I spent the weekend rebuilding the suspension on my 1965 Mustang Fastback. Below is a list of add-ons/modifications:
Front:
Grab-A-Trak 620 Coil Springs
Street or Track Billstein Street Valved Shocks
Opentracker Roller Spring Perches
Street or Track Adjustable Strut Rods
Shelby Drop (used Street or Track template)
Opentracker roller idler arm (steering upgrade)
(I already have a 1" Front sway bar)
Rear:
Street or Track Billstein Street Valved shocks
Street or Track 4.5 Mid Eye leaf Springs
(I already have traction master bars)
I aligned the car to +5 degrees caster (4.5 on driver side) 1/2 degree of negative camber, and 1/16" toe in.
First impressions:
In limited street driving, the car handles great. Compared to before, it handles like it's on rails. I don't have a lot of body roll and my car tracks significantly better. Mission accomplished. However, these upgrades came at some expense. I can hear everything on the road. From lines in the road, to cracks and bumps. It's noticeable, which I figured it would be despite some peoples insistence that it wouldn't increase road noise. Trust me, it does. However, this isn't my wife's soccer-mobile. It's a performance machine and it's about time it started acting like one. These modifications truly do transform the handling characteristics of the car.
I want to give a shout out to Shaun at Street or Track. He's a good guy who helped me decide on the direction I wanted to go. Also to John at Opentracker. He answered all of the questions I had and was willing to help anywhere he could. I highly recommend the services of these two companies. They're top notch.
I've also got a couple of videos that shows the stock spring perch vs. the roller spring perch. I may post them up to YouTube if anyone is interested. Let me know.
That's odd. I have a full SoT front suspension. No rubber bushings anyplace. I honestly can say it's not any noisier then before. I have th roller bearing idler arm too. Next, get rid of the bushing in the lower arm.
Was there any bushing left in your stock perches? To be honest, it's not even close. I noticed it backing down my driveway for the first test drive. That's not to say I'm not pleased, but it's definitely louder.
Can you replace the bushing without replacing the LCA? I don't see that SoT offers just the bearing.
To be honest I don't remember. But I think they looked OK. I still have them and the upper arms. I was doing a upgrade on the suspension for better handling and not because of wear. All the parts were Ford service replacement the PO had installed. They all looked good, the upper arms still had the mylar tags. I'd say they definitely didn't look high mileage. I was going to leave the lower arms since i thught they were good. I should back up a little. The reason I was replacing the upper arms was I wanted a set that were adjustable for more caster. Anyway I had the uppers in and was going to send it out for alignment. It hit me, why should I pay to have a alignment done when I did all this work? Plus I read enough horror stories. I bought a caster/camber gauge. THAT was the best thing I ever did! I discovered I had a camber problem which lead me to discover my lower arms were wasted.
This is what I found that was hidden from view. If I had not decided to do my own alignment I never would have found this. I don't think a shop would have either. No matter what I had for a alignment it never would have performed right and I never would have known. This is why I say a mono bearing. It will far outlast any rubber bushing and it will always work like new and it will work consistently the same time after time no matter what. Opentracker Racing makes a kit to install a roller bearing kit in your stock arm. I chose to go with a purpose built part since I wasn't racing in any vintage class. Once these bushings go bad your car will be all over the road. my car was so bad I literally could not drive along side another car for fear my car would dart. I thought it was crappy alignment not worn parts. If you got that 5* by cranking on the lower strut you're going to kill the lower bushing. It won't make any difference to a bearing. Oh, I do have roller spring perches too.
Nice job, that took me about a year to rebuild all my suspension and brakes. I pretty much used the same parts except I bought Eibach Progressive Rate Coil Springs and a roller lower arm. I don't have traction bars in the rear. My car rides great, no complaints here. It is much smoother and responsive then the stock suspension because I drove that for a while before I rebuilt.
I wasn't referring to your post as bashing. I just didn't want anyone to think I was complaining about the parts installed as being of bad quality. Sorry for the confusion.
As for the LCA torqueing, I never removed it. I didn't do LCA bushings. Just the Shelby drop with the UCA.
I've got 215/60/15 all around on my 66. It could be the taller sidewalls absorb some of that noise. I do notice slightly more road imperfections but it's something I have to focus on to notice. Otherwise the car has a much more supple ride.
I have the full SoT tubular suspension (UCA, LCA, strut, cap) on Koni's and 620 springs with 1/2 turn cut off.
it squeaks a lot when i first start driving down the road - but then eventually goes away. there are no lube points, but i've coated them in silicone spray anyway, that did seem to help a bit.
I'm gonna go another route and say that your increased noise is due to those Grab-a-Track 620 coil springs. I had those exact ones as well originally, with almost the same suspension parts as you, and road noise was evident, and the ride was pretty harsh (especially on L.A.'s terrible streets). I swapped those out for 550 springs (or 520, I don't recall) and the ride got smoother and road noise went away a lot. All is better in the world now.
oh wow... never thought the spring might cause it. makes sense though - i had full grab-a-trak suspension and it was complete ****. i swapped out everything BUT the spring because I just figured a spring was a spring.
I agree the 620 can be harsh for any sort of bump - do the 550 springs have a lower ride height from being softer?
also what brand spring would you recommend?
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