Suspension upgrade Qs for '65 coupe

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, I stopped by Mustangs Plus today for their show, did anyone else? They have a lot more room for cars now that they're expanding.

Anyway, I talked to one of the guys "guarding" one of their track cars, and it turns out that they HAVE done battery relocations to some of them after all. They also run the cables along the frame rails, away from the exhaust and all that. So now that it's 2-0 in favor of that route, I'm probably going to get that done tomorrow.

While I was there, I also picked up a set of Grab-a-trak upper & lower control arms, some poly lower arm bushings, and their roller bearing spring perches. I passed on the subframe connectors for now, because I want to get these 2 projects finished up and the ride height equal before I start welding things down there. I saved about $50 thanks to the sale , and here's hoping that I get another $50 gift certificate from the drawings they're doing!

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, the battery is all hooked up now and the car is finally running again. All that's left is to secure the cable to the bottom of the car with the little plastic loops that came with the kit. Not quite sure how I'm going to do that, though...

I would have installed the new lower control arms as well, but I can't get the rubber bushings out of them in order to replace them with poly. They don't have the lips that the poly bushings have, so there's nothing I can grab onto and pull. Trying to push them out didn't work, either. Grrrr!

I'm so close...

[DeltaMustang65]

I took my lower control arms to get the bushings pressed out at a local machine shop today. Cost me $70. Totally unnecessary expense, they NEED to sell these with more than one bushing option. Anyway, they're ready to install now. I'll have to wait until Monday to do it, because I have to work this weekend. Work sucks.

After that's taken care of, all I need to do is break those god**** upper control arm bolts loose and find my center punch so I can relocate them. I think there's a little monkey or something in my garage that keeps misplacing my tools...

[bmxmon]

$70?? I think you got hosed. I bet if you brought it to a competent mechanic next time they'll do it for much cheaper. The last thing we (my family and I) needed pushed in was a front seal for a sbc, a guy at the place we had it done did it for free. I also once had a different place press on an axle bearing, that cost me like $20 i think... Shop around man...

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, I had the bushings pressed out at a custom truck shop because they came recommended by Mustangs Plus. I actually went to MP first because they have that little "restomod garage" or whatever it's called. They don't have a press for these, they just install parts they sell as is. Believe me, I would have shopped around, but I trusted MPs opinion. I guess I'll have to not do that in the future...

Now that the entire rubber bushings and shells are gone, I checked the new poly bushings for fit. Is it normal for these poly bushings to not use shells? It seems kinda odd to me, but they seem to be fitting without them.

[DeltaMustang65]

I almost have the old lower arms off, but the bolts going into the spindle are being a severe pain in the ass. I went ahead and called it a day.

I'm really beginning to worry about the poly bushings. As I mentioned before, the shop I took the lower arms to pressed out the sleeves along with the rubber bushings. The thing is, the instructions say that you're supposed to keep the sleeves. However, it also says that you can use 2 extra little pieces of poly when using the original arms. This isn't making much sense to me. I'm really hoping that I don't have to take the arms back to the shop and go through the whole ordeal of going after them for ****ing up. At the same time I don't want to install the arms with the bushings as they are now, even though they seem to sit ok, and have them destroyed. I'd have checked the fit myself but the damn old arms don't want to come off yet. Has ANYONE here had any experience installing poly bushings on replacement lower control arms???

[DeltaMustang65]

LOL I guess that's a no. Well, I tried hammering the hell out of the spindle where the ball joint bolt passes through with no luck. I also tried using a pickle fork a couple days ago, no luck there either. Not to mention I've soaked this in penetrating oil time and time again. I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna have to take the car somewhere to get these things off, or at least loosened up so I can take care of them at my garage.

One other option I've been toying with is getting ahead of schedule and installing some new front disk brakes. My thinking is, maybe I can get my hands on a kit that includes the disk brake spindles instead of the ones that use the original drum spindles. I'd be able to remove the upper & lower arms along with the spindles as a unit, without the need to mess with the ball joints. Only problem is that I checked out MP and Sac Mustang, and I can't find any disk brake spindles, included in a kit or separate. Any thoughts?