1970 Mustang Shock Tower's change

[Burning rubber]

Anyone here ever change the shock tower's in a 69 or 70 mustang? I have a couple of magazine article's(Mustang's & Ford April 2001 and Mustang's & Ford August 1998) on the process and I will be starting next week. Are they're any unexpected problems that I might run into? I bought a set of repop shock tower's that I am going to modify with a set of big block brace's.

[Mercury]

Shock towers is best left to the professionals. Thats a very important structural part of the car, and has a direct effect on suspension geometery.

[Burning rubber]

Mercury,

I purchased a car to redo it myself, not to have a "professional" do it for me. Did you do all of that work on your engine yourself, or did you have a professional do it for you. Engine work should be left for the professional's. There are a lot of important tolerance's for the crankshaft bearing's , connecting rods, etc...

I will leave a post for you after it is complete to let you know how it went.

[1969Mach1]

I havn't changed mine yet but I am going to change the inner fendors once it gets warm and probably shock towers too depending on how they look. My dad has had several older mustangs in his younger days and he said he's done it several times before so he is my professional.

Curious to hear how it goes.

[Kisner]

I don't mean to speak for "Mustang", but I think his point was if you don't have experience replacing the shock towers you can really screw up the suspension if you don't do it right. If you're mechanically inclined (which I'm not), go for it. Otherwise, you might be better off letting someone else do it. There's no need for insults here as I've found all the folks here give their honest advice and opinion to help solve your problems. You don't have to take the advice.

[70_Nitrous_Eate]

I've done it:

And let me tell you, it really sucks!

Where are you getting your towers from? I was unable to find any. The only thing I could find were "shock tower skins". And even then it's the lower part of the tower only. No good if yours are completely rusted out like mine were. I was also unwilling to cut a 1/2 way rusted set out of a doner car.

I ended up buying some 1/8" steel plate and fabricateing my own set, using the existing towers as a guide.

Some advice:
1) Install an export brace before you even start the process. Buy a good quality one from a reputable manufacturer. With the export brace in place it'll help align the shock towers.

2) Don't even attempt this without pulling your engine.

3) With the engine removed you're changeing the suspension geometry and if your towers are rusted, they'll move. Make sure you take this into consideration.

It's quite the process and I was lucky. I took her to the alignment shop and they were able to get it almost bang on except my driver side camber is out 2* because I ran out of adjustment. I can fix this with some bolt shims, but the 2* is barely noticeable and it's a pain to do so I'm just going to leave it for now.

Good luck!

[Mercury]

Burning Rubber.

Your reply kinda Irked me.

NO, I didnt not have a proffesional rebuild my engine, I did it my damn self. Just like I have on several other engines. I've rebuilt 390's with friends, a 352 with friends (Both are FE big blocks), rebuilt another 289, a 351 cleveland, a 302, and even a chvy 350.

In class, I also supervised several students how were rebuilding there engines. Tim C has done the same.

I've rebuilt Automatic Trannys before, a few Turbo 350's, a C4, and a C6, and also supervised other students rebuilding theres.

Putting in Shock towers is not like building an engine, or transmission, or like doing a brake job, or like rebuilding a rearend. Shock Towers are a major structural part of the CAR. WOuld you like to see your tires have some funky wear charectoristics all the time, Would you like to have some funky handling traits on your car. And if there not done properly they can fail.

To put this simply, the clearences in an engine are Two Dimensional, you check gaps, bearing clearance, Degree cams, Torque sequences and load. You screw up an engine, what can happen. It can lock up, it can blow up, or it might not even crank up. Not Kill ya, and damage the car.

You screw up shock towers, what can happen. You can go through tires like you would not believe, have a car that cant handle worth a damn, have a car that cannot be aligned properly, and have a car that may have a structural failure looming.

There are a few things I will leave to the proffesionals.
1. Paint and Body
2. Anything that does with frames and unibody (Shock Towers are part of that category.)
3. Interior.

I have done all the mechanical work on my 64 1/2 289 Mustang, and my 2000 GT myself.

Hell, I even ported the heads myself, CC'd them myself, Decked them Myself, Bored the block Myself. My Carb, I rebuilt myself, moddified it myself, deburred it myslef, adjusted it myself. So before you go insinuating I cant do my own Damn work, do some research.

Damien Out.

P.S. Good luck.

[Burning rubber]

I have named the car Sandy. I have been finding sand everywhere. Behind the head lights, under the fender's, in the trunk, on top of the tranny, 4" 's in the bottom of the doors. My son is going to have a sand box filled with sand from California.

So far so good. After 7 hrs, I have the hood removed, the engine(302 with 351w heads) and tranny(original FMX that I am rebuilding after body work is complete) pulled, both fendors are off and one spring removed. I should have everything stripped down and removed to start the shock tower replacement. I am going to Detroit on Saturday to pick up a correct date code 351C for Sandy. I was going to do a restomod, but that changed when I found a correct engine. So no big block brace modifications. Christmas is going to put a stop on the work for a few days. After Christmas I will start on the replacement of the tower's.

Mustangs unlimited has the complete shock towers($119.95 ea) for a small block car. The big block braces were coming off of a 1969 couger. I do not believe anyone is remanufacturing the big block braces.

Thanks for good luck wish Merc.

Merry Christmas

Mike

[thunderbolt]

Hey Merc.
Sounds as if a "Professional" did rebuild your engine, you. I suspect anyone with such training and equipment would fall into that catagory.
Gotta agree with you on what I would feel comfortable fixing.

[Mercury]

ThunderBolt.

I am no proffesional. A far cry from it. I did kinda sound like I was tooting my own horn. I should of just said experienced. The only thing that gives me any worry when rebuilding is the Cam bearings, and putting the cam shaft in. I'm afraid one of these times My muscles will spaz (They do that every now and then) and I'll end up marring the bearings or cam lobes.

I've had a few waterpump leaks, a timing cover leak, and once placed the distributor in 180. I learn something everytime though.

Oh, my favorite Stupid Mercury moment is when I was adjusting the valves on my 64 1/2. I had just finished rebuilding the upper half of the engine (Burnt the hell out of a few exhaust valves, and damaged some Valve seats) and was talking to Tim C while adjusting them. I was cranking down on the nut the whole time I was talking, and didnt realize it. Started the car up, and it went to skipping, at all RPMs.

I was so ticked, I checked the plug wires, I checked for fire at all the plugs. I figured it was the #6 cylinder. Did a compression check and didnt get hardly any compression. Then it hit me, I was adjusting that valve while talking to Tim. I took the valve cover back off and re-adjusted the valve.

Cranked her up, no more skip. Mercury was Happy.

Burning Rubber!

I'm sorry if I came off as kinda an A$$. I can be a jerk sometimes. I do wish you luck in your restoration. Truthfully, I'm just to much of a Puss to try that job myself.

[mustangman65_79]

I agree with Mercury, there are just some things I leave to pros. My right shock tower in my car looks really bad because someone not a pro did it. It works, as far as i know, but look bad. I have to get it reworked. They took the fender out from the motor compartment.