The Motor Mounts for the engine were welded to the crossmember and triangulated to the frame rails. Vertical supports welded to crossmember, horizontal supports welded to frame rails. Over about 10,000 miles of normal driving, the crossmember bent which had the negative effect of twisting the top of the frame rails inwards about 3/8" each side. Really screwed up the front end geometry. The car was later stolen and wrecked by some local crackheads so the drive train is going to go into a `53 Ford F100 to use as a tow vehicle for the Maverick that is going together in my garage now. Hope to have the Maverick finished by this time next year. The truck will be after that.
For good sources of M2 parts...springs, shocks, control arms, crossmembers, correct length racks, etc., you should really look at some of the magazines like "Street Rodder", "Rod and Custom", etc. They are a great source of information and ideas on what the pluses and pitfalls are. Many of the advertisers in these magazines can provide you with any M2 part you can imagine. Including stronger spindles, dropped spindles, coil over shocks, adjustable shocks, custom springs that will work with your engine combination, larger brakes thet won't break the bank, you name it. If you are running a M2 front end, be aware that the stock rack and pinion unit is not the correct length for our cars. Ideally, the point in the rack where the endlinks pivot should be lined up with the pivot bolt in the lower control arms. If they are not, you will experience bump steer. This is not a good thing. Flaming river will make you a rack with the correct dimensions for about $400. This is cheap if you are planning to put a lot of miles on your car. If you are planning on using a power rack, you should either use a Chevy pump with the pressure valve replaced by a low pressure valve or you should get a pressure reduction valve that goes inline between the pump and the rack. The rack was designed for 600-700psi while the pumps in most Ford are between 900 and 1300 psi. Even "rebuilt Pinto or M2" pumps usually have the wrong pressure valve in them. This makes driving the car a real challenge as the steering feels excessively "twichy" or "nervous". It can be just plain scary at speed.
Now wait a minute Jayman now you really have me confused:confused: I am to the point that I believe we went our different ways when installing our front ends.....for example in my car and mavmans car as well....the m2 cradle is stock width......which means the rack is the correct width.....if the tierods were inboard the way you describe then you would have one hell of a toe in...... so yeah that would create some bump steer.....on my car I actually welded new frame rails to the inside of my existing frame rails so the crossmember would fit the width it was so I could use the anti dive that was built in from the factory.........and for the record the m2 front from hub to hub is within 1/2" as our cars.....and I'm sure mavman will say the same....
yep...front track before I started was 60 1/16" (at tire centerline). With the M2 installed, it is 59 7/8". Close enough.
