I have a 63' falcon that is dropped. Cut springs and blocks. I have positive camber that is pretty bad and I was wondering if there is anything I can do? Drill and move the lower control arm out? The upper A arm has no spacers between it. Is there any way of fixing this without going Mustang II or Total Control Coil-over conversion kit?
Have you done the "Shelby drop" - Moving the upper control arm mounts lower? That improves the camber curve somewhat. Done on Mustangs, but I think it will work on Falcons as well. You can move them 1" without any problem, but there is a ball joint wedge kit to allow a 1.75" relocation. http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/photos/template.jpg
No, its at stock location. I'll look it up, but what does the "shelby drop" consist of? Some sort of bracket?
Did an edit on my post while you were posting. It's just redrilling the mounting holes lower to change the angle of the upper arms. This gives more negative camber as the suspension compresses.
Thanks RELIC STEW Yeah, just found that out on this site: http://www.geocities.com/2bav8/granada.html
try this link http://www.tffn.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=12096&p=78363&hilit=shelby+drop+template#p78363 do a search from the home page to find more information out http://www.tffn.net/phpBB3/ good luck jim h
you probably have mismatched upper and lower control arms. falcon/mustang/maverick, etc. all have similar or same control arms, but differ in some ways. somebody may have swapped uppers or lowers. if your car is really low, i'd avoid the shelby mod, it puts the upper ball joint at an extreme angle when you combine the two.
Ok no shim behind the shafts. The later Fords with that style of suspension used an eccentric cam bolt on the lower control arm to adjust the camber. Example here http://www.partsamerica.com/Product...A&searchfor=Alignment+Camber%2fCaster+Kit That cam moves the lower control arm in and out to adjust the camber instead of using shims up top. There are slots in the cross member on those cars with a tab on each side of the cam so that when you turn the cam you move the control arm. You would have to get a set of the cam bolts and then slot the cross member. If I am correct the tabs were part of the reinforcement plate on the cross member. The best way to do that would be to get under a later car like a 67 Mustang and check how it was done. I think that same setup was used clear up into the Grenadas so it shouldn't be hard to find one to look at. If I were to do it I would make up plates out of 1/8 steel with the correct size slots in them and the tabs welded on and then cut the slots in the crossmember to match and weld the reinforcement plates in place. you might even cut the pieces out of a junker to use as patterns.
Thanks for the info. I couldnt use the link cause it wanted my zip or car type which led to nothing. Any idea of another company that would supply the parts?
I did the shelby drop on my ranchero, also shimmed out the upper control are as much as i safely could. still have some negative camber, but its not wearing out the tires all crazy like it used to.
Correct me if im wrong, but if I shimmed the upper control arm, wouldnt that push the spindle out giving me more positive camber? Also, how low is your car? did you do the standard 1" drop on the control arm with the .125 back?
I did the 1" shelby drop on my Mustang and had to add shims to get back to -.5 degrees camber. You may want to take some measurements on your shock towers. The Falcon/Mustang platform is notorious for deforming over the years. It's possible that your towers might have spread apart enough to cause some difficulty with alignment. Just ask anyone who's ever tried to fit a Monte Carlo bar or an export brace to a Mustang.
Any serious parts house should have that piece. I just posted that link because it was easy for me to look up at the time. Plus out here on the west coast there are Schucks just about everywhere. I also found it on WWW.napaonline.com you want to look for the piece for a 67 Mustang though.
Here is what the lower control arm cam bolt looks like. This is a 75 Maverick. This adjusts camber. Caster is adjusted with the strut rod. No shims needed on the upper arms.
Thanks to everyone for the help and advice. I ended up doin the "Shelby Drop" this weekend and it helped correct the camber angle and gave me a smoother ride. I went from 4.5+ and 2+ camber angle to 1.4+ and .8+ camber angle. Now I'll do a couple of tweaks to get rid of the positive angle.
I think pro motorsports in sandy Utah has a kit to give adjustment of the Lca I remember installing one on a mustang, And as a side note the shock towers will push in to the center and fire wall with weight on the tires and will sag out when you jack the car up. Shelby used a monte carlo bar and export brace to stiffen the towers
Lower or upper control arms? adjustable? If the control arm was adjustable i could correct if fully, but I may need to look at my caster and toe angles, and add adjustable strut rods. If I had the money, id do this http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/support/colvf/FCOC-FD_rear_compact_AT.jpg
both! as i said above, someone may have replaced the stockers with something that looked close but ain't. many different fords used similar control arms through the 60's and 70's. i'd measure the length from the pivot to the ball joint and find the correct length for your falcon, you can probably find the info you need on lengths on TFFN.