I've got a buddy who picked up ford coupe i'm not sure if its a 46 or a 48. He told me what it is but I forgot..anyway, I / we would like some opinions from you guy's. The question is. leave the front suspension stock or go with mustang II or something else?? What are the real options? he's a fairly cheap guy.. My thought is to buy the chassis engineering stuff and do the mustang II along with their rear end mounting kit. Seems easiest to me. What do you guy's think? Bill
The fender trim on a '46 is above the reveil...'47 / '48 is on the reveil, and is not interchangable. '46 parking lights are square and mounted high on near the grill...'47 / '48 are round and low...also early '46's had a different wing window handle. I had a '46 with a 4" dropped axle...never thought it was low enough...you might want to go with the Mustang II equipment.
Had a '47, did the stock front axle with the reverse eye/de-arched/couple leaves removed/disc brakes/Vega box/etc. Looked/stopped/turned OK. But, for all of the time I put into it I could have installed a Mustang II. Used the lowered Chassis Eng rear leaf springs and a Comet 8" rear, worked/looked good.
My question to you is, what else are you going to do to it? Is he going to run a flatty, 302 or a ch#*@ in it. After installing the MII in mine I wish I had keep the original in it. Have not driven the car yet but all the parts that are available now that were not that common when I did this. Keep it original design and rebuild it better then new with the parts that are available. AND IT WILL LOOK COOL.
No need to change suspension type. One easy way to lower the front 3" and still have stock ride is to replace the front cross member with the bolt-in aftermarket one. If you want lower just install a reversed eye main leaf. A 4" dropped axle only lowers it 2" from stock
On a 34 or older car, I would never consider using an independant front end. I've always had great luck with dropped axle front ends and I believe they can handle and ride real nice, however, on anything newer than 34 with fat fenders the Mustang two deal is a great setup. I think they ride a lot better with the lower A arm replaced with the tubeular style (like a Chevy) rather than the strut that goes back to the frame with a big rubber bushing (like the stock one) And I think you can do this cheaper than a complete dropped axle/ dropped crossmember/disc brake conversion deal. Just my opinion.
Speedway has a crossmember to lower the front of these cars. It won't, however work with the original motor, only if you have late-model power. Look here. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/3439,273_1941-48-Ford-Crossmember.html I've always had axles under mine ('29, '40, '41), but don't have a single friend that says they regret going to the Mustang front end on one of these cars.
If you have it down on the ground the axle can't be seen anyway. So how does being a straight axle make it LOOK COOL?
Some days I would love to have an IFS for the lower ride height. But I think I'm just going to stay with the orig set up.
I put the C.E. Mustang II in my 47 last year, has C.E. rear seat up also. running 302/C4. After driving the car to Cruising the Coast from central Indiana, (prior to Katrina) with the straight axle, this is the best thing ever done to this car. Rides and handles great. Nice on the highway even in the mountains with cross winds. Was scary before.
Come on Phat rat, I'm just saying why change everything over just to lower it when the drop axle does the same thing and a lot of people say it rides just as nice as MII, and you do not need to cut up the inner fender and move the steering around, Just my 2 cents.
Was just asking why you thought it looked cooler with the straight axle. As far as changing to drop it I guess that would depend on how low you wanted it to be. Also depends on how much driveability you want along with the drop
From what I'm reading it seems like the mus II is the way to go. Just like I told him. He plans to run a 302 in the car. lodaddyo do you really want this original stuff? I'm pretty sure it can be done if you need it. He will just have to make up his mind. That is one of the main reasons I posted this on here was to help him make up his mind. I truely thank you guys for your opinions.. Bill
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