71 Mach1(Trans Am) 2" nose drop

[71Rustang]

I am building a 71 Mach 1 into a Trans Am car.I'm building the car as if it have been built by Kar Kraft had Ford not canceled the program.I am however taking some creative liberties in doing so. The car is a 429cj,4 speed.Going to run 8" Minilites in front with 10s in the rear.Just installed 210lb 1 3/4 leafs in today with monoballs.........................

 

[NOT A T5]

Good luck with the build!

 

[Wide-body71]

This is going to be spectacular! I’m looking forward to following.

 

[71Rustang]

Hi again,here is a couple more progress pics. Reworked and boxed Moog upper control arms,and installed rear springs.The front of the springs use a 5/8 mono ball and the rear use a sleeve with stock rubber bushings. The leafs are new from Eaton Detroit Spring.They built all of the KK Trans Am springs originally and still have all the blue prints. They are 1 3/4 wide 210lb.This is the Bud Moore set up,which will require me to build and install a Watts link....................

 

[mach71351c]

Welcome from San Diego. Cool build.

 

[Danoh1]

I vintage road raced my 72 H.O. for many years. Currently, I race a faithful Boss 302 T/A replica.  Good stuff.  I highly discourage a 351C for road racing, unless you run a dry sump system.  This was a very expensive lesson for me to learn.

You don’t really need the KK droop.  You can drop the control arm 1.5 inches and it will be plenty low.  You will have to notch the area under the upper control arm, no biggie.   The KK droop is a lot of work, but very cool.  I have a CD available of many KK blue prints.  It’s not all of them, but it’s the most complete set available. Send me your email, I’ll send you a sample and index.  These were professionally digitized from the original prints in my possession.  The originals were not cheap, so I sell the disks for a small charge.

happy to share some lessons learned from my builds. Taking my Boss 302 out this upcoming weekend.  Shakedown for November at Circuit of the Americas Vintage event. 

 

[71Rustang]

I vintage road raced my 72 H.O. for many years. Currently, I race a faithful Boss 302 T/A replica.  Good stuff.  I highly discourage a 351C for road racing, unless you run a dry sump system.  This was a very expensive lesson for me to learn.

You don’t really need the KK droop.  You can drop the control arm 1.5 inches and it will be plenty low.  You will have to notch the area under the upper control arm, no biggie.   The KK droop is a lot of work, but very cool.  I have a CD available of many KK blue prints.  It’s not all of them, but it’s the most complete set available. Send me your email, I’ll send you a sample and index.  These were professionally digitized from the original prints in my possession.  The originals were not cheap, so I sell the disks for a small charge.

happy to share some lessons learned from my builds. Taking my Boss 302 out this upcoming weekend.  Shakedown for November at Circuit of the Americas Vintage event. 

Some nice cars you have there.I will be running a Boss 429. These are the only Mustangs that they are a bolt in.I like Clevelands a lot and I also have all the parts to build a Boss 302,But I want a Boss 429. As for the nose droop I wanted to do it.I think these cars need it anyway. The car looks better,sharper and more aggressive. Most people wouldn't know unless you parked it next to a stock one.The worst part was sectioning the bumper brackets.In the pics you see I didn't have to modify the fenders one bit. The fit and finish of the car will be equal to Kar Kraft car at the time,so nice but not perfect,race car nice. I never wanted to do the Shelby UCA drop on the car,as these cars do have revised suspension from the earlier years.I also had cut apart the spring towers to fix rot that was behind the internal brace. Without highly modifying or removing the brace there really isn't room to drop the arms.I choose to go the rout of huge front springs,1200 lb coils with the nose drop. the rest of the front will be period TA suspension with mono ball,lowers and strut rods with roller perches with small sway bars.I am going for a cross of Allan Moffats car and Warran Topes 73.

PS What the deal with Minilite.No one in 2 months of emailing has answered me on their US website. I'm going to go with TA Race Engineering Superlights.And I would post pics on the TA forum but posting pics is damn near impossible.

 

[Danoh1]

thanks for noticing my cars!  Cool build on yours. I also used Moffats car as inspiration.  My theme is: what would I have built in 70 or 71 if had an uncle in the know, but a small budget.  

i suggest:  watts link.  Fays II is easy to install and functions exactly like original cars. Big springs. Small sway bar.  Use the period correct Lincoln big brakes in front. They work well.  Get the cooling duct kit from Cobra.  Cobra automotive stuff costs more.  It’s worth it.  Their stuff fits.   I have D0ZX style rear brakes, similar to the Boss 302 chassis manual set up.   I’m a big fan of open tracker. His stuff is good.  Roller UCA, perches, and his braced LCAs with bearing.  You can also get LCAs with a larger replaceable ball joint.  Replace your lower control arm eccentrics with the adjustable camber plates.  You will need big oil cooler.  Won’t need trans or diff cooler.  Use a circle track fuel cell and save 1500 dollars.  Install subframe connectors.  You can adapt a corvette Power steering box and get 12:1 ratio.  Stock ps pump is fine, with a cooler.  Never had a problem. 
 

if you go with a hydraulic clutch....we should talk.  
 

 

[droptop73]

That looks great, do you have more photos of the process? The wheels in my head are turning on where to cut. 

I'm looking forward to following along on this project. Thanks for posting. 

 

[71Rustang]

That looks great, do you have more photos of the process? The wheels in my head are turning on where to cut. 

I'm looking forward to following along on this project. Thanks for posting.

Yes I have a few more pics I can put up.

 

[71Rustang]

Here ya go................Its not that hard of a process. But it is very labor intensive. I started the cut at the cowl just above the hood hinge bolt and went straight to the rad support.Then cutting again from where I started gently angle the cut down till it was at the top of the shock tower,about 9/16 or 5/8 of an inch.Then from the front of the tower is a progressively steeper pie cut to the rad support. The radiator support I sectioned two inches out of,reinstalled then bring down the top of the aprons gently check heights and width and weld.the pic of the pie cut is only at 1 1/4 inches. I didn't know if I wanted to go a full 2. But I did and I couldn't be happier with it.This is how Kar Kraft did it.

 

[71Rustang]

Me again.Who here has ever thought about adding the Trans Am shock tower braces to your car? It wasn't easy. Since nobody makes them like for 64 through 70,I went ahead and made a set.They are 1/8" and installed at a 45 degree angle from midway vertically on the factory internal brace to the top of the frame.Not to bad to weld in,accept for welding inside the bottom of the tower pocket to the frame,that sucked. I ended up cutting a 1/4 inch slice in the side of the frame to access the bottom of the brace and the top of the frame.I welded those together through the slice then welded the top of the frame to the sides to put the frame together.And no,I did not do a control arm drop.It is not necessary modification on 71-73.

 

[droptop73]

Thanks for sharing the additional photos.  They confirmed what I was thinking. 

The braces are something I want to do to my convertible. They can use all the help they can get! 

 

[71Rustang]

Hello once again.I figured this was a worth look. I got in most of the rest of my front suspension.This stuff is from Opentracker.A roller idler arm,roller spring perches,tie rod adjusters, LCA boxing plates and on the bottom are the monoballs for the LCAs.The rest of the pics are 4 days of welding on the front end.I am fully welding all of the lower frame rail seams nose to tail on the whole car,torque boxes and any and all structural and suspension points. Evey thing else will be skip welded every 2 inches.Just now waiting for the hiem joints for the sway bar links, then I can build the lower control arms and work on mounting them. I have chosen to forgo the square camber locks you can buy and permanently mount them just like they would have been.

 

[71Rustang]

Hello,just a quickie.Roller idler arm installed.The plate from the frame to the bottom is 1/8'' and the the 2 side braces are 3/8'',so it shouldn't bend or walk.I also filed the sides if the arm mount flat  so it has a nice fit to the side brackets.I'm most likely going to remove the stud in the end of the center link and replace with a bolt.

 

[droptop73]

Very cool work. Did they add the plate to the lower end of the idler back in the day? 

 

[71Rustang]

Very cool work. Did they add the plate to the lower end of the idler back in the day? 

Yes,they did.

 

[71Rustang]

Hello everyone.More to report,so far I have 14 hours in these things,start to finish.They are new Moog control arms.Stripped and rebuilt.They are boxed,welded in monoball housings and heim jointed swaybar end linked.Just have to now fit the monoball in the housing install the ball joint and paint.I am in search of old moog adjustable ball joint kits,for now the stockers are fine.I might even adapt a Howe adjustable ball joint in when the time comes.

 

[Idaho Chris]

Nice looking lower arms.  I sure wish I could weld like that!