Front suspension project complete (mostly)

Well, I took advantage of the long weekend to finally get the front suspension project off the ground. There wasn't anything too hairy in doing it, but there were moments, and sometimes extended periods, of profanity-infused frustration (mostly in my head, but I kept the stereo cranked up just in case something slipped out) .

They say that a poor carpenter blames his tools, but in this case, I had to make do with what I had available. The closest thing I could get to a coil spring compresser locally was an external strut compresser. By using half of it, I was able to jury-rig something that, when a large nut was tightened at one end, it caused a hook-like device to compress one side of the coil spring at the other end. You can see it in a couple of the pictures. Anyone with any experience in working on front suspensions will probably laugh their butt off looking at it, but I made it work, although it took a LOT of time cranking it tight and then loosening it, over and over.

Anyway, I referred to 72HCode's instructions along with the Chilton manual to disassemble the coil springs, perches, control arms, inner and outer tie rods, and even the pitman arm, cleaned up the fender wells and sprayed them with rubberized Rustoleum, and reassembled everything in about three days of off and on work.

The shop teacher at the high school supplied me with a pickle fork before I made a fool of myself rummaging through my wife's silverware drawer looking for one. However, even with three sizes of fork to choose from, I had to resort to directly bashing the crap out of the upper ball joint and the outer tie rod joint to get them to release. The pickle fork worked fine for the rest of them.

I cleaned all the pieces up with a wire wheel on my bench grinder, a bowl of brake fluid, a bowl of vinegar, and a wire brush on my electric drill. The Auto Shop kids repacked the wheel bearings and after I get everything else put back together, I'll post another pic and get ready to do the rear suspension. I'll also go through the front disc brakes and rear drum brakes, and let you know how that goes.

I am definitely not creating a show car. I'm just trying to restore/modify this convertible to the best of my ability, and with as little money as possible. And I'm having a lot of fun at the same time.

Doc

If the second picture is the same car, you made some great progress. Good work!

Looking good! A little progress feels good, doesn't it! LOL

If the second picture is the same car, you made some great progress. Good work!

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Thanks, Dave. Yep, same car 48 hours after the first picture. Today I'll install the shocks and the rest of the wheel parts, and take her for a spin.

Doc

Looking good! A little progress feels good, doesn't it! LOL

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It sure does! I'm still going to replace the sway bar and go through the brakes, but I want to get her back on the road ASAP and see how she feels. The rear suspension rebuild will be after the brakes, and then it's on the the motor and tranny, where I get to do things that will have a BIG impact on how she drives.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Doc

welcome to the club now

the only piece of advise i would offer for the future is not to use a pickle fork again, Fords and pickle forks don't mix.

the pickle fork can damage the outer tierods and if you servicing the ball joints for some reason they can also be damaged by using the pickle fork.

ford recommends using a splitter or you pound the side of the joint with a very heavy hammer to pop it loose.

on a chevy the fork is fine on the ford avoid it.

in your case you installed new parts so it didn't matter, but if you need to service the area in the future for some reason don't pickle fork it.

never ever use a pickle fork on the power steering gearbox to pop off the arm, if you do you will ruin the box for that you need a puller that puts the stress on the shaft and not the housing.

Awesome job man,, see it wasn't so bad .

one little issue i see is you didn't install 90 degree grease fittings on the upper arms. that is going to make it an issue when you lube up all the zerk fittings.

::goodjob:: looks great I will be in that area soon.I am planing on converting to disks up front and do a complete suspension job next spring {it sucks not having a garage for the winter car will be in storage}

Thanks, guys. It feels great to really "belong to the club" now.

Ya, I knew it was going to be tricky with the zerk fittings they sent. I haven't lubed the new parts yet, so I'll see if I can install some 90 degree fittings before I'm finished with the front end.

More cool stuff to come.

Doc

CONGRATULATIONS, Doc!

You are REALLY working it, Buddy - - Looking real good!!

BT

Great job on that suspension Doc!

Keep it up

Update -

I finally got everything put back together, checked the brakes, and put the tires back on, and noticed significant toe out and negative camber.

Chilton provided a good description of how to adjust the toe out problems, so I took care of that first.



I went online and got some info on how to fix the negative camber problem ("adjust the eccentrics") and was able to max out the lower control arm adjustment so the tires looked like they were close to perpendicular to the ground (which meant readjusting the toe in/out) and it looked pretty good when I was finished.



After driving down to the shop and making an appointment for an alignment tomorrow morning, the camber looked as negative as when I started. The lower control arms were tightened to specs. I'm afraid that the guys at the shop are going to have some bad news for me, like "When the car was wrecked, the frame was tweaked and now you can't adjust the camber properly. You'll have to replace your tires every 5,000 miles."



I'll let you know what they really say when I get the car back tomorrow afternoon. Anyone seen anything like this before?

Doc

It looks kind of sad with it's wheels sticking out; kind of like a sad car from the movie "Cars"

Good luck with the alignment; you can't say you didn't try!

check your strut rods make sure they didn't move around.

double check the eccentrics on the lower Arms they are keyed so make sure the front and rear eccentric is moving together against the Channel walls they sit in.

its possible you need to open the tierods some more the body on the 71-73 is deceiving because of the way the fenders bow out. you think your strait but you are not.

I did a DYI alignment on my car it was pure hell without a lift or a way to stand under the car in a pit to make all my changes.

Well, 72HCode, you sure know your stuff. The shop called this morning, said that the eccentrics were all fouled up, that the somethingorother was bent because of the driving, that they don't weld front end work, and I needed to replace the eccentrics, etc., etc. I simply told the mechanic that I'd be down after work and worry about it then.

I looked for the eccentrics and checked with OMS but it didn't show up on their website, so I called CarQuest and it'll be here the day after tomorrow. Then I went down to the shop and talked to the mechanic and the owner, and it's not as bad as it sounded on the phone. The Channel walls where the lower control arms attach are bent from a long time ago, so they will weld a small piece on there to hold back the eccentrics so they can do their job.

The guy complimented me on the job I did and said everything looked really good. So, instead of my imagined $500 repair it's now a $21 part including shipping and maybe $100 max for labor. So, I'm in a great mood tonight.

The school's auto shop teacher wants to do the rear suspension (put in the leaf springs and install the shocks, basically), and since I don't have a lift and my wife probably will balk at holding up the rear axle while I bolt the leave springs in, I think I'll let them do it.

So, coming up fast is motor and transmission. I'm following other threads related to beefing up the 351C 2V, and doing a lot of reading on line. I like the low end torque I can get with my 2V heads, and I think some porting/polishing of the exhaust ports might help, along with the usual cam/intake/carb set-up that I'll be asking about as we get there.

Anyway, right now life is good, and if the old girl is driving good on Wednesday, I'll definitely be one happy guy.

Doc

Your front end looks like mine did after installing 620 springs. I may not know what I'm talking about but I use a 1/2 thick bar with 2 holes dilled in it as a spacer on both upper control arms. That seemed to straighten them up. Then took it to alien shop. MB

well amk sells the correct eccentrics set, they are easy to damage, i had to replace one also because it got fouled up.

as far as the rear end you don't need a lift.

jack the car up, and place jack stands under the rear torque boxes, just in front of the front rear leaf spring perch, then allow the rear axle to relax down.

undo the leaf spring u-bolts, just loosen them the axle sits on top of the leafs so if you loosen the u bolts the rear axle will free float, next get a floor jack under the pumpkin and jack it up so its just loose slightly off the leafs, put jack stands under the rear axle, then release the u bolts, the rear axle will now be free from the leafs sitting on the floor jack with the jack stands keeping it from falling, then just jack up the rear axle a little more and have it sit on the stands, away from the leaf. now you can work around the rear axle and remove all the leafs and shocks. once its all cleaned out you can strap the pumpkin to the floor jack and lift it pull the stands and get it out from under the car.

when you pop the driveshaft out of the pumpkin DO NOT pull the drive shaft yoke out of the transmission, or you will be covered in a wave of transmission fluid(unless you want to drain the trans and service the transmission filter. just lower the rear of the drive shaft to the shop floor and be carful the yoke does not pop out.

Thanks, guys. I'll give you the final news tomorrow afternoon, and go from there. I appreciate the tips!

Doc

OK, I need to put this thread to bed so I can start on other stuff.

I went to pick up the car this afternoon when I got back in town, and the good news was that they got toe in/out and caster into specs no problem, but got camber to about 95% of spec. MB described the same thing as the mechanic - he said that he thought some spacers or washers were removed by the PO from the upper control arm, preventing him from completely adjusting the camber correctly (I saw them for the early 'stangs, but not for the 71 - 73's). I'll pick some up, but then I'll have to get another alignment to adjust the toe in/out since camber affects that. I'm not in a rush. Anyway, I consider the job finished for now. Yahoo!

Do you have the shock tower stiffeners installed? Just wondering since the towers can creep in and mess things up. On these cars they should not need any spacers on the upper a arm mount, but things happen over 35+ years so..

Otherwise your done, 2 thumbs up

Do you have the shock tower stiffeners installed? Just wondering since the towers can creep in and mess things up. On these cars they should not need any spacers on the upper a arm mount, but things happen over 35+ years so..

Otherwise your done, 2 thumbs up

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The stiffeners are in place, and everything up there is nice and solid. I think the shims will do the trick - I'll pick them up before I buy new tires.

Thanks for your help and advice! Now, on to something a bit more fun!

Doc