Hello HAMBers, I posted a little while back about a 63 Fairlane 500 that I picked up this summer with intentions of fixing it up a bit and just driving it for a while; well that has quickly escalated.... It started innocently enough, buying new leaf springs to fix the saggy rear end; once I had the rear axle out, I got to thinking that if I did the Exploder 8.8 swap I would have an extra inch for wheel fitment. After a couple of visits to local salvage yards I ended up with a 3.73 limited slip with disc brakes, but also a roller cam 302 and a T-5 trans (several of them actually). The 302 is stripped down to the bare block and ready to go to the machine shop, and I have a Scat 331 lower end kit on order. I will get the short block together and then decide on heads, cam etc in the spring when I can allocate some more funds to the project. I have the 8.8 cut and will be welding it up today, then just waiting on new spring perches so I can get it mocked up in the car before I put the guts back in it. Oh, and I need to go back to the yard and see if I can come up with another short side axle shaft... Once the rear end is back together the 260 is coming out and I'm going to start on the front suspension, which brings me to my question: I was looking at the front coilover kit from Control Freak (https://freakride.com/i-1389-front-coilover-conversion-system-1962-1965-ford-fairlane.html?q=), was also going to get their shock tower mod kit. But then I've also seen several of the Mustang 2 style front suspension kits which seems like a popular conversion for these cars, for around the same cost as the CF kit. I haven't done a ton of research on the Mustang 2 route but I assume there's probably a fair amount of fab work to do, possibly different crossmember and so forth. The M2 kits come with disc brakes and a steering rack whereas with the CF kit the disc brakes will be an additional item. Don't know if I care about the rack & pinion steering.? Other than that, anyone that's done either care to comment on pros & cons of either/both of those options? As of now I'm kind of leaning toward the Control Freak kit as it seems like mostly a bolt on deal.
Why not go have a look at some of the SCCA Mustangs? Keep the stock suspension with decent shocks, springs and sway bar.
This is the wrooooong place to be talking about MII suspension. I’d go with what Oneball is suggesting. although it’s sounding like the whole car is pretty off topic for the HAMB.
I cant figure out hamb rules Later front suspensions are not Hamb ok but overdrive automatics are OK and 302 Fords are Iffy but 350 chevy are ok
Ok, well... I had posted on about this car before and received some helpful advice. I wasn't sure what to classify the post as, but it seems like I have somehow possibly violated some rule or convention that I'm not aware of? My bad I guess
Shelby drop/Arning drop moves the lower control arm down and back to get more caster which make a HECKUVA difference in the handling and steering. There's free templates available on line to make it a simple Saturday project. 6sally6
The Shelby drop is for early Falcons, Mustangs, and post-65 Fairlanes. The '62-65 Fairlanes have a different suspension design and you can't do the drop on those. That Fairlane kit is really a race suspension and IMO isn't something you'll want on a street car. It'll be noisy and high maintenance with the rod ends, not to mention the expense. Rebuild what you have, use some good shocks and a sway bar and save money. Discs conversions are readily available.
Those were good handling cars in their day. You’re upping the power, (and I’m a fan of stoker engines for street cars, a more livable cam and use the displacement for power). With a 5 speed and the later rear end it’ll be a nice combination. Way less money to slightly modify the stock front end and rebuild the components to new condition. Make sure the steering box isn’t worn and is at least adjusted properly. I don’t know if they work on the Fairlanes, but the Aerostar progressive wound coils are pretty popular on anything they fit in. Get the brakes, springs and shocks right, look into the sway bars like Oneball said, and you’ll have a nice ride. With money left over for wheels and tires that fit the period of the car.
As a guy that's worked on suspensions day in and day out for 45 yrs here's my advice. I'd rebuild the stock suspension using high quality parts, no Amazon 200 dollar complete rebuild kit, no rock auto 167.00 dollar complete front end rebuild kits but top quality Napa gold or equivalent front suspension parts. I'd see if bilstein makes shocks for it and run those or an equivalent. Put a sway bar under it front and rear, have it aligned by a good quality shop that knows what they're doing and never look back or regret your decision. Now to aftermarket "kits", out of all of them I've installed thru my many years, most are not a complete "bolt in". Most always have draw backs, a lot ride rough and hard, most won't align to "street" specs. Most are supposedly made for "off road" use which means they are super high caster'd (makes car hard to turn with manual gear, wears corners of tires badly). Most are negative camber'd for high speed handling not for street driving which again wears the inside of the tires. So I've built all of my cars with stock suspensions with high quality parts and I've aligned them to what I wanted it to drive like. You can add negative camber to a stock suspension and make it handle curves better, you can add more caster to make it handle better at higher speeds etc. Some kits have their place but on the street? Most I'd say no.... ...
Appreciate the feedback, I'm not opposed to using the stock setup and I could certainly use the $$ elsewhere, the motor build is going to set me back a bit. I've heard of the "Shelby drop" but I was never sure if that would apply other than to the Mustang, it sounds like perhaps not. I've also heard to use a heavier sway bar in front and add a monte carlo bar/brace to stiffen up the front end. Was unsure if adding a rear sway bar would be beneficial or not, the car didn't have one originally. My Exploder rear has (had) a sway bar but I'm guessing what was on there is probably too heavy (stiff) for the application. I did at one point look for a quality "kit" for the original suspension parts but didn't have much luck finding anything that inspired confidence. Thought of buying directly from Moog as I always thought that was a good quality brand but in my interweb research it sounds like that may no longer be the case. Any opinions on using polyurethane vs. rubber bushings? The shop I bought my springs from steered me away from using polyurethane, he said he's seen quite a few wear prematurely and said I'd be better off using rubber.
Not a car but the truck in Avatar, I installed the best KYB rear shocks I could buy It kept the rear of the truck from bouncing on the hiway, but what I noticed more it did not roll as much when turning a corner, it used to lean so bad on a hard right turn my head would be almost sticking out of the driver side window ( The front shocks are giant Gabriel ) I then found a 1.125 front sway bar and brackets from a 1974 F100 in a scrap yard A few modifications and it turns corners and without leaning, it turns easier as well When I found and installed a rear sway bar, I cant seem to feel the difference as my truck is light in the rear I suppose All the guys I know who installed the poly bushings and put more than a few miles on their vehicle put rubber bushings back in I would follow the advice above Ricky.
Stick to a good quality rubber bushing, forget the urethane. Again ride quality but also road noise. I went thru the urethane bushing phase yrs ago on both my firebird and a grand prix. Went back to rubber. The firebird was the worst as far as rough and road noise. Personally I like moog, sold tons of their parts thru the yrs and honestly the only parts I put on my personal cars for 40 yrs... ...
Lostone pretty well nailed it spot on as for a lot of the aftermarket "upgrade" kits for that style of suspension. It is intended for one specific style of racing be it it road course or drag racing and does not do well on the street as it isn't intended for the street. I've seen too many setups written about in magazines that put the car well out of alignment as far as street driving and having decent tire wear go. The negative camber that is great for streetkana will eat a pair of front tires in a few hundred miles and maybe less on the street. Excess caster will eat the tires because you are just running on the edge of the tires on corners. Great for running down the straight road at 120 but no good around town. I'd follow what he said, Get quality parts and rebuild the front end and get a matched pair of sway bars. Then have it aligned correctly for the best all around performance road driving.
Appreciate the advice, I think I will do that. Once I get the rear end situated I'm going to pull the motor and trans and have at the front end and engine bay. Still think I'm going to do the shock tower trim, would be nice to get a little space and have some more options for headers. I'm trying to clean up the undercarriage, rust treat, paint/coat and strip and powder coat brackets and components as I have them apart so I'd like to do the same with the control arms etc. Guess I will be fighting with those springs next...
1962 -1965 used a unique front suspension. It used rather long (very long) coils between the upper and lower control arms A special tool is essential to safely remove these coil springs. * Plans can be found to make this spring compressor on the FCA Fairlane Club of America archives. ** Injury or death can result without using the proper spring tool. Yes it’s that big a deal. A light duty tool can kill you. This suspension originally required replacement of the entire lower control arm to replace the lower ball joint. The lower arms have not been available in many years. To replace the lower ball joint requires drilling out the rivets and bolting in new ball joints to the existing lower control arm. Complete lower arms with new joints sometimes show up on EBay. I believe there are old arms rebuilt by an individual. * There is a good deal of information on this from the FCA club archives. All rubber parts are available. Alignment This suspension requires special tools to adjust the caster and camber. Without these tools damage can result to the shock towers. Modern shops do not have these tools and have not had them in decades. * The FCA club has specs to make these tools at home. Like the spring compressor, these are very simple tools and are relatively inexpensive to make. The shop manual provides basic alignment information and specs. * important ** very important (life safety)
The Jalopy Journal
