[sj9ers]

SO I was on the AJE website today and saw they now have a rear sub frame kit for 64-70 Mustangs along with some control arms and other stuff. Anybody have any more info on this stuff and what it does? Here's a link to the stuff its at the bottom of the page 64-70 Mustang

 

[65since88]

Man the rear subframe is interesting, pic stinks. Sort of looks like its for a 4 link setup or something.

 

[Monzy]

That does look interesting. Wish the pic was detailed so I could get a good idea to fabricate it myself.

 

[fonebooth]

if you want to fabricate it yourself look at my pics

 

[shaneh]

the pictures in their website actually show the cradle upside down. The lower control arms mount in the front where the springs mounted. The rear shocks are a standard coil-over shock with eyes on both ends ( 11 5/8 compressed and 17 inch extended). The cradle mounts up between the frame rails and uses the original shock holes to give you a basic location. You weld sleeves inside the frame rails so the thru bolts don't collapse them. Install is basically locating the cradle and mark it for the bolt holes. Remove the frame and make the holes, insert and weld the sleeves in place then bolt the frame back in.

You then use a 87-04 Mustang 8.8 shortened to your specific length or have to add ears to your 8" or 9" housing.

I've got pictures in a zip file. Let me put em up on photobucket and post em here.

 

[shaneh]

 

[ScottsGT]

One small detail I did not think about when I went with my Rod & Custom Motorsports 4 link.
Exhaust. Stock won't cut it now! Looks like I can modify Fox body tailpipes to fit though. I now have to go on the outside of the coil overs.

 

[shaneh]

On a 67+, the Fox 8.8 is a direct bolt in using the AJE subframe kit with no narrowing needed. It will actually tuck the tires in by 1/4 inch or so per side as the fox 8.8 is 58 3/4" compared to roughly 59 1/4" on a stock 67 rear. On a 65-66, you would need to narrow the 8.8 by about 3/4" per side at a minimum to stay with the same flange to flange width as the car originally had. Or use a wheel with slightly more backspace. Realistically, most of our common wheels would probably work as long as the tire wasn't bigger than about a 235 series. The lower control arm spacing works out on the Fox 8.8 to be a bolt in too.

 

[Injected65]

Shane,

Has that car been mini-tubbed by chance? I'm having mine done and wondered if there would still be room for that control arm in the stock leaf location or if it would need relocated inside the frame rail for additional clearance.

Also, what ever happened to the turbo mod motor race car? I haven't heard anything about it for some time.


Chris

 

[shaneh]

Chris, those pics are a 67 with factory tubs that Jim at AJE sent me. He and I discussed just what you are talking about. I'm out in the garage right now with a plumb bob and tape measure trying to determine how much inboard room there is for tire and wheel with the control arm mounted in the stock location. I'll have a 9" wheel and a 10.5" wheel this weekend to play with, also. Here's another pic of a 17x8x4.5bs wheel in place plus the control arm location in relation to the frame rail. You pick up at least an inch of clearance in comparison to the leaf spring.

 

[shaneh]

Oh, and on the turbo mod motor. We broke a Boss block on the engine dyno at 1524hp with the 91mm. Ford gave us two new blocks and a new set of GT heads. Put it all back together and broke ANOTHER Boss block. Would you believe, though, that when we ran that little 302ci engine naturally aspirated, it made 496hp and 474ft lbs of torque. Pretty stout for a modular NA. After that we lost interest. I sold the car in the Christmas of 2010 to a guy in west texas. Ed kept the engines as he wanted to build an 800-900hp setup for a kit car.

 

[Injected65]

I need to make a trip back over to the body shop to get some measurements myself. I know that when I looked before that we were able to pick up about 1.5" of additional clearance with the mini tubs, but the spring was still an obstacle. Looking at those pics, other than narrowing the sway bar, moving the lower control arm pockets and fabbing some metal to make the control arm double shear there doesn't appear to be much of a problem moving them inward if need be.

That sucks about the broken blocks. Definitely good numbers NA though. I ended up selling my turbo car about the same time as well. I've decided to dump some money and energy into getting my 65 back on the road and worry about a race car at a later time.

 

[shaneh]

Chris, I just plumb bobbed both wheel wells in my 65. If I were to allow 3/4 inch for a wheel lip(which in my case are rolled), I come up with 11 1/4" to the where the AJE lower control arm would sit. Measuring from there, it will most definitely fit a 18x9.5x5.5 wheel and 275x40R18 tire using the stock fox 8.8, no narrowing. That is sweet. That still gives room to drop the car down on the tire, too.

You could run a 15x10x5bs wheel and stick a 10.5 wide slick under there too. You only need really 3/8 inch clearance at the lower control arm. My mini tubs just put a slight notch into the frame rail at the back and they would allow plenty of roll of the body on top of the tire, too. Jim at AJE told me he thought it would work, but I couldn't visualize it without my tape measure.

Yep, same here. I spent too long fighting race cars. 8 seconds of enjoyment and then 40 hours of work. Not for me any more. I started skiing again when I sold the race car and I should be able to qualify for the USA Waterski national championships this year. I get my competitive fix 6 slalom buoys at a time now. Plus the chicks are in bikinis!

 

[Monzy]

Good Job Man

if you want to fabricate it yourself look at my pics

Thanks for some ideas looks like you've been busy! Are you doing this work on your own, Fonebooth? Can you tell me how the custom rear link feels under hard acceleration and if its setup to put power to the ground? Again great work on the whole build!

 

[shaneh]

Mine's on order from AJE. I'll post pics when it arrives. I ordered it uncoated since it'll weld in and I'm epoxying the bottom anyway.

 

[shaneh]

The AJE rear subframe arrived yesterday. Actually ahead of schedule and packed like it was an expensive painting or something. I was very impressed with the packaging. Most of the times, companies just throw stuff like this in a box. Kudo's to AJE on the care they took.

I'll start getting it up in the car later today.

 

[Injected65]

Looks good. Did you decide what you were going to do with the lower control arms (inside or outside the frame rail)?

Chris

 

[66resto]

I am still confused on exactly what this does...it is not a four link, but it does replace your leaf springs and it also acts as SFCs?

I am planning to tub my '66 for 10 inch in the rear and use the crites spring relocator/4 link set up with my air ride along with SFCs....would this be a viable way to go for my plans? I'm already using a narrowed 8.8.

I always have found AJE's website to be a little lacking in the details department.

 

[shaneh]

Actually, it is a 4 link. It allows you to bolt in an unparallel 4 link out of a 87-93 Mustang and rid yourself of the leaf springs. You use an 8.8 housing out of the 87-93 Mustang. It does not act as a subframe connector, although it ties the rear frame rails together. It maintains the factory 4 link geometry that was used on the 79-2004 mustangs.

You need an 8.8 with the upper control arm "ears". So if yours came out of an explorer, it wouldn't work.

 

[66resto]

Thanks for the info Shane. Yeah, mine came out of an Explorer...so if I did want to go 4 link, there may be better kits for my persona setup? For this route, I would need ears (or can you not add ears to an Explorer rear end) and you still have to put in an unparallel 4 link and SBFs...it would be cheaper for the spring relocator, but wouldn't be as effective the way I understand, but this also not a track car or anything.

Brake question- are the flanges on the Explorer the same as the Mustang flange? My understanding is that they all have the 2.5 offset, I just wasn't sure about the flange.

Thanks for your time.