[projectPONY]

Greeting to everyone. I visit here from time to time to view galleries and see what everyone is doing to their Mustangs.

Well, the time has come for me to begin work on my 1966 Mustang coupe. I've had the car since 1991 and it's been disassembled for about 6 years now. I plan on building it in a pro-touring theme for mainly weekend driving, an occasional show and short road trips here and there. I'm almost certain that it will never see the strip. The bodywork will begin soon. I have a 500hp 347 built for it already. The drive train is going to consist of a G-Force T5. The rearend will most likely be a built up 8.8. I know that it will probably need to be narrowed. I plan on tubbing it also, want to fit at least an 18x9 wheel in the back.

What is everyone's opinion on the Mustang II set up? I'm currently leaning to the one made by Heidt's. Is it worth the money? I was recently on Global West's site and the use of their parts to build a solid front end will cost me in the neighborhood of $3k, and that still doesn't include the cost to convert over to front disc brakes. The Delux kit from Heidt's is only $2k and comes standard with 2" drop spindles and also includes 11" disc brakes.

I know price wise it's obvious which way I should go, but I want to build something solid and reliable. I've heard stories about how weak the stock subframe is on these cars.

Anyway, any advise will be highly appreciated.

 

[papacito]

I was considering a similar conversion (Rod & Custom Motorsport's MII kit). The MII kit issues are cost and wheel and brake options. I wanted to install RnP steering, 17x9 Bullitt wheels w/o spacers and Cobra brakes. Reasons? Bullitt wheels are listed on Ebay and they are CHEAPER than vintage Mustang wheels. Second, I wanted replacement parts that can be bought from an auto parts store or Ford dealership. IIRC none of the manufacturers have designed an Cobra caliper adapter for the MII spindle. The Heidt's kit uses a GM RnP. The R&C kit uses a Ford RnP. As a result, a Ford P/S pump can be used w/o any problems.

I would recommend a 9" instead of an 8.8". The 9" is darn near bulletproof and more gear ratios are available.

 

[obsidianspider]

Welcome to the VMF!

Out of curiosity, why are you looking at running a Mustang II style front suspension?

In my opinion (and that's all this is), I wouldn't go with a Mustang II style front end on a '66 unless you need room in the engine compartment. With a 347 taking up no more space than a 289, which the car was designed to take, I wouldn't mess with a Mustang II setup.

 

[DaveSanborn]

+1 for the Rod and Custom Motorsports MII kit. When you add up the prices of all the optional stuff that you'll need with the Heidts kit, you'll find that the RCM kit is more cost effective.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/davesanborn/0023.jpg

Dave

 

[willzee]

what's so special about M2 suspensions anyway? i thought mustang 2's were shunned by the community lol

 

[JohnnyK]

I'm kicking my ass now for not going that route.. I saw in a magzine the complete kit was about $2100 or something, and from what I could tell, included brakes, R&P, etc, etc.. Now correct me if I'm wrong on that, but if I'm not, it would be far cheaper than what I'm doing now, which was just replacing all the stock suspension components (Not a very good design in the first place) and now I still need steering!

 

[DaveSanborn]

The only real advantage to the MII front suspension is the cheap addition of the R&P steering and the elimination of the weakest structural link on the Classic Mustang, the shock towers. As a bonus to additional front-end structural integrity, the deletion of the shock towers opens up the engine compartment for just about any engine you want to use. I'm personally looking for either a 4.6 DOHC SC Cobra motor or better yet a cheap (yeah, right) Ford Lightning SC engine.

Dave

 

[buening]

Dave, your paint is chipping off the motor mount rubber bushing Just kidding!

 

[projectPONY]

I'm kicking my ass now for not going that route.. I saw in a magzine the complete kit was about $2100 or something, and from what I could tell, included brakes, R&P, etc, etc.. Now correct me if I'm wrong on that, but if I'm not, it would be far cheaper than what I'm doing now, which was just replacing all the stock suspension components (Not a very good design in the first place) and now I still need steering!

and you're still gonna need brakes too.

 

[garner67]

I'm definitely no suspension expert, but I was under the impression that the MII suspension conversion do not perform as well as coilover setups, performance a-arm suspensions (like OpenTrackers gear), or even strut suspensions (like RRS). For starters, doesn't the MII suspension have a lot less travel than the other options?

From what I understand, the advantage of going with a MII setup would be engine compartment space savings and price of a complete front suspension, brakes & steering package.

If you are looking for high end performance (aka pro-touring), you may be better off with something else, which may also cost more. However, why compromise performance just to save a couple of grand when you'll probably drop at least 30k in the whole project?
If you looking to save some money by combining features in a single package, maybe take a look at the RRS setups? Their kits can come with the suspension, brakes and rack & pinion steering.

With all that said, is my evaluation of the MII suspension performance correct, or have I been mislead by the material I've read and/or the opinions I've heard?
I know I don't see many open track cars with MII suspension setups... I mostly see MII suspension conversions in street rods & drag cars.

Can someone who "knows" suspension technology confirm or deny my notes?

 

[JohnnyK]

No idea how it performs, but as I said, if I could go back, I DEFINATELY would have snagged it. Can't be worse than a poor mans performance rebuilt (620, 1" drop, a-arm drop, poly, new 68 discs, etc).. Maybe I can sell this stuff and get a MII setup.. hah

 

[projectPONY]

wow, look what I came across.

http://ajeracing.com/64-70Mustang.php

this kit uses a FOX stang steering rack and your choice of FOX spindles of SN95 spindles. if you use the SN95 spindles that means you can use the SN95 brakes, and that includes Cobra brakes. this might not be a bad option at all.

 

[Dean_T]

I have to agree the MII front suspension is a good hot rod or maybe drag race suspension but for corner carving, using redesigned parts of the orignal suspension is better and the late model MacPherson strut stuff that everyone seems to be retrofitting appears to be better.

Personally, going by cost, I'd use either Global West front suspension parts or Opentrackers parts for better value than convert to Fox or Sn95 stuff.

Dean T

 

[Huskinhano]

Personally I do see the logic in replacing a 40+ year old suspension design with a 30+ year old design. If I'm going to totaly re-do the front suspension to the point of major structural changes, I'll look for a suspension off a 2000's car.

One of my biggest gripes with the aftermarket MII kits is the deleation of the strut rod. The strut rod is part of the LCA and forms a wide base to distribute loads. Most kits use a spacer on the cross memeber. I'm not an engineer but I think it places too much stress on it. I'm sure Ford with all of their resources would have gone this route if they thought it was better.

 

[obsidianspider]

wow, look what I came across.

http://ajeracing.com/64-70Mustang.php

this kit uses a FOX stang steering rack and your choice of FOX spindles of SN95 spindles. if you use the SN95 spindles that means you can use the SN95 brakes, and that includes Cobra brakes. this might not be a bad option at all.

The AJE kit looks like a good setup for drag racing, I wonder how well it would work for cornering considering that the focus of that company appears to be straight line racing.