Hello all. I'm restoring my 1961 Thunderbird and I'm getting ready to drop in my rebuilt engine and transmission. My front suspension needs some TLC and I would absolutely love to either bolt on a new suspension front clip or MII. Aside from going the Crown Vic or Jag route, are there any other suitable options including weld on components that work well with this car? Thank you! Sent from my XT1650 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Whatever you do don't do the mk2 crap. Go drive a mustang 2 & see if you want your t bird to drive that bad. Rebuild the original and check to see if there's any cross over stuff that you can use, as in any factory ball joints etc that you can use in order to use later spindles, disc brakes etc. Mk2 front end isn't popular because of its good ride and road feel but because it's small, cheap, easy to manufacture and doesn't need much room, the exact reasons ford used it in the first place.
Your 'Bird is a unibody car, and unless you're versed in structural engineering, it's going to be tough to install any sort of 'clip'.
Most of the hateful rhetoric about MMII geometry based suspension is uninformed BS. But that is a discussion for a different thread. Rebuilding your stock T-bird front end is by FAR the best approach to take. Those cars drove quite well when new and much of the design was shared with the Full size Ford sedan of the era. You might be interested to know, that was the foundation of the NASCAR front suspension used for many years thereafter. There is no way a swapped in setup will outperform the original if in as new condition. The rebuild will be simple, straightforward and time efficient. What more could you ask? Ray
not popular to some - but, upgrading to a front power disc brake system will be a real plus for that heavy car
Hnstray : X1000!!!! The original suspension is very difficult to improve, & I do agree with Jalopy Joker that the addition of Disc Brakes would be a good idea as they are cheaper & easier to maintain once installed!! Rhetorical Question : Where does every NOOB IDIOT get the idea that EVERY old suspension design is "junk" & would be better replaced with an at best "marginal on the original donor vehicle" suspension that was never intended for a vehicle that may very well be as much as double the weight of said donor vehicle???? Yes the replacement parts for the old suspension may not be especially cheap, but if they would buy a grease gun(& learn how to use it regularly!!!) the "old" suspension will be way more durable(& SAFER!!) than some light weight add-on(& don't get me started on the "high quality fabrication & welding skills" we've seen on so many of these abortions!!!) Even if they do manage to get the installation anywhere near "square" or in alignment ?? End of Rant! carry on.....
I drive a '59 Ford and kept the stock front suspension with a disc brake conversion. Cut the stock springs a bit, added a 1.125" sway bar and it drives nicely even with manual steering. Southwestern Thunderbirds should have the right sway bar for the '61 'Bird, they have lots of other things too, good people to deal with.
I'm in agreement with most of those here that a stock rebuild of the factory suspension will be your best bet. I've always found it to be amazing how just a couple of years of automotive design so drastically improved handing and ride, early 60s cars feel like Ferraris compared to mid 50s stuff. The Thunderbird has a good front suspension design, and parts are available relatively inexpensively. They're also pretty easy to put on bags since the spring is up on top of the upper control arm. I just sold my 64 to my father in law, who rebuilt the front suspension as his first project. Now the car handles and rides as good as new. On the other hand, I've never been a fan of suspension in the 57-59 Fords, which I personally think is trash. After driving my 57 Ford for the last 18 years, even with a rebuilt suspension, it's just not a real smooth riding car, and especially so with cut coils. The Edsel I'm building now has a Mustang II for a number of reasons. To begin I get nice sized disc brakes. The Mustang II also affords me the ability to eliminate the atrocious steering the Ford had. The manual box sucks and is harder to drive, and the power steering setup with the slave cylinder is expensive and constantly leaks. The MII power rack is significantly more compact and will provide better steering. The MII is also already set up for Air Ride, which would take a considerable amount of modification for the 57-59 Ford chassis with the spring cup built into the frame. The smaller physical nature of the MII also means there is more room for headers, steering, etc., and generally makes the car easier to work on. The MII King Cobra weighed in at around 3000 lbs, or about 1000 lbs lighter than a stock 57-59 Ford, but only 60% of that is over the front tires. I'd also venture to say that new tubular arms are stronger than the factory stamped units. So while the merits of sub framing a car is a worthy discussion, when done properly (it's not really a fair argument against the parts because people often install them poorly) it may have pros that outweigh the cons.
Ford designed a great suspension for those cars. It wasn't designed to be a corner cutter, but a personal luxury car, so the ride is a bit soft. That being said, it's easy nowadays to change spring rates, shocks, and add disc brakes to get what you are looking for. New bushings, ball joints, and alignment will do wonders for them. Just think, those suspensions were designed to hold up to the weight of a fully dressed big block, where the MII was designed for a I4 or V6 at about half the weight.
Those bullet birds have an unusual front suspension with the spring above the upper control arm and I don't think they interchange with much so it would be wise to stick with what you have. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Ford introduced that basic design on the '60 Falcon and used it on nearly all of their unibody cars well into the late '70s (with the Pinto/M2 being the exceptions). The T-Bird version was the most heavy-duty and does use some unique parts, but they're all available.
They were a chrome plated son of a whore to do an alignment on. They had that big camber shim where the upper a-arm bolts to the unibody.
I am pretty certain that discs and spindles from a '65-'66 T-Bird will bolt on, although the shock tower may need modified a bit for the master cylinder to fit. I think a lot of people drive older cars with worn out suspension pieces, and become convinced that they actually drove like that when new. Remember, these era Birds were built in the same Wixom plant as Lincolns.
I have done all types of suspensions. Adding disc brakes and rebuilding your stock will be hard to beat. Unless you do some kind of high end stuff The CV. M2 and jag work great in cars they fit well in but in my worthless opinion neither of those would be worth the effort or much of an improvement to work effort in your bird.
I've driven plenty of the old 'Birds and they drove nicely if they were in good shape. My old '59 Ford rides very well and I get compliments on it, the stock front end was done over and the big sway bar made a difference.
Thank you all very much for your comments. My matching numbers engine block was toast with about a 4" crack across one of the expansion plugs so I'm building my matching year donor block to about 400 hp carbureted. Not really for any other reason than to make the car fun to drive. Although I'm reducing engine weight considerably, I would love to improve upon the cushy old suspension. I imagine I will just rebuild the front end and re-spring it until I can fabricate an entire new front clip. I think this would be a fun project to tackle and I do think that the r&p steering and some billet coil overs will tighten up the ride a bit. All the best! Sent from my XT1650 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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