the cabin, which I'm not to thrilled with.