Perhaps I can save you a bit more $, time & effort.... the oem suspension is literally as good as it gets.... while some may make other claims, let's face it, the newest ferrari uses a double wishbone front suspension.... so they are not out of date by any means. I road-raced the pony cars (mustang specific) in the late 70's in SoCal, and although you have a 73, it's literally the same chassis/suspension set-up and I can suggest this.......IMHO I preferred the oem style suspension to the Mustang II or most any of the R&P conversions....much more stable, responsive & consistent....and with a little massaging of the oem components, the car will drive excellent for most any need
There are several excellent assessments of oem vs aftermarket suspension for the mustang…
01-20-2013, 03:19 PM by dav65mus
I had a MII kit in a 65 fastback I built. Unless you are doing a big block/mod motor/ls swap and need the shock towers removed any MII kit is a mistake. I have been experimenting with different suspension setups along with frame connectors during the last 15 years on 3 different 65 mustangs. The MII in a fastback, ron morris complete coilover conversion in another and stock suspension in another. After driving all 3 my conclusion is stock suspension with poly bushings, roller perches, progressive rate coil springs, and good shocks will handle as well as any other aftermarket system at a fraction of the cost. As far as steering, the borgenson conversion feels very "rack & pinion" like without the high cost, turning radius issues, and exhaust clearance problems that rack & pinion retrofit kits suffer from. You can improve the handling of your classic but you will never get the feeling of a modern car like your focus without building an entire streetrod type rolling chassis and fitting your body to it. I have been there and tried that and kept my bank account emptied trying to get modern car handing and feel.... wish I would have spent less money trying.
Dave
Poste by 22GT
There is no inherent handling advantage to the Mustang II front suspension. It's main advantage in 64-73 Mustangs is it allows the use of really large engines, such as the 4.6 DOHC. A properly set-up stock suspension can easily out-handle the MII setup. Simply doing these items from TXMAG's list would be superior to typical MII.
Arning/Shelby Drop
Roller Idler arms
Good rebuild or new steering box
Performance alignment
Roller UCA/LCA
Front sway bar around 1" in size
Monte Carlo Bar
Export Brace
Eliminating the shock towers also often eliminates a lot of triangulation bracing. Haven't seen your car, but I've seen a lot of MII conversion cars at shows that had less front end rigidity than a stock six-cylinder coupe. Sometimes people use fancy-looking cross-bracing with Heim joints to make up for it. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but a Heim joint is a pivot, designed to flex. Kinda the opposite of what you'd want in a chassis brace.
This is also a more recent discussion started as a rant by a suspension engineer.
forums.vintage-mustang.com
I hope this helps.......
There are several excellent assessments of oem vs aftermarket suspension for the mustang…
01-20-2013, 03:19 PM by dav65mus
I had a MII kit in a 65 fastback I built. Unless you are doing a big block/mod motor/ls swap and need the shock towers removed any MII kit is a mistake. I have been experimenting with different suspension setups along with frame connectors during the last 15 years on 3 different 65 mustangs. The MII in a fastback, ron morris complete coilover conversion in another and stock suspension in another. After driving all 3 my conclusion is stock suspension with poly bushings, roller perches, progressive rate coil springs, and good shocks will handle as well as any other aftermarket system at a fraction of the cost. As far as steering, the borgenson conversion feels very "rack & pinion" like without the high cost, turning radius issues, and exhaust clearance problems that rack & pinion retrofit kits suffer from. You can improve the handling of your classic but you will never get the feeling of a modern car like your focus without building an entire streetrod type rolling chassis and fitting your body to it. I have been there and tried that and kept my bank account emptied trying to get modern car handing and feel.... wish I would have spent less money trying.
Dave
Poste by 22GT
There is no inherent handling advantage to the Mustang II front suspension. It's main advantage in 64-73 Mustangs is it allows the use of really large engines, such as the 4.6 DOHC. A properly set-up stock suspension can easily out-handle the MII setup. Simply doing these items from TXMAG's list would be superior to typical MII.
Arning/Shelby Drop
Roller Idler arms
Good rebuild or new steering box
Performance alignment
Roller UCA/LCA
Front sway bar around 1" in size
Monte Carlo Bar
Export Brace
Eliminating the shock towers also often eliminates a lot of triangulation bracing. Haven't seen your car, but I've seen a lot of MII conversion cars at shows that had less front end rigidity than a stock six-cylinder coupe. Sometimes people use fancy-looking cross-bracing with Heim joints to make up for it. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but a Heim joint is a pivot, designed to flex. Kinda the opposite of what you'd want in a chassis brace.
This is also a more recent discussion started as a rant by a suspension engineer.
The amazing power of marketing !, and gullibilty
Folks, this will seem like a rant, and I suppose it is, but I feel I must. I wondered about track, or mod & custom, or general discussion, but it seems that many folks seem hellbent on doing this mod, even to daily drivers that don't need the extra room in the engine bay. So, I have to wonder...
forums.vintage-mustang.com
I hope this helps.......
