1965 Mustang - Suspension Upgrades

The stock shock towers are marked to be cut away to change the suspension system to a modern independent system and to accept the all Aluminum GT Ford Mustang engine we will be installing in this restoration process.

We took a 4 inch electric grinder with a cut off wheel and made short work of removing the complete factory shock tower. Note the adjustable screw jacks being used. These level the car at a nice height to work on the car and do our fabrication work

We installed our aluminum built cross member and clamped it up in place.

Looking good and ready to rock.

We measured and then drilled using a hole saw to allow room for our gusset/mounting pad tubing.

As seen Louie inserts chromoly tubing up inside the stock frame. Notice the lines drawn on the right angle where the drilling took place.

Inserted just above the frame level these will be welded in place so that we can remove the frame member for detailing and painting etc.

The long grade 8 1/2 inch bolt is inserted and will be used to hold the system in place.

On to installing our fabricated control arm shaft and tower/bracket assembly we will need to remove the Ford factory flange as the marker lines show.

We ran plumb bobs to center the mounts and square it all up.

A close up shows them tacked in place on the outer edges. Once we install the lower and upper control arms with the spindles we will check it all again before welding in permanently.

As mentioned during the sheet metal replacement phase we are going to narrow the rear frame rails in order to install a wider tire. As seen Lou has the frame marked for location to modify.

He also has the outer area marked to cut away the section of the frame

He removed the section which will give us 1.5 more inches per side.

A chip board mock up for the outer frame rail is done and we will check fit now.

Fits great and we are ready to fab the pieces from 12 gauge metal

The 12 gauge side piece is ready to install.

In place and welded in solid, once the roll cage is tied in to this frame rail it will strengthen it even more then the factory frame was.

We installed our rear cross member for our 4 link set up and checked the measurements but will tack weld only until we check a few more items.

As mentioned the inside wheel well openings needed to be wider so Lou lays out metal to widen them.

They look good and are ready to install

Once installed it looks like a factory part with round top but ample room for big tires is now done.

Up to the front we run a few braces to the apron to keep her from moving during fab work.

We cut off the old Ford Mustang apron tops as they were too wide looking and they dropped straight down. These angles are more subtle and come directly from the fender edge where the bolts are.

A seen from the front it looks nice on the angle.

We made paper board templates then cut the metal to fit from our top fender sections down to the frame being careful to clear precisely around the new control arm brackets.

Other side looks great too. We also mounted custom aluminum hood hinges with a clearance pocket. We will finish them off once we get the engine in.

Ready to install the narrowed 9 inch rear end which we just received for the restoration project.

The rear end is in and checked for square, shocks installed and we are moving forward at a clip.

We had a set of 18 x 10 rims and tires from one of Jeff's cars so we installed them to check clearance and diameter. They fit pretty good but we will go another 1/2 inch diameter. This would be best for these particular qter panels, Sizing is critical for the LOOK on this Mustang Restoration.

As seen we have 2 inches on the outside and the same on the inside so we can get an 11.4 wide tire bulge to bulge. We will order the customer selected wheels now as they will be special order 4-6 weeks out.

Side shot shows they fit no problem.

Mocked up and built a bracket for the A/C unit while waiting for some other parts.

Also installed and checked fit on a Flaming River steering column.

Column fits good.

The Mustang starting to come together.

Front suspension and rims next.