How much total have you lowered you UCA from factory? Inquiring minds want to know. I can also easily get +7º caster with SoT's front end, but how much caster is too much? My friend Nick says thats not possible but it must be.
Don’t buy drop spindles?
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I have always thought of bump steer as toe steer as well because that is whats changing. There is obviously no perfect solution because all this has to fit underneath a car. The drivers side outer tie rod on 65-66 power steering cars is bent to clear the control valve. That has to jack up the steering geometry. With my longer "Shelby" idler and pitman arms and the significantly shorter SoT steering arms I hope to not need the goofy outer tie rod?
I find this kind of stuff fascinating, but in the end we are dealing with a quick and dirty suspension designed for the cheapest car Ford offered, the Falcon. The fact that Street or Track and others have been able to make improvements to where I can beat Corvettes on an autocross course is amazing! I don't want to cut up my car to where it is noticeable and yet still be competitive. There are only a few venders seriously into that option.
It still is just two points connected in space, you can curve, twist, and bend everything between and the geometry won't care. It'll affect if that link will buckle under force, for sure lolol. In terms of the effectiveness of the geometry however, it doesn't matter. It's pretty common to see "bent" or non-straight links for OE geometry to provide chassis or axle clearance. Here's one from an e60 (mid/late 00's BMW) looks like (the one w/o the arrow):
Going into it, I thought the same thing but the geometry really isn't that bad. After plumb-bob measuring and then re-confirming with some simple 3d scans I was surprised to see the end result. There are some tradeoffs that were made but I'd chaulk that up to 60's era tech. Things were designed with narrower, bias ply tires in mind as well as safety. As an example, toe-in bumpsteer while cornering will give the car a tendency to steer-in, not wash-out. Also, again as I've mentioned, this was all done pre-CAD so it was all done in 2D perspectives and still is damn close.
RE: general design, people might be inclined to say the more "trailing arm" design (it you could call it that) of the front suspension in early mustangs is inferior to a "true double a-arm" style. Or that for newer cars, a McPhearson strut design is inferior to a "double a-arm" style suspension. The BMW e36 and porsche 911 from the G-body through the 964 used BOTH and they're heralded as some of the best handling cars in history.
Here is a '67 Terlingua Racing Team Mustang I built. Running Global West upper & lower control arms, stock spindles,Koni Yellow shocks, Shelby 1" quick steer with a power steering box (Armstrong steering), Total control adjustable struts, 1" sway bar, 600 lbs springs stock tie rods. Now this car drove straight at 170 mph & cornered fantastic. I raced it in HSR West & won at Willow Springs Raceway. The thing about a early Mustang is Y'all steer the car with the throttle to get it bring the ass around & steer outta the corner. The steering wheel is for pointin & hanging on as Y'all roll into the throttle ta bring bring it outta the corner or hit Y'alls apex. If Y'all can master that in a early live axle Mustang driving a 2017 Shelby GT350 is like a go kart. It just sticks & turns with the steering wheel.
![Wheel Car Tire Vehicle Hood]()
![Wheel Car Tire Vehicle Hood]()
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