extremely disappointed in the help from this site. 1 week and not one post. I can't believe that none of you stang enthusiasts have never had to replace or line up this part. Seems everyone is more interested in arm chair quarterbacking carbs, tires, and paint. In I have not properl identified the part, this is the bracket that runs from just under the front frame rails at a near 45 degree angle to the radiator support frame. I really need some help on lining this up.
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Are the braces indicated by the red arrows the ones you need to align?
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Hello.
Sorry about that. I didn't really look at this thread because it's about a 68, instead of a 65/66 car. As far as the dimensions go, Ford was pretty tight-fisted on giving out precise dimensions on these cars, but, if you have the center-line of the holes that the bolts holding the sway bar bushing brackets 26.42" apart, that means that you have the spacing of the two front frame rails that the radiator core support is welded to correct. If you have the back end of the strut rod brackets back in the same place as the original ones, the front of the brackets should be like 13 1/2 from center to center, and should be sitting in the car symmetrically, as in, the same distance from the p/s strut rod bracket to the p/s frame rail as the from the d/s strut rod bracket to the d/s frame rail. These cars weren't put together originally with anything close to the level of precision that people try to apply when restoring one.:nogrinner Hope that helps.
Hi again. Just to set your mind at ease, it helps to bear in mind what this part is actually supposed to accomplish, which is primarily two things. One, it provides reinforcement for the radiator core support in case the car bumps it's nose. It can provide that from anywhere inside a span of a few inches, so precision isn't really an issue there. Two, it gives the strut rod something to bolt to on the front. The strut rod is just there to keep pot holes from knocking the wheel off. It also sets the angle of the lower control arm for alignment purposes, but all of the adjustment of the alignment is done with shims at the upper control arm. It helps to think of the strut rod bracket, the frame rail and the radiator core support as a right triangle, with the radiator core support being the base, the frame rail being the height and the strut rod bracket being the hypotenuse. Lets say that the base is 12, the height is 16 and the hypotenuse is 20.If you shorten or lengthen the base by nearly an inch, that will only change the length of the hypotenuse by about half an inch. You could ballpark the placement of the front of the strut rod brackets with the naked eye and end up with the length of the strut rod being pretty close. If you place the new ones in about the same place as the old ones in the back, and go with that 13 1/2 spacing in the front, that will be plenty close enough.
Just to set your mind at ease, it helps to bear in mind what this part is actually supposed to accomplish, which is primarily two things. One, it provides reinforcement for the radiator core support in case the car bumps it's nose. It can provide that from anywhere inside a span of a few inches, so precision isn't really an issue there. Two, it gives the strut rod something to bolt to on the front. The strut rod is just there to keep pot holes from knocking the wheel off. It also sets the angle of the lower control arm for alignment purposes, but all of the adjustment of the alignment is done with shims at the upper control arm. It helps to think of the strut rod bracket, the frame rail and the radiator core support as a right triangle, with the radiator core support being the base, the frame rail being the height and the strut rod bracket being the hypotenuse. Lets say that the base is 12, the height is 16 and the hypotenuse is 20.If you shorten or lengthen the base by nearly an inch, that will only change the length of the hypotenuse by about half an inch. You could ballpark the placement of the front of the strut rod brackets with the naked eye and end up with the length of the strut rod being pretty close. If you place the new ones in about the same place as the old ones in the back, and go with that 13 1/2 spacing in the front, that will be plenty close enough.
Hi again.
This is why I don't generally jump in on a thread about a 67/68 car.:gringreen Even though I knew that about the cam on the mounting bolt of the lower control arm, somehow, I still go to default mode and think in terms of a 65/66 :doh: That CRS thing is a very wide-spread affliction.
Hi again.
Yup. That is one of the very few things on an old Mustang that I'll take to someone that is really, really good at what they do. The positioning of the lower control arms isn't the only thing that depends on those welds holding. If the welds break, the front wheels might decide that there's no longer any reason to remain attached to the car.:shocked:1 - 13 of 13 Posts
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