Hey there all, Here's my story: Ive been good friends with my neighbors for a long time... and i was over at his house and we just happened to go to his tool chest, and lying in front of it was his Mustang II front end. I asked him about it, and we got into it.... He said he was gonna sell it (he didnt need it as he sold the car he was going to put it in), but told me he would give it to me......for free:bananaman if i would use it in my car! So, my next question is, can this be successfully done to make my car handle nicely; i have been told it would dart all over the road if i tried to do this. Also others told me that it would be extremely stupid to try this if i wasnt gonna put a bigger motor it. But i want it in, because its free.... Rather than spending my 500 on the disc brake kit, i can get these disc brakes for free!!!! So, with that said, can this be successfully done with 2 really really knowledgable and skilled (with cars) guys?? They are both really good with pretty much any tool, and are both great certified welders...... Well I am open to all of your opinions... and i would also liek comments on this front end(how it looks, good bad ugly pretty) Thank you in advance!
Sean, This is major surgery for your car. Remove the steering box, and idler arm, and all other front suspension parts. You will have to cut out the existing shock towers, lower control arm mounts, etc. After the old material is removed, then you must cut the Mustang II top hat and cross member off of the frame stubs that it is currently welded to. This brings up a concern. Measure the distance between the frame stubs that are currently welded to the MII suspension. Then go measure the frame to frame distance on your car. You may need to cut the cross member shorter to make it match the width of your frame. (It depends on what type of car the kit was set up for. Early Mustangs have wider frame rail widths than Maveric/Comets.) You then find the center point of the crossmember/top hat and align it to the frame on the center point of the wheel opening in the fender. Make sure it is square to the frame and the rear axle. Measure twice, tack the parts in place, measure twice more, go get a drink and remeasure again prior to making any full welds. Now that the cross member and the top hats are in place, cut the steering column shaft. Install a bearing in the bottom of the steering column tube to support the shaft so it doesn't wobble . Install the upper and lower crontrol arms, springs and spindles. Install the steering rack. Measure the distance from the input shaft on the rack to the end of the steering column. You will need to purchase two U-joints to mate the steering colum to the input shaft as well as the necessary lenth of double-D shaft to use as the intermediate shaft. At this point you need to convert your engine to use a rear sump oil pan from a 5.0 Mustang, etc. This will also move your dip stick to the drivers side. Now, trial fit the engine into the bay. You will have to fab up the engine mounts. I like to use 1" thick wall tubing bent into an arc with a piece of tubing welded horizontally in the approriate place to attach to the motor mounts. It is a good idea to use gussets here. Once again, measure twice, tack it, then measure again. Make sure the engine has approximately a 4 degree slant downward front to back and that the engine sits level from side to side. It is also a good idea to have the trans attached to the engine and to the trans mount while you are fabbing this to be sure the engine/trans is centered side to side and will mate to the trans mount. Rather involved so far, eh? Don't worry, you are almost done. Now you only have to rerun your brake lines, fuel lines, trans lines, etc. Reconnect all the engine dress, power steering, radiator, etc., etc., etc. If you are using a power rack, I stongly recommend that you buy a power steering pressure adjustment valve which will allow you to bleed some of the pressure from the stock pump directly back into the return line to reduce the tendency for the car to feel "twitchy". The MII racks were designed to use a 800 to 900 lb pressure out of the pump. Most stock Ford pumps put out between 1100 to 1300 lbs pressure. Hence the over reaction aka twitch. This can be done in your driveway. BUT, unless you have done this sort of thing before, you should expect it to take a significant length of time. What I described above is a thumb nail version. The actual doing is significantly more involved. The two most critical components of your car are be totally removed and reengineered. It is extremely important to have very good welding skills when installing suspension components. Do a search for the photos of the rear axle coming out of the car because the person hired to weld on ladder bar brackets did not have adequate weld pentration so the welds failed. I hope this has answered some of your questions. I am not trying to talk you out of doing this. I just want you to know what is involved so you don't get your car stripped and find that you have no way to go forward and now way to get back. This will in no way be FREE. You will have at least $300 to $600 into doing this. You will have to pull the engine and every thing else out of the car. What car guy can just drop the engine back in without doing upgrades? Not to mention fluids, hoses, themostat, paint, and of course, Miscellanious expenses.:evilsmile
wow, that was detailed! thanks, if I ever decide to do that project I am DEFINELTY using your advice.
With air tools, a lift and a plasma cutter, the teardown can be done in about an hour. If you are on a television show, you can get this done in 30 minutes and still have time for 10 minutes worth of commercials. If you have done this before, have all the parts and materials, are a very competent welder and a couple of buddies to help you, this can be done in a day. The two most important things are making sure that everything is square and making sure that the welds are of absolute great quality. If your welding is not excellent, you could still tack it together, do all the rest and just hire someone to do the finish welding. Two places I don't ever take chances. Steering and Brakes. If there is any question in your mind about your ability in these areas, make sure that you have a buddy who knows what he is doing there to check your work. You will never learn if you leave it to others, so jump in, have your friends watch, offer advise or show you how to do what you aren't sure of. Most important of all, have fun! If you aren't having fun, what's the point?:evilsmile
BTW, I was calling BS on the tv shows, not you Mavman. Can I do it? No. My welding skills are not good enough for me to trust the results. We all have different levels of skill, and varying comfort levels in our skills. I admire the people who just jump in and tackle the project. I have a tendency to over analyze before I jump. Often talk myself out of doing something I could probably handle. This comes from me having had to either pay to have someone else redo what I screwed up. Or in one case junk the car. (Twisted the unibody with a 390/toploader 4speed in a rusted out maverick. Door popped open, windshield popped out, buckled the floor. Car sat 2 inches higher on the drivers side front than on the passenger side. Never run a big motor in a rust bucket with no frame or cage and rotten torque boxes. )
Did you mean me or MavMan? Either way I didn't take offense:Handshake . My comment was an attempt to be funny on my part. I know it's a long process, but hey if someone gave me one, I would be out in the garage working on it as we speak.
I didn't mean any one person...I was implying that it isn't as hard as everyone says it is....just lots of measuring, math, and calculation. In other words, the thought & planning process is the most time consuming.
Agreed! Must have fun with these things... cuz if you dont, you just get frustrated!So, when you coming up to help me jayman? hahahaha Get me, you, jamie(69 and 1/2), my neighbor(who is an excellent welder, and can do most kinds of welds), and my car guy friend who lives in Simi Valley(who is also a very good welder....; you can also come visit your family(or was it friends?) that you said lived in Simi Valley) I'm totally up for it over the summer sometime! Ill pay you guys for gas(don't happen to have one of those Hybrid Toyota Prius' do you? haha that would make me reimbursing you alot better!) Haha, i would be doing that, if this wasnt my daily means of transportation to and from both school and work! haha
Sean, My advice to you would be to prioritize this project at all angles... Get that, (ahem, cough,cough) VW running right so you can still get to school, chase the girlies, and cruise with your friends, etc,etc. line up a welder (needs to be 220 and needs to be gas, no flux core) air compressor. For cut off wheels, air tools, etc. lots o' fricken tools,(pickle fork, bmfh, levels and angle finders come to mind) I can help here, got a cab full of 'em . Cherry picker (got that too). Is it worth the hassle? I think so. Cool factor alone, not to mention upgraded suspension, braking, a wide verity of motors that will fit, and most of all...no "two finger shuffle" with your spark plugs. You're young and you have alot to learn and as my granpappy use to say..."no time like the present" to do so. I truly wish I had an opportunity like this at such a young age. Will I come down and help? Sure, I'll help. Heck,If anything, I'll learn a thing or two while I'm at it. umm, It's like just nuts,bolts and steel right?:evilsmile lets try it. Disclaimer....not liable for...excessive cussing, massive adult berverage consumption, loud opinionated remarks,flatulence,tool throwing, peeing for distance, peeing in the neighbors mail box, peeing on the cat, writing my name with pee, wreakless driving when the job is complete, parts falling off the car during test runs so on so forth... j/k....of course
hey if you don't deciede to do it get it any ways and you can give it to me. i want a big block in my car. but i think it's a well worth it upgrade. thats a real nice set up too. tubular control arms and everything.
looks like a nice setup just need new rotors and calipers which are cheap if you look in the right places and i would replace the shocks just to be safe. i can also help i have a lincoln 100 MIG welder available to me just have to get the mercedes running for transportation
I'd definately go for it. One of my cars will be getting a Mustang II front end sooner or later. I personally wouldn't worry about the rotors and stuff, it all looks new to me, just looks like it's got a coat of surface rust from sitting around. I know how cameras seem to make rust look worse then it really is to. I bet a few good stops would knock the rust off and it would be fine. Worst comes to worst, just get them turned a little. I would find some other reliable source of transportation though as the car could be down for days or weeks, who knows. Definately cool man. Wish I was so lucky to have something like that gave to me!
