yes you are... now show us something you've done worth a ****. I ve seen both El P's and KustomBuilders stuff. It's top notch.
ok lets just say it might work so to the pros what would you do how would you start and don't say sell it cause if it fits so well on the 50s trucks i will sell for $3500 because that is what fatman want for the mustang II front stub for a 49--51 ford
Chopolds had a good thread not long ago on Ackermann and narrowing a front end. The conclusion was that if you have a front end with a steering box that needed to be narrowed, the center link could be narrowed an equal amount and geometry would remain the same. There is not the same luxury with a rack. Narrowing this front end that substantially would almost certainly require a custom made rack. The Grand Marquis/CV front end is super wide, and to fit under a shoebox, a small car even by 50's standards, it will take a ton of work to make this work. not to mention, from experience the 4.6 SOHC ford motors are super wide, and narrowing your frame ~10" will make fitment a real issue, which defeats part of the purpose of using the frame anyway. In the process of trying to do things cheap, you'll spend twice as much. If you're trying to do it on the cheap, go to welder series, an alliance member, and order the MII sub. you can get all the cheap mustang goodies, tubular control arms, power racks, big disc brakes (though i don't think you can run the cobra brakes with 15" wheels")...all new for a real reasonable price. We're not ribbin this guy, we just get sick of seeing subframed cars with the wheels sticking out of the wheel wells
Build your own! Regardless of the non-stock suspension you want to use, some fabrication work is in order. To use this CV suspension you would have had to build a subframe for it to attach to, so. Using the information I gave you guys here a while back and some steel tube and plate sourced from your local supply, you are on your way. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70073 Here are some examples that I have done recently. And if you like I can send you these as a 3D PDF file that you can rotate and enlarge to see how I built them.
Elpolacko thanks good reading but i have a few ? ok lets say i take 8" out of the center of this ifs unit , are you saying that the ifs will no longer work in the right way and if i take that 8" out can i just find a rack that is 8" shorter i know I'm making it sound simple but i do know it will be a good deal of work
I'm betting if you take 8"out of it your 4.6 will not fit. And at that point I think that's the least of the problems.
Provided you could find a rack that has the same travel and is also a front steer and rated for a car that weighs in at 3000+ pounds, sure it would work. You have quite a challenge ahead of you on this. The rack is a major hurdle but so will be finding correct springs that fit and fitting the engine after a section job like that. Steering hook-up is sure to be a total *****. Geometry wise, yeah it's not going to handle the same anymore. I would need all the dimensions to plot it out properly but more than likely the roll center will be raised considerably. Not always a bad thing but it could lead to some pretty serious oversteer/understeer situations that could make it miserable to drive.
I think someone mentioned springs earlier... a nice thing about building or buying a Mustang II based suspension is the ability to change spring rates if the ride isn't what you were hoping for. Ford set this front end up with that spring weight for the ride height they wanted it to ride at. You're changing a lot of variables that are very difficult to reverse. Here's a list of "what abouts" so far... What about: designed ride height springs **track width** rack width steering input shaft engine clearance wheel options radiator mounting (sure, you'll have to figure that out regardless, but it's still something to think about) any more?
C'mon guys - lets all go to Sensitivity 101 cl***es so as not to upset poor Paco. Obviously you meanies have really hurt his feelings. As for Jacoviii - read my HAMB signature.
ok what i will do is get it mocked up and then if it looks like the steering and motor fitment will not work i'm only out a small bit of money and i will go with a different set up
A buddy of mine put a Jag clip in his, fitted great and his car ended up as a magazine feature. I followed his suggestion and put the same clip in my 50 Chevy. Works really well and cost me $175.
to expand a little more on what ElPolacko said. it is not only the over all width of the rack but also the pivot points of the steering arms where they leave the rack. that pivot point SHOULD fall in a straight line between the upper control arm pivot and the lower control arm pivot for proper geometry. it'd make perfect sense if i had a drawing to show but i hope you understand what i mean. i'm sure ElPolacko can diagram it and expand on it further.
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