Technical HAIR PINS AND MUSTANG BOX ON 32 FORD???

Trying to remove the 20'' four bar set up on my 32.....I got drilled split bones about 41'' long... the way it ends up with the bones under the frame i have to deal with the steering arms and they hit the steering box... plan was down the road to use a flattened cross member to get the 1'' lower in the front.... my axel is 2'' so I wanted to use bushed ends and hook to the hair pin??? you can get 27'' pins pre made...allso they make them in 36 but I think you would have to gusset the longer ones.... any way... the box is in the way to do anything but leave it alone..... I don't care for the 4 bar look so it needs to go.... I don't wanna do vega or cross steer.... is there a way to mod the steering to work with hairpins????

any pic would really be helpfull, thanks guys...

 

I'm all eye's here if you have an idea...

 

here's some pics I found.. not my car, but same set up

 

this set up seems to be 60's 70's ???

 

Your car's "set up" was designed and produced in the early '70s by a well known company named Pete and Jake's, and is one of, if not the best non-stock front suspensions for I beam axle hot rods.
You can use split radius rods or hair pins with the Mustang or early Ford steering box, but the results will not look or work nearly as well.
You might want to take time to learn about Pete and Jake's and the well designed products they provided, which helped in a big way rekindle hot rodding in the '70s, before you start tearing apart what you have, IMO.

 

I have that suspension on my full fendered '32 Sedan, built in the 80's. As V8 bob said above, it is one of the best handling, steering and riding suspensions out there. My car is a pleasure to drive. Maybe you could bolt fenders on your car and be done with it.

 

Lots of great information in the Pete and Jakes catalog...

 

Just leave it alone and the 70's look will come back in style.

 

on mine, they moved the box up to the bottom of the frame.... my first thought was to move it up more... then use the split bones... but then the steering tie rod is a problem ... It seems to work real well, and steers good and easy. I just don't like the look.... I guess what i'm trying to do mess all that up..

 

I used to buy from P&J 40 yrs ago

 

I guess you've figured out by now that changing one thing leads to 10 other changes that need to be made!

 

I just took the fenders, tweed. billet hi back buckets off... I was trying to pull it down to the 50's... I would have left the fenders, but they were fiber glass. I wanted a hi boy so I grabbed it.. it's a steel car

 

I had the same suspension under my old 4 door sedan, drove great.

The 4 bar is a very good alternative when you have fenders but under a hiboy they don't fit the 50's style. HRP

 

Luckily the front axle is a beam, not a tube. Use the bottom hole to mount the rear of the hairpins. Might end up with some bump-steer…and depending on how much it bothers you… could always just put the 4-bars back on! Don’t think the bump-steer would be any worse than the cowl-steer set ups, that are quite popular.

 

problem is how short the 4 bars are... like around 20''

 

well thought I had this figured out.. I bought a drilled axel and drilled split bones... but no workie... steering tie rod hits the bones.... and the steering box...I was gonna move the box up... but that only fixes half the problem... so now I'm thinking flat top hair pin and f1 steering box???????????????????

 

Now, about those rocker covers!

 

I used the Pete and Jake 4 bar/Mustang box on my Sedan Delivery Hi-boy because I wanted the BEST driving hot rod I could build...and drive it a lot.

Sounds like you are planning a lot of work to get second rate drivability just for appearance's sake...it may look "period correct" just sitting in the garage because it drives like crap.

Incidentally, nobody ever said: "you should shit-can that 4 bar for split bones"

 

There are a lot of different steering arms available to fix the tie rod problem with the bones. Have you tried mocking up the wishbones with the ends farther inside the frame where they could clear the steering box? They might work better if you can get the frame ends closer together anyway.

 

It would be some work but a cross steer Vega box with hair pins would look nice but it wouldn't perform any better. I have two 32's with both steering setups.

 

Not quite the same; I did this Mustang box/ hairpin/MorDrop axle front back in the '70s. Maybe not perfect geometry by today's standard; but with the long hairpins there was no bump steer and the car handled great.
(Box not installed in the picture; but it was a regular Mustang box with the pitman arm up and a slingshot arm on the spindle.

 

just wondering.. but how close was the tire when turning with the hair pins out that far??

 

thanks, but I was trying to stay away from cross steer...

 

thanks, I though of that but, the tie rod goes through the center of the bones...it looks like the arms were already heated once and I didn't wanna heat them again and bend the other way..thats why I change my mind to go hair pin....with hair pin every thing will work but the steering box where it's at.. i was also thinking of flat top hair pins to get more clearance... ???? It's been 40 years since I've done this stuff...and even then I had my way of doing it so just order the parts and bolt them on... try'n to re do something and not knowning makes it tuff...

 

the rovers???


oh, I ordered new ones, they're sitting on the bench...so far they haven't installed themselves... maybe wait a few days???

 

beauty is in the eye of the beholder... I've already had people tell me "I need to fix it! it looks like shit.... but if I liked it... I'd leave it...

 

look at this pic.... the box is probley a foot closer to the firewall than mine.... in fact, i'm betting the box comes up through the floor and not through the firewall???


another thing that caught my eye... looks like SBF power... and no recess fire wall?? how did you get a fan on it...a pic if you have one please...also I'm assuming it's a stock size hood???or is it longer???

 

Good question; no idea after all these years. I remember making some steering stops to work with the Econoline spindles & brakes I had on the car and setting them to get the same steering angle as Ford spindles would have. Also remember making making many tight U-turns off University to hit Porky's so it must have OK.

I have had to limit steering angle to clear the drag link on some other side steer cars, so I feel I would remember if I had problems with this one.

 

Like someone else said, one thing leads to another. You could cut off the stock steering arms and add new ones or you could buy new spindles that don’t have the arms. I’ve bought several sets of CPP spindles off eBay, very reasonable.
As far as the tires hitting the hairpins, not really a big deal, it just shortens your turning radius some.