Global West Coil Over Kit

hey all,

Not sure if anyone has seen this, but I was going through some old Hotrods that I had waiting for me once I got home. Global West Suspension Components has front coil over kits advertised for '70-'77 Comet / Mav. I dont know how much they are, I havent visited the website yet. They advertise that the same kit also fits '68 - '70 Mustang, '68 - '70 Cougar, '68 - '71 Montego, '67 - '71 Fairlane/Torino, '75 - '80 Monarch/Grenada. Just thought it was pretty cool.

http://globalwest.net

 

I don't have the Global West one, but I have a coil over kit from Total Control. Since I had the engine out at the time, it was pretty easy to install..and the car handles and corners very well. Well worth the effort...but not cheap!

 

Do these work with the shock towers, or can you remove the towers, sort of like a MII swap?

 

looks like you the existing towers. Im sure someone who has done it can answer you alittle better.

 

The Global West kit does require the shock towers, however, you are dropping the upper a-arm mount point by approximately 1.5 inches so you can cut the shock tower down further for inclreased header clearance. Also, the coilover shock and spring is smaller in size than the stock spring so you can cut further into the shock tower. As long as you use heavy gauge steel to close up the cuts, you shouldn't damage structual integrity too much.

Remember when cutting and boxing the shock toweers that these are strucural members that are meant to support and control the load from the springs and shocks. The large shock towers are designed so that they are fairly well triangulated and redirect the loads into the firewall and the frame rails. Be sure to take these loads into account when plannning your cuts to avoid nasty little suprises.

I have seen an otherwise nice Mustang where the person notching the towers decided that all he needed was the top 1.5 inches of the shock tower with a 3 inch high triangle brace from the top to the sheetmetal just below. He used 20 gauge metal to fill the holes. He didn't even use an export brace or montecarlo bar. Needless to say, the sheetmetal collapsed, the whole front end got whacked bad in the resulting accident and we had to replace all the sheetmetal from the firewall forward.

 

That's the nice thing about a kit like this...you keep the shock towers and the steering linkage...no need for the full MII treatment. Except for drilling new holes to lower the upper A-arms, this is a bolt in job.