Best mustang II kit

I just started A 37 Dodge truck project and, I want to do the suspension only once. I have looked and searched on mustang II frontends, but I want peoples opinion the one they instaled themselvess the pros and cons. I have found them from $1100 complete to $2500 complete. Are you paying for the name or is the name worth it. I am doing the weld in myself.

 

ther are a few m2 haters here ,but you get what you pay for. The fatman stuff I have installed was made in USA and has worked well and the customer service has been good. I have had good luck with heidts also.

 

Fatman is the best quality I have used. I've installed several manufactures front ends, including Heidts, TCI, Chassis Eng., and Fatman Fabrications has a superior product.

 

I figured that there would be some mII haters, but that does not concern me. I am looking to build a every day driver that I look foward to driving. I have looked at some of the kits, and I think I will go with one of them. Are they hard to instal, or any tricks that make it easier.

 

i put fatman in my 35 truck fit real good with real good instructions

 

Just make sure whatever kit you buy has the upper control arm with the studs not the bolts. It makes them easy to adjust for caster and camber.

 

I have done two TCI front ends, power rack, with sway bars. If you find them on ebay through CPP, you take the auction number, call CPP, and they will match the price. You usually get almost $200 in freebies along with it, to include pwr steering hoses and a proportioning valve. This price pretty much beats everything out there.

I did finally find that a HAMB alliance dealer gives a discount on Fatman, so when I do my 65 C-10, I will use their kit. Once I saw the engineering of the cross member, there was no doubt this was the choice for the application. The ground clearance is the best in the industry, from what I can tell on this particular kit. They also have a universal 4-link for the rear so I don't have to use the expensive trailing arm kit.

There are also the Paul Horton Welder Series kits to take a look at.

 

I have used the Fatman MII under both my 36 Dodge PU and my 59 F100. I am pleased with the product and the instructions are good. Also, I called Fatman with questions and was treated very nicely. Good luck with your project.

lc

 

Used Heidts in mine. Very pleased. And you get what you pay for.

 

I'm a fan of the late crown vick front end if it's not to wide.

 

I have used a couple of different ones but i prefer the Heidts It looks good when installed and the instructions are very good

 

I used the one from Street Rod Engineering. Worked good for me. Might be worth a look.



http://www.streetrodengineering.com/Products/mustangllifskits.htm

 

Well my vote is for the TCI (Ontario Ca) I wanted a kit that was USA built and they were local.- I had never done a total front end before and it was done in my front yard with the tools I had avail. they were helpful when I called them and even after a couple of years we keep in touch- I liked this company - Oh and the car drives great- I have taken a couple of long distance road trips and I am very impressed with this kit- the handling is also great-

 

Just installed a tubular MII from www.gearheadworld.com and so far no issues other than having to machine a bit of material off the spindle at the top for ball joint clearance(Chrysler large joints)
Manual rack complete with lines and drilled/slotted rotors for under $1400.00.
If you catch them at a show you can carry it out for $1100.00.

 

I did a TCI in my build, I was happy with the build quality, but i had to change a couple things to get it as low as I wanted it to go on the tall tires. If you are going to do a super slam with bags, I would suggest SCOTT's Hot rods Mii, they are engineered a little different than most, mainly emphasizing on going LOW. That's the kit I wish I would have run, maybe next build i do I can give my full opinion on it in detail.

 

I have a Fatman Stage II under my Lincoln. This is all good quality stuff, but there are some minor geometry issues. With Minnesota's roads, our cars use ALL of the suspension travel. At full jounce, the lower spring cup hits and dents the shock tube. At full extension, the upper ball joint boots fold over leaving the joint exposed. Other than that, I have 7500 miles without issue.

For my 37 Ford pickup project, I just bougtht I Speedway crossmember. It is a quality part - very well built and priced right. I will be using all stock MII supension components because I want full suspension travel without issue. All of those parts are available new/repro at an OK cost. if you watch swap meets or the HAMB classifieds you can often find decent low mileage used original parts pretty cheap.

 

Who makes the best Mustang II IFS Kit? here is a thread with alot of info. There are over 200 threads with mustang II in the title, maybe that's why the 1 star rating?

I have installed 2 MII front ends, you do get what you pay for.

 

I have the Heidt's crossmember and the gathered my own control arms, spindles, brakes, shockwaves and rack. Probably more than the kit but I got the components I wanted. Like it so far. Heidt's instructions left a little to be desired on the installation but I muddled through with help from forums.

 

I have been building hot rods for over 30 years and have had the opportunity to install alot of different MII kits and in my opinion the absolute best is made by Jim Wimer Hot Rod
Garage in Belgium WI. Highest quality materials and parts as well as fit and finish. I won't use any thing else now.

 

www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/<wbr>showthread.php?t=257826
www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/<wbr>showthread.php?t=202584

Caveat emptor.

 

I installed Fatman in my '55 GMC 1/2 T. pickup and appreciated the help--from the fellow who owns the company.

 

I have over 25,000 miles on my MII front end. It was from Chassis engineering. It uses 11" granada rotors and was a snap to put under my Chevy. All hoses, hardware, prop valves included for approx $1500. I also opt'd for the tubular A arms. Well worth the cost!

 

I installed a Fatmans MII in my 40 Tudor and I've got abot 10K on it without any problems. I also installed a TCI MII under a friends 37 Chevy and they both where preaty easy to install.

 

I used one from Scotts Hot Rods out in CA. first class stuff but I can't tell you how it drives yet

 

Here`s the Speedway bolt-in on my `36 truck but I gathered all of the other parts seperately.

Would not do another bolt-in as it`s much quicker to weld in and the Speedway was $300.00 higher as a bolt together.

No it`s not prepainted....

 

Fatman stage III in my 37, really like the way the car rides and steers. Good instuctions and excellent customer service. HAMB discount as well.

 

Get a factory set up from a boneyard, bout $200 complete and assembled. Fab to your frame, then disassemble and rebuild. I saw a nice set up in a 48 Ford that I saved the pic, will try to find and post.

Here, found it. I like this way of installing, strong, and replacement parts inexpensive.

 

I will be going weld in for sure, I think that it looks alot cleaner.

 

With the properly engineered weld in kits available today that is very bad advice.

The stock MII crossmember was a stamped assembly designed for and installed in a uni body structure.

Not a good idea to use one, especially when the kit crossmembers are much more robust.

 

Adding to what has been said above . The entire front end was designed for a puny little 4 cylinder shopping basket . Personally ( and it is just my personal view ) they are too light to be using under our '40s-'50s rides .
I will admit I'm probably a little biased in my views as I prefer to run Jaguar IFS.
Easy to fit under the '40s-'50s pickups and is a complete deal with power rack and big brakes all in one install . Chevy bolt pattern .
Entire front ends ( or even complete donor cars ) as cheap as .... well , a cheap thing !

don't take offense , just my thoughts and good luck with your project .


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