Mustang II chronicles, failure abounds

I will say this, I have spent the last couple of days learning way more than I ever thought a plumber should about suspension systems, and honestly I still don't know enough. I think that his stuff would have been initially less expensive and cost you far less in the long run at the maintenance level. I compared 6 different manufacturers and quite honestly I bought the best of the 6, I got what I paid for per the time of the transaction. Had I never seen Steve's stuff I would still be bliss fully happy with what I have. Dang, Had I seen the quality of his work at the time I was making these hard comparisons I would have made the run to Arizona and purchased his products hands freakin down. Look real careful and then it becomes blazingly apparent that this guy knows what he is doing as well as cares what he is doing. If you think you do and you think you can save a few bucks take a real long look and compare. I strongly recommend you look at EL Polacko's products before you buy anything. They are by far superior!

 

Where is the catalog for his stuff? After reading this whole thread I'm not second guessing my Fatman's MII kit for my 50 chevy truck. Damn it!

 

I closed up shop where the mail order is concerned. Could not sell enough of my product line to make it, price is KING.

I still build on a custom and one off basis. Check out the site in my signature.

 

I checked out your site and your stuff looks great! Any chance you make control arms for a bag setup? I think I'm going to have to reinforce my Fatman Kit so that it doesn't fail on me. Thanks for posting this thread as I now have an idea as to what needs to be done to make my kit work. It's going on a 50 chevy truck so I want to make sure it doesn't fail long term.

 

Not the best photograph of the control arms:




I just built these last month for this car. It is a 1938 Cadillac and we are using Bilstein Coil-overs.

I can build you something custom to mount your air spring, I would just need to know how you want to mount it.

 

El-P, any idea how wide that vintage Dakota frame is?

I'm interested in using one on a '50 Jimmy.

If the TrailBlazer stuff doesn't fit (gonna cram the DOHC 6 in the '50, bought the whole trailblazer so if the suspension will fit, I figure it will be more cost effetive to use it).

 

--------------------
I agree. For anything related to steering
or suspension you want the best/highest
grade fasteners you can get your hands
on. Years ago, I used to work in the nuclear
industry in an nuclear power plant R&D lab
and fabrication shop, had more or less
unlimited free access to 190,000-plus PSI
tensile strength SPS 'Unbrako' "nuclear
grade" socket head fasteners. "Nuclear
grade" is the final quality step above
"aircraft grade", which is itself, several
steps above SAE grade 8. In the ten
years I was there, I built or helped
buddies build, several cars. Guess what
we used for fasteners??? One time, in
an exercise in overkill and just to be
different and to see if we could do it, we
built a '67 Camaro drag car that had
absolutely every, even remotely visible,
conventional nut, bolt, stud or machine
screw in the whole car completely
replaced with 'nuclear grade' 12-point
nuts and socket head cap screws! The
tech guys at the track were quite
impressed with the workmanship!

Mart3406
========================

 

Mart, that is impressive! If you weren't Canuck I would ask for my tax dollars back!

 

----------------------
Yep, not to worry, if you're stateside.
All those cars were unofficially (and
unwittingly) subsidized and sponsored
solely by the Canadian federal government.
No U.S taxpayers were harmed in any way!
LOL Here's the link to the Unbrako fastener
site. (www.unbrako.com). Super quality stuff
but spendy if you need more than few pieces.
It doesn't say so on the site, but when I was
in the nuclear industry, Unbrako was a division
of SPS - the same company that makes
high-quality aftermarket rod bolts, cylinder
head studs and other good stuff.

Mart3406
-------------------
P.S. - A little 'tech tip' that works, that people
may not be aware of. NF thread socket head
cap screws are perfect for making either normal
or long-length wheel studs. On the race cars, we
would remove the stock, short, pressed-in wheel
studs from the front hubs and rear axle flanges,
run a 'National Fine' tap through the holes to
thread them and then screw 'full-length
thread' socket head cap screws in from the back
side.The threads positively lock the bolts in
place plus the socket head bolts are half again
or better stronger than conventional automotive
wheel studs and they're available in about any
reasonable length and diameter you could want
or need.
==========================

 

This is how I have made added support for the lower control arm bolt. This method require a longer bolt and I switched to grade 8 bolt too.
This way the forces working on the bolt will be double sheer.

The suspension is a stage III Mustang II from Fat Mat. I did a comsmetic change on on top of the frame too.

 

took me forever to get the pix but the truck finally came back yesterday. So here they are. " Sacked out " Is an understatement.







From here I guess I need to remove the spring, measure the length, order the right one, and then get drop spindles to put it back down where it is. And if that doesn't work, cut the top hat ( if it is called that ) and remount it. Maybe even get another one. Anyone got any other ideas I should know about to expand the possobilities? Thanks again for the help.

 

What dia. are those arms they look big?

 

Johnod,the lower control arms are made from 1 1/4" .125" DOM tube and the uppers are 1" .125 DOM. I have seen plenty of the 7/8" and 1" diameter lowers bend with use, mine don't.


Choptvan, Yeah that thing is sacked! What concerns me looking at those pictures is the shock. It looks like there is still plenty of travel left in it which leads me to believe that if you install a longer and stiffer spring that there may not be enough rebound.

When you jack up the vehicle, does the suspension droop past the level mark? In other words the tie rods angle down to the wheel.

 

will check soon. He should be bringin it back tomorrow. Yeah, the suspension is scary as hell isn't it!

 

As bad as it seems, there are thousands running around just like yours.

Check out how close the lower ball joint is to your rotor.

 

I have a similar truck and had the same problem when installing mine. It took 600 lb. springs to get it up to even A arm height. Check the rate on the springs these trucks are heavy and they usually give you springs incapable of shouldering the weight.

(I also had to flipthe lower A arms left and right based on the kit manufacturers recommendations but that won't help in your case)

 

we are talking fractions...