69' upgrade suspension

[deadmilenko]

Look at upgrading my suspension and could use some advice. I have a 69 Mach I, SVO 351W, Tremec TKO 5 speed, 373 limited slip. Just looking form some better handling on the road and something to put the power to the pavement. Stock suspension now, and considering a stage 1 or 2 kit form www.globalwest.net Anyone heard any good things about them? or bad things for that matter? I heard that they did the suspension on Eleanor. Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[chepsk8]

My experience from the two 69's I had (SB Conv. & 428 SCJ Mach) was that as long as you're not building a racecar, you don't need all the goofy stuff. Use your brains and budget. Both cars got lowered 1", big front sway Bar with MEDIUM bushings, best shocks, shock tower brace, GOOD tires & rims, GOOD brakes, all components rebuilt or replaced, steering upgraded. Out back, new springs, Primo shocks. I've found you don't want the rear too hard, or the car will bounce all over the road. The front end does most of the work so build that way. If your chassis is soft, definitely add chassis bracing.

I built the Mach this way, used to open track it all the time at SAAc conventions, It did great, was still very pleasant on the street, and even lookes stock enough to show in stock class!

 

[LanceMach]

I agree with what chepsk8 said, except that I would start with subframe connectors to give you a good solid foundation to start with. Also consider doing the a-arm drop (aka Shelby drop) to give you better geometry on the front end. His advice on shocks is dead on: get the best you can afford as they can make a big difference in handling AND in ride comfort...

If you've got the money, the GW tubular stuff IS great (my bother-in-law put some of it on my Mach 1 - after he convinced me to sell it to him!). For the street though, it's probably overkill. It is nice, however, to get a kit with matched components...

 

[bnickel]

posted this at www.1969stang.com as well:

global west is the originator of tubular control arm arms and other really great suspension innovations for early mustangs, they are one of the very best however they didn't have anything to do with eleanor at all, that was TCP (total control products) and they are now out of business, someone has bought them out but all the details on who and when they will start releasing new products is still under wraps, but i have it on good authority that we may start seeing products from the new company within the next 2-4 weeks. if you are serious about your suspension global west is good way to go, the tcp stuff is good, but other than the rack and pinion system they had, there wasn't much else that was any better than other companies like global west, unfortunately there are very few other companies making a rack and pinion conversion for our cars, www.randallsrack.com is probably the best available at this point with www.speeddirect.com coming in next, although their kit is not due out for at least 2 more weeks and probably a bit longer. another company, www.flamingriver.com has a rack kit available but it has many problems at the moment, such as most headers don't fit, there are major bump steer problems and other smaller issues as well. i say go for the global west kit stage 2 if you can afford it, especially if the rear of your car is sagging like most are, the del-a-lum bushings are the best you can get i wish i had the money for them myself. good luck and let us know what you decide

 

[Sicarius428]

I completely agree too. Especially with the stiff rear springs part. I have 4 1/2 leafs on my 70 mach 1 and the rear is way too stiff. The shelby drop really improves cornering and good shocks like koni's are great. I went with the mangna 1 1/8th front sway bar and eibach 1 inch progressive springs so my street ride would be good but the rears really imbalanced everything. My front dropped about 2-3 inches with all of that with my 428 just to let you know so you have to be kind of carefull on some streets. I have SSM lift bars and the rear is 2 inches lowered with a 7/8ths sway bar. I figured that the heavier engine would be enough to plant the tire because typically you want a lighter rear sway bar to plant the front outside tire on a turn. Oh ya dont for get about sub frame connectors. Mustangs are really weak and those will help a lot. Good luck.
Kevin

 

[deadmilenko]

THANKS for all of the advice guys (and gals if it aplies). I am going to take a look at the other companies that "bnickle". It sounds like everyone agrees that the kit for globalwest is a great kit if you can afford it. How ever the stage 2 kit maybe overkill? I might just go for the stage 1 kit. But I want to do this once and not have to worry about upgrading later on down the road. I already have sub-frame connectors form when I did the motor swap. I hope that the kit wont interfer with my long tube ceramic coated hooker headers, like my Lakewood bell housing did. That sucked. Maybe I should go down and pick it up myself and save me some shipping since I am in CA right now.

Bnickle let me know when the company that bought out TCP is out in the open.

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Sicarius428]

You shouldn't have any problems with the long tubes. I have the TCP stage 1 and 2(X brace) sub frame connectors with a c6 backing my 428cj with hooker super comps. Ya, tight squeeze but it all fits. I didn't have space to get an x-pipe in there so I gladly sacrificed it for the x brace and some strait pipes.
Kevin

 

[DarkBuddha]

I have 4 1/2 leafs on my 70 mach 1 and the rear is way too stiff.

Really? I went with 5 leaf mid-eyes from NPD on my '70 Mach and don't find it harsh at all. The car is taut, but certainly not harsh. I noticed you mentioned the Koni shocks... which models are you using? I'm just wondering if the combination of your 4.5 leaf springs with stiff Koni shocks may be a bit much. The typical recommendation for spring/shock combinations is either soft spring/stiff shock or stiff spring/soft shock. I'm using Monroe-matic Plus shocks that have a few years on them, so I may be just lucky with my particular combination.

 

[Sicarius428]

I have the Koni Red shocks which my whole suspension has about 1000 miles on because I don't drive the car too much. I maybe my fat @$$ is just sensitive. I have eurothane spacer on the shackle side and left the rubber spacer on the one near the torque box to alleviate some of the shock. My springs are from Canadian Mustang if they are even still around now and I live in a gated community which has speed bumps. Another thing it can possibly be my SSM lift bars which probably arent helping at all either now that I think about it. Thanks for your input... I might be taking those off or getting some springs from a different company.
Kevin