tell if i am wrong?

Yes or you could do a search for Opentracker he is guy here that can do great things with the older stuff. The old setup had the potential to out perform a coil over setup if done correctly

just because a suspension design is old, doesnt mean it is not as good as something more modern. granted something newer might ride better, and be easier to tune(why take 5 sets of leaf springs to the track when you can 3 sets of adjustable coil overs that take up less room and are easier to install quickly). with the right geometry the stock early mustang suspension does an excellent job under many different situations. the downside is that it is a lesson in compromise compared to modern designs. opentracker and historic both can point you in the right direction regarding parts selection, and tuning, as can a few of us others. my recommendations for the street are;

opentracker modified upper control arms
opentracker lower control arms with the reenforcement and roller bearing.
opentracker roller spring perches
adjustable strut rods
540lb rate springs for the street(actually a pretty good all around spring) 620lb springs if you are going racing.
1" or 1 1/8" front sway bar
kyb gas shocks, koni's are better if you can afford them
set the suspension as follows;
caster +3 degrees
camber -0.5 to +0.5 degrees
toe in 1/8" total.

for the rear suspension;

a 4 1/2 or 5 leaf spring, preferably with a military eye on the front, but not required, with a rate of 200in/lbs
3/4" rear bar
again kyb or koni shocks

for steering, the best overall set up is probably going to be flaming river's 16:1 replacement steering box imo. rack and pinion is good, but for the expense not worth the effort right now. that goes out the window though if your swmbo is going to drive the car, or you dont have the arm strength to deal with manual steering(i personally dont like the stock ford power assist steering).

although you didnt ask, my recommendation for braks, tires and wheels;

the cobra 4 wheel disc kit from mustang steve. since this gives you 13" rotors in front, you will need 17" wheels, and the stock cobra wheels or the bullet wheels, both in 17x8" with a 245/45-17 tire.

this will make for a very well rounded package that when you add subframe connectors, and perhaps a center cage like total control designed, that handles and brakes like a modern car, and still has a decent ride on the street.

the above mods can be done in stages as needed, and for the not much more than the cost of a rack and pinion kit, and coil over shocks(not the complete suspension system though).

rbohm said:

for steering, the best overall set up is probably going to be flaming river's 16:1 replacement steering box imo. rack and pinion is good, but for the expense not worth the effort right now. that goes out the window though if your swmbo is going to drive the car, or you dont have the arm strength to deal with manual steering(i personally dont like the stock ford power assist steering).

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I've been considering using NPD's 40$ p/s delete kit, since I also don't like how 'sloppy' and indirect the stock power steering system's feel is (but i don't dislike it enough to spend a whole ton of money completely converting to manual steering or getting a r&p). Do you know how well these work?

Also, would you use a negative wedge of some sort if you're doing the shelby drop? I just called an alignment shop that specializes in early mustangs and they said they'd align my newly-shelby-dropped car but highly recommended a wedge, even though I just did the 1" bolthole drop (not the more extravagant 1 5/8" drop i see when people go to true negative wedge kits/aftermarket control arms). He said I might have problems with the ball joints...

I just told him most the people I knew of doing the 'shelby drop' didn't seem to think it was necessary, but he was pretty adament.

freddyfender said:

My understanding is the neg. wedge kit is a must, unless you use arms with correctly installed ball joint for the change is position.

i just want to know if anyone had done the shelby drop, and a rack an pinion along with new suspension parts (spring, shock etc.). If so does the car drive really good or is it just patch work and i should be looking at the full suspenion conversion (coil over etc)

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Can anyone else comment to that?

when shelby was first looking over klaus arning's data regarding the shelby mod, shelby originally wanted to drop the upper arm pivot by 1 1/2" but he realized that shelby owners would be breaking ball joints on a regular basis and that would lead to warranty problems. so shelby settled on the compromise of a 1" drop. however for the race cars he dropped the pivot 1 1/4" because he knew that the ball joints would be replaced after each race. as for needing the negative wedge kit, no oyu dont need it unless you want to use the stock arms and drop the pivot point more than 1". if you want to drop the pivot point 1 1/4" like shelby did with the race cars, you can use opentrackers modified upper arms as they have a modified ball joint angles. if you want to modify your own arms, you cut a 15 degree wedge under the arm right behind the ball joint mount, bend the arm down at that point and weld the cut back up. if you choose to do this mod, then i highly recommend reinforcing the upper arm to strengthen the weld area.

by the way, that is the way global west modified mustang upper arms for years before they developed their own upper arms.

rbohm said:

by the way, that is the way global west modified mustang upper arms for years before they developed their own upper arms.

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THe GW are is now shorter as well IIRC

If you just dropped it 1" it won't bind.

For 1 3/4 you need a wedge or arms with the wedge engeneered in them like the GW units.