I purchased the Level 2 Kit from Opentracker Racing with some upgrades.

 

How is the road noise with this kit compared to the handling upgrade, do you feel all the road vibrations through the chassis in the seat now?

Zrays bar👍👍

Pretty easy upgrade?

On my '70...

• Scott Drake street performance coils
• 1-1/8" front sway bar
• Factory Mach 1 rear sway bar (1/2" I think. It's not much, but it works well)
• Bilstein shocks
• Shelby/Arning drop
• Roller spring perches

All from Street or Track. In retrospect, I should have went with Shaun's adjustable strut rods. Otherwise, I'm very happy.

Sounds like this would ride much better than factory/busted old suspension, for not a lot of money.

Zray bar, “boxed” stock upper and lower control arms, 620lb springs with 2/3 coil cut, Arning drop, 1” sway bar, rubber bushings, “performance” spring perches from CJ, Bilstien sport shocks.

Handling is confident yet compliant. I’m very happy with it.

What would I do differently? Definitely adjustable strut rods and maybe roller spring perches, though I am quite pleased with the Performance CJ version. (CJ sucks in general, but they are the sole purveyor of this part) Worlds better than stock. I just ran out of $ on these parts.

Googled and searched the forum, this zray bar is connecting bar under the engine between the shock towers? Stiffens the front end?

 

Zrays bar👍👍

 

This is a for sure and oft over-looked item.



@jshelton441 - plus you can order with a jackpad. I've put mine on stands what feels like a million times since I installed @zray 's bar in January.

 

On my '70...

• Scott Drake street performance coils
• 1-1/8" front sway bar
• Factory Mach 1 rear sway bar (1/2" I think. It's not much, but it works well)
• Bilstein shocks
• Shelby/Arning drop
• Roller spring perches

All from Street or Track. In retrospect, I should have went with Shaun's adjustable strut rods. Otherwise, I'm very happy.

 

Zray bar, “boxed” stock upper and lower control arms, 620lb springs with 2/3 coil cut, Arning drop, 1” sway bar, rubber bushings, “performance” spring perches from CJ, Bilstien sport shocks.

Handling is confident yet compliant. I’m very happy with it.

What would I do differently? Definitely adjustable strut rods and maybe roller spring perches, though I am quite pleased with the Performance CJ version. (CJ sucks in general, but they are the sole purveyor of this part) Worlds better than stock. I just ran out of $ on these parts.

 

Unless it is a daily driver just put upgraded stock suspension under it. Use the money saved elswhere.
My 67 is a daily that gets 5-10k miles per year and I run stock type components. I have Comet bronze bushed spring perches as the only splurge. I just did the Arning Drop and am looking forward to some canyon carving once the snow melts.

 

Unless it is a daily driver just put upgraded stock suspension under it. Use the money saved elswhere.
My 67 is a daily that gets 5-10k miles per year and I run stock type components. I have Comet bronze bushed spring perches as the only splurge. I just did the Arning Drop and am looking forward to some canyon carving once the snow melts.

Have been considering this option quite a bit, buying things from Rock Auto and various others outside the minor upgrade parts. Seems like thousands saved at the expense of major handling improvements.

Correct. I have a fairly recent thread on it, and it’s pretty great. The fact that my hood shuts better now was a weird bonus, but a good indicator of how well it firms up the front end.

I'll try to look that up with the search.

Arning drop
adjustable heim rod monte carlo and export brace kit
sub frame connectors
convertible front torque boxes and the gusset plates
adjustable strut rods
welded the strut rod brackets, shock towers and lca frame brackets
built and welded on shock tower straps
trans am dog bone plates(goes on the outside of the shock towers at the frame)
improved engine cross member that bolts through the LCA bracket bolt
camber plate adjuster kit
Shelby type under ride traction bars - required washers to shim the bar adjustment
1 inch front and 3/4 inch rear anti-sway bars - had to correct the end link heights
front coil overs
4 1/2 mid eye rear leaf springs - boxed 1/4" steel plate on the spring perches
2 position competition type rear shackles(no they do not hang down below the valance)
adjustable plate engine mount kit(Ron Morrison)
1971 mustang front spindles and disc brakes
and a partridge in a pear tree

Car needed every bit of it and I will probably install a coil/link rear at some point.

I've been eyeballing the RideTech unit just because of the Explorer 8.8 I plan on using, since most of the others require a Mustang unit for the housing/control arm tabs and I'd rather find a cheaper and stronger axle, LSD, and gears already packed in.

I went with the TCI (Total Cost Involved) front suspension (w/ 2" drop), a Chris Alton Chassis Works rear four link, and Chris Alton subframe connectors and X member. If you have fair welding skills it's very doable. I love the way the car handles and would do it again. But it's not cheap for sure. But geeeez...like driving a go-kart.

View attachment 788119
View attachment 788120

View attachment 788121

I finally stopped kicking the can after reading quite a few VMF posts and just ordered almost all of the Level1 package from OpenTracker + zRay's crossmember. Can't wait to install and share the results and experience. . .

All of those units look badass.

 

Arning drop
adjustable heim rod monte carlo and export brace kit
sub frame connectors
convertible front torque boxes and the gusset plates
adjustable strut rods
welded the strut rod brackets, shock towers and lca frame brackets
built and welded on shock tower straps
trans am dog bone plates(goes on the outside of the shock towers at the frame)
improved engine cross member that bolts through the LCA bracket bolt
camber plate adjuster kit
Shelby type under ride traction bars - required washers to shim the bar adjustment
1 inch front and 3/4 inch rear anti-sway bars - had to correct the end link heights
front coil overs
4 1/2 mid eye rear leaf springs - boxed 1/4" steel plate on the spring perches
2 position competition type rear shackles(no they do not hang down below the valance)
adjustable plate engine mount kit(Ron Morrison)
1971 mustang front spindles and disc brakes
and a partridge in a pear tree

Car needed every bit of it and I will probably install a coil/link rear at some point.

 

I went with the TCI (Total Cost Involved) front suspension (w/ 2" drop), a Chris Alton Chassis Works rear four link, and Chris Alton subframe connectors and X member. If you have fair welding skills it's very doable. I love the way the car handles and would do it again. But it's not cheap for sure. But geeeez...like driving a go-kart.

 

I finally stopped kicking the can after reading quite a few VMF posts and just ordered almost all of the Level1 package from OpenTracker + zRay's crossmember. Can't wait to install and share the results and experience. . .

 

I finally stopped kicking the can after reading quite a few VMF posts and just ordered almost all of the Level1 package from OpenTracker + zRay's crossmember. Can't wait to install and share the results and experience. . .

Exactly what I have plus subframe connectors since it is a convertible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Here's what I did, arning drop, stock replacement upper and lower control arms, roller spring perches, bilstein street valved shocks, gt coils, 1" sway bar, adjustable strut rods, and a home front end alignment using opentracker's specs.

The car handles and rides better now than in any of the previous 32 years I've owned it and I'm 99 percent sure that it rides and handles better than it did when it rolled off the assembly line in April of 1964. I can't wait to install the 16:1 steering box I got from Chock.

I don't run it on the track or do autocross. I do drive it as much as I can, weather permitting, and it made my driving experience much more enjoyable.

 

^^^ this. If you're not racing it, or canyon carving, or driving across country. I might just add the roller lower control arm as it gives more compliance to the suspension (along with the roller spring perch). Most punch for the buck.

 

I gave Shaun at Street or Track a call then met with him personally because he‘s local to me. I purchased his tubular upper and lower arms, front spindles, coilover kit, adjustable strut bars, new 1 1/8” anti-sway bar and end links, power R&P steering, front and rear disk brakes with extended ARP studs, and rear shocks. I wanted composite rear leaf springs and sourced them myself from Flexform as they offer a Cougar specific rear leaf along with new leaf mounting pads and HD u-bolts. During the install I also did the Arning drop. I already had 17”x8” wheels and 245/45-17 tires. Remarkable difference and Shaun helped when questions arose when I was installing everything. Can’t recommend him and his systems highly enough!

 

No complaints whatsoever on my suspension. It’s all upgraded OEM type components. No need for anything else in my opinion. As a matter of fact my race car pictured below has basically the same parts just upgraded slightly more to the race level. I’m not knocking all the pretty pics above...each to his own. I will suggest that it’s not necessary for a very fun car to drive.

 

I agree to each their own, since it depends on what you are going to be doing with your car, and what driving experience you're trying to achieve. The question to this thread was "what have you done". not what are you recommending. The reference to "pretty pictures' just felt a little judgmental and condescending...hopefully not.

 

I’ve looked at every suspension kit out there there is some main factors considering what you want
How much $ are you willing to spend
What Motor ?
Can you weld?
Do you do your work or a shop?
What your planning on doing
Always do arning drop btw

For a person who just wants it to drive well or limited funds or Somone who is concourse the stock setup is great with all new components. Bushings shocks ball joints etc

the best cost for preformance and what I recommend for you is bilstein shocks ,open tracker boxed upper and lower control arms with moog ball joints , sot adjustable strut rods , trans am shock tower reinforcements, @zray crossmember a shock tower brace and Monte Carlo bar the sot one is nice but all are similar. Open tracker roller spring perches, 1 1/8 sway bar, torque boxes on these cars make a big difference, get some real subframe connectors like sot or Mike Maier where they attach at 2 points , disk brakes upfront two chock has a nice kit. I think I covered everything but stock upgraded stuff is what will get you the most bang for your buck

What I have is all of that except I am running SOT coil overs with the high precision ball joints with sport valving

for the “coil overs”that replace the spring And shock and bolt into the stock UCA I don’t like because the main issue with the stock suspension geometry is the mounting location and puts a lot of stress on the UCA and you would be better off with a good shock and good spring and roller perch it would be a lot cheaper to.

the mustang two style suspensions are great but pricey and require a lot of reworking and those are mainly for the resto moders

for steering don’t mess with racks unless it’s a mustang 2 style. The racks that bolt up to the cross member and use the rear steer setup have bump steer issues because incorrect geometry most people blame the Whole setup for the lack of precision but rebuilt your box @CHOCK is the only answer for that, new tie rods and if you want roller idler and quick steer and it will be like a hot knife on the road.

 

Suspension can rack up the hurt to the wallet real quick if you're not careful about it. I was pretty grumpy to spend 2-3k on mine, and mine was rolling on mostly-original suspension that I had run into the ground.

IMO, on a stock driver type car, just get good stock quality parts. New stuff - even if it is stock - will get you a pretty good ride as it eliminates all the slop from half a century of wear and neglect. If you have a few dollars to splurge, go for nice shocks (Bilsteins) and roller spring perches. You can even get kits to make your own roller perches for cheap if you're handy with a welder. The Bilsteins do a great job eating up imperfections in the road, roller spring perches do a great job allowing the suspension to articulate and return to "baseline" so the car doesn't get unsettled by bumps in the road. If you have more than a few dollars to splurge, my next top pick would be the adjustable strut rods, which take a ton of slop out of the suspension by eliminating the big donut bushings in lieu of a heim joint. Those are really, really nice under heavy braking/acceleration.

For myself, on my semi-daily driven car that gets about 10-12,000 miles a year across a really wide variety of terrains, and at high speed, this is what has worked out well for me:

• Stock upper control arms, reworked by Opentracker to have better movement and centered shafts ($225)
• Stock Moog lower control arms ($40)
• 1&1/8" front sway bar
• Bilstein front shocks, QA1 rear shocks (got a deal on the rear shocks) ($100 front, $100 rear)
• GT-spec front and rear springs (forget cost, maybe $400 total?)
• Opentracker roller spring perches ($200)
• SoT adjustable strut rods ($300 IIRC?)

I'm very pleased with it, rides great and people comment on the ride quality quite frequently (usually after ripping around a corner - car stays remarkably flat). No body roll, no weird suspension deflection under heavy acceleration or braking, no problems on really bad roads, just works great all the time.

 

"Car's final life will be a weekend cruiser, not likely to see much more than some fun rips to redline and a lot of normal stop and go driving."

For this type of use follow the wise poster's who advise you to use mainly stock parts, an Arning drop and related alignment. Save your money for other areas of improvement.

 

All depends on how you're going to use and drive the car. I'd suggest learn the faults of the stock suspension and how they relate to your intend use. This will help steer you in the right direction. As for me I'm not into paint, interior, expensive engine. To me it's basically budget and function. However how it drives is important. I have no issues what I spent. I'm running Street or Track non coil over with Bilstein shocks. The stock steering works quite well with fresh grease and a roller bearing idler arm. The roller bearing idler arm is worth every penny. While it does make steering a little easier, it takes away a lot of unwanted movements and slop. Do what ever you can to stiffening up the body.

Lowering the upper control arms is free and probably the single best thing you can do no matter what. You'll probably want to use adjustable struts. These do wonders in stability especially under braking, roller spring perches, 1" front sway bar along with a good set of shocks. If I had to do it over, there's very little if anything different I would do over.

 

My '66 feels "solid" right up through 125 mph and is more enjoyable to drive on a windy road than my Magnum R/T with its "Electronic Stability Program", auto-leveling 4-wheel IRS, etc.

Front:
.620" diameter front springs
stock spring perches (the only thing I'd change...for either pre-Mustang bronze ones or the new Scott Drake rotatable elastomers...
Koni (red) shocks
Moog suspension components
13/16" front anti-sway bar
Shelby Quick-Steer Pitman and idler arms
16:1 factory steering box
"Dazecars" alignment specs

Rear:
5-leaf rear springs
Koni (red) shocks

215/65R15 on TTD all around.

Other than the "new and improved" front coil spring perches, which now mimic the old solid bronze ones, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

Export brace, Monte Carlo bar, Zray brace, Street or Track level 4 package, Arning Drop, rebuilt steering box by Chock. Only thing I would change is I would get the roller perches, but I think it handles better than it did when it was new.

 

Hmm I run the Shelby drop front, I have a drop in the rear, for a nice "squat" appearance. A lot of people have comment on the stance of my 68. I run roller spring perches from Open tracker, along with the upper an lower control arms. I cannot remember the brand of my rear leaf springs...I still run 15" tires. I have TCP full export brace, along with the straight monte bar and the strut bars connecting it. Front sway bar. Power steering.

The car drives very well, and just the other day I took a corner at speed and was very surprised how well it did. I have not really cornered hard since I did most of the work, but it did surprise me of how well it stayed planted.

 

I rebuilt my front suspension along with the usual upgrades and wasn’t too impressed so I sprung for the SoT front coil over suspension and love it.

 

I started to accumulate some things from OpenTracker and then got a bonus I wasn't expecting and used the roller spring perches and roller idler from OpenTracker and then got my SoT suspension(no coilovers though) and love it !

Chris

 

Open tracker roller perches, Street or track UCA's, LCA's, Strut Rods, shelby drop, lowering springs, reverse eye leafs, Watts link, TCP sway bar and Bilsteins all the way around.

If I could go back I would have gotten SoT full coil overs from the start.

 

I went with upgraded stock type suspension components, mostly from Opentracker - roller spring perches (make a big difference in how quickly the suspension can react to surface changes - pot holes, railroad tracks, etc.) and 1" Arning drop template. Soon to order his Street performance blueprinted UCA's. I built my own adjustable heim joint strut rods from Daze Cars instructions. Plan on adding the ZRay brace as my stock one is dented from someone putting a jack under it, adjustable strut tower brace (can't remember supplier). Thicker export brace (some are repops and thinner metal than original) and I added the L angle bracket outside/ inside the firewall as Shelby did. Planning a 1-1/8 front sway bar probably.

I went with 560 front springs vs. the common 620 'GT' springs as I read quite often the ride was more harsh (620), of course ride comfort is subjective to each person. I was very happy with the ride and performance of the 560's paired with KYB GR-2's/ Excel-G (the gas-a-just were also often cited as being harsh/ stiff). Once I'm finish my rebuild I'll upgrade to the Bilstein sports probably. LCA I used Moog from RockAuto as well as tie rods.

In the rear I went with 4-1/2 leaf mideye leaf springs as I wanted a hunkered look but not slammed. I can slide a flat hand between the fender lip and tire top. Front 560 springs have a 1" drop to match level. It was very compliant as a DD without being wallowy as it was originally. I found these parts to be a nice compromise between better than stock but not 'race car' stiff and a sporty drive as well as not much more $ than stock replacements. Choosing the right key components to upgrade is what pays off - roller perches were the biggest for me besides new fresh tie rods, arms, ball joints, etc. for a DD. I'll be doing frame connectors and passengers torque box on my '67 later but these may not be as big a payoff on a weekend cruiser.

 

After a lot of research and careful consideration of how I would use the car, what features and functionality I wanted and what I was willing to pay, I decided on the following set of parts. It may seem random because of the number of brands involved but it was all actually selected pretty carefully based on my research.

Front:
Street or Track UCA with drop brackets
Street or Track Adjustable Strut Rods
Pacific Thunder LCA (because you don't need a camber kit)
Viking Double Adjustable Coilovers (these bolt to the UCA, I decided on this because I wasn't prepared to pay for the full Bilstein Coilovers from SoT but wanted ride height adjustability, this saves you the $200 for Roller Spring Perches as well)
Export Brace
Monte Carlo Bar
1" Sway Bar
Pacific Thunder Crossmember

Rear:
Global West L10R Leafs
Global West Del-Alum Shackle Kit
Viking Double Adjustable Shocks

Steering:
Shelby Quick Steer Pitman Arm and Idler Arm
Manual Center Drag Link
Baer Bump Steer Kit (replaces outer tie-rod)

Brakes:
Kelsey-Hayes Kit form CSRP
Stock rear drums

This is what I consider to be a pretty good Grand Touring / Cruising suspension. Everything is addressed. All rubber bushings (except the idler arm) are gone. The front is fully adjustable. It could conceivably do pretty well in an autocross or on a track with great tires and may be competitive locally, depending on where you live, but probably won't be in a national championship. I think it will cut good 60ft times too if you unbolt the sway bar from one side.

Everything was sourced from:

Opentracker
Street or Track
Summit
Global West
Pacific Thunder Performance
CPP (for the Viking Coilovers, via their Ebay Store)
CSRP

Unfortunately I think Pacific Thunder has shut down. But you can get what you need from SoT, you'll just need a camber kit to use their LCA, which is not THAT big a deal to install.

 

Still kicking the can on a 66 coupe suspension rebuild, so many options to consider.

Car's final life will be a weekend cruiser, not likely to see much more than some fun rips to redline and a lot of normal stop and go driving.

For those goals, just go stock rebuild. The biggest bang for the buck for your indicated use will be tires and shocks and excellent brake friction materials.
The car has plenty of flaws as it's basically a Falcon...... that said, you won't be seeing many of those shortcomings in normal stop & go driving.

ex-Global West GM
1991-1995

 

^^This. Sounds like you are doing mostly what the car was intended for. As such, you can use the parts designed for it to do those things. If you were doing spirited corner carving, that's another matter, but cruising in mostly straight lines you really don't need anything fancy.

 

Speaking of tires... I remember autocross guys telling me that throwing an R-compound tire with a UTQG in the 40-60 range on a stock car was worth more seconds than a fully tricked out suspension with street tires in the 200-240 UTQG range. They were talking about Miatas and Civics and 240s but I think the same applies. If you're going to spend a million dollars on suspension, please don't run 205/60 BFG T/A radials. You get some 225/50/16s or wider with a UTQG in the 140-240 range with around +3 degrees of caster and you will probably run circles around the 15" tire guys no matter what they have done suspension wise.

 

I have to run 200 tread wear tires in Cam-T, the only class in autocross that 99% of vintage Mustangs could possibly be competitive in. You are comparing apple pie and rice. Both good, but very different.