Front suspension questions

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Animal Lawyer

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I am about to redo my front suspension, (1973 vert 351c 400hp T5) I don't really understand the difference (functionally) of the various options (oem control arms, tubular, opentracker's performance arms, roller). How much of a difference do each of the options make (and are the roller arms worth (in terms of appreciable street performance) the vast difference in price?

I have heard that opentracker has discontinued the roller idler arms for our cars, is there another option and again, how much does it matter?

Has anyone written a good primer on our cars front suspension. and upgrading it? I have the factory front discs, redid the steering to the close ration box, I just am not sure what to do about the suspension. Also what bushings are recommended.

Any insights and recommendations are appreciated.
 
It depends a lot on how you plan to use your car. Unless you're planning on tracking the car or really going all out on the twisties, you don't need to do a bunch of modification. For a street cruiser and occasional backroads jaunt, I would use stock replacement parts with rubber (no urethane), upgraded antiroll bar (ADDCO), and quality shocks. Some say the roller spring perches are the way to go but I can't speak to them from experience.
 
I agree with Sheriff's post. I have gone through three upgrade stages. The first stage involved upgrading to new OEM and that was an obvious big improvement over the worn OEM. Then I went roller and couldn't feel much of a difference. Then I went full high performance coil over, tubular, etc, and that proved a huge improvement, but with some added stiffness and lighter wallet in exchange. However, for normal street driving new OEM with good shocks and sway bar are perfectly fine (as stated above). The one thing I will add is urethane bushings only for the sway bar.
 
I agree with what has been said above, you don't need much unless you want much (Tony). I'd suggest the Addco OEM style sway bars, the high durometer strut rod bushings from Global West, poly, on one end only, on the vertical links for the sway bars, and wider tires and wheels than stock. If you want to spend the money somewhere, spend extra on the tires and shocks. A wee bit more can be gained by using poly on the frame attaching bushing on the front lower control arms. I have used the poly here on several cars since the early 1990s without a failure. Past this and you are in "Tony Territory", requiring an adjustment of your other "indulgences" budgets. All just my opinion based on my experiences. Chuck
 
I did OEM replacement style parts, corners great, rides nice…No complaints….I even cut my springs down, still rides great…
 
Sheriff and others above are speaking as I would. Unless you plan to track the Mustang competitively it makes no sense to try juicing up the suspension. You could do it, it will feel different. And it would all be for naught as what works good on the track is not really suitable for the street. You would emd up with some very costly bragging rights is you are not tracking it in competition.

It is good to remember the suspension roots of the Mustang also. The lowly economy Falcon model. Over the years the stock Mustang suspension improved a little here and there. But, seriously, your starting point re: having a competition capable suspension is already pretty low on the First Generation Mustangs. Build the suspension using owm parts where needed. But trying to emulate racing style suspension builds is not a game I recommend.
 
If you want to get the most bang for your buck look at Global West Uppers MST-733 for caster with some eccentric lock outs for camber. This combination will give your car the ability to stick tires to the road if you want to get more aggressive cornering. After that I would look at how the car handles and take it from there. You might find the factory springs being worn out will be the next thing you have to replace but at least you can keep your tires on the ground to find out with better caster and camber. Let us know what you decide to go with during hibernation.
 
Follow up.

I am really happy with my setup

Opentracker heim strut arm, roller perches and reinforced lower arm

I couldn’t get the caster from shims so I added these upper A arms

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gls-mnr-733
And global wests coil spring cover with adjusted bump stop for their A arm

Stock rate spring as the arming drop Lowe’s the car

At -.5 camber and 4,5 caster
 

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Nice spring covers. Do you have a part number, I can't find it in their website.
Edit: I see the p/n in your picture as TS-713T, but I can't find it in their website.
 
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My favorite aspect to work on in a car is the handling. You can have all the power on the world, but if you can't use it, does it really exist?Of the first generation Mustangs, ours were the most refined and capable. It has a longer wheelbase, wider track and improved suspension geometry that eliminates the need for the upper control arm drop to correct camber change. With this in mind, you could save a lot of money and greatly improve the handling by just addressing the shortcomings that remain.

The first major thing to address is the strut rod and it's spongy bushing. Of the different designs I looked at, I liked Street Or Track the best because of what I see as stronger design. By upgrading the strut rod, your turning, acceleration and braking will improve dramatically because you no longer have to wait for it big bushing to compress and rebound. Also, Street or Track actually races with their parts.

The next step would be to replace the unreliable eccentric bolt with camber lockout plates. If you are looking to fly through the twisties, you don't want anything to move and change your suspension geometry. It's a little more work to align, but we'll worth it for performance and safety.

Next, unless you are competitively racing on a road course, I would recommend using stock upper and lower control arms. Uppers you can leave a they come out of the box. Lowers, I would box with a reinforcement plate welded to the bottom. You can even make your own out of 14 gauge mild steel. This addresses the lack of stiffness and the tendency for them to crack, and sometimes completely break at the bend they have to clear the frame while going through it's travel. If you ever watched the end of the chase in Bullitt, you will see what I mean.

Another inexpensive improvement with dramatic results are traction bars. Like the solid strut rod, it controls movement under acceleration AND braking. In this case, the vertical rotation of the rear end that causes spring wind up. Traction masters is what I used. I mounted them directly to the next thing I recommend.

Subframe connectors. I used tin man subframes because they are rectangular, they match the existing from frame rail and hug the for pans. You can have the best suspension parts in the world but that force will go somewhere. In this case, it will flex the 50 year old chassis, which might even be enough to cancel out your other improvements.

The last few, self explanatory pieces, 1 1/8 front sway bar with polyurethane bushings. Total control rear sway bar. The last, quality hydraulic shocks. I recommend QA1 non adjustable. If you are going to track it on a road course or autocross, Viking double adjustable along with 620 lb front coils and 193 lb 5 leaf rear springs.

My post was long winded, but I love a good handling car. It just doesn't take thousands and thousands of dollars to do it on our cars. I've put time and money to experiment and this is what I found I like and does well on the street while putting a smile on your face and turning heads at the track.
 
I had good results with the total control bump steer eliminator tie rod ends. I put them on my 73 and on my 69 with the granada spindles.

Previously, the 73 would turn itself fairly dramatically when i went over a bump in the road.
 
I had good results with the total control bump steer eliminator tie rod ends. I put them on my 73 and on my 69 with the granada spindles.

Previously, the 73 would turn itself fairly dramatically when i went over a bump in the road.
Do you have to adjust the height of the bump steer once installed?
 
Do you have to adjust the height of the bump steer once installed?
The kit uses shims to lower the point where the tie rod attaches to the spindle. In a nutshell, you remove the spring and shock so you can articulate the suspension up and down while measuring. Then you write that number down and try a different number of shims and repeat the process. Its trial and error, then stick with the stack of shims that has the least amount of bump steer.

Using some cobbled together junk, I was able to get mine down to a few thousands of an inch.
https://7173mustangs.com/threads/giantpunes-73-mach-1-project-thread.40410/post-403969
 
Keep in mind the bump steer after happens when you lower your car from stock height because it changes the steering geometry in relation to the suspension. I kept mine stock but went with a higher spring rate. I have almost no perceptible body roll and don't have to slow down much for irregularities in the roadway. If you lower the car, the benefits sometimes outweigh the problems that come with it. If you just cruise, it's not an issue. If you like to drive in a spirited fashion, you might want stock height to avoid bottoming out on roadways. Regardless of what you do, always make sure the steering linkage is parallel to the lower control arm to avoid bump steer.
 
Nice spring covers. Do you have a part number, I can't find it in their website.
Edit: I see the p/n in your picture as TS-713T, but I can't find it in their website.
You have to call and ask for them

They listed 67-73 on their site. So I got them. They didn’t fit. Called them they confirmed. Sent me a call tag and said it would me a bit as they had to make them.

They fixed the website on the old part, but didn’t add the new part. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Ya. I looked at that.

I did the Opentracker stuff. Modded my parts when possible and I think I am at $1700.

My car had been damaged so I tried to stay on budget as I was worried I would have to rip it all out and go AJE Strut.

With some welding and frame straightening I was able to finally get the car driving straight in a budget.
 
Factory stuff is OK for normal driving. However, I myself will never again use nor recommend factory spring perches with rubber bushings. The difference in ride quality using roller perches was that great for me. Although easy, the upper arms and perches are the biggest hassle to deal with due to the coil spring. If you get those two sorted first, the other components can be done at anytime.
 
Factory stuff is OK for normal driving. However, I myself will never again use nor recommend factory spring perches with rubber bushings. The difference in ride quality using roller perches was that great for me. Although easy, the upper arms and perches are the biggest hassle to deal with due to the coil spring. If you get those two sorted first, the other components can be done at anytime.
I have to agree. I looked at roller and greasable urethane and ended up going with the latter. So far no complaints. The nice thing about building out cars in the modern day is that there are more options for our cars. From different performance levels to simply cruising as well as options that fit into your budget.
 
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