Front suspension question/direction

[YotaMaster]

Hi all,

I bought a 65 Caliente (347 motor) back in November. Drove it 3 days and the carb gave out. Towed it to a great shop and got it back last week, mm 3 + months give or take. I went a little parts nuts. New 650 Holly, Roller cam, roller lifters AFS heads, MSD, viking front coilovers, narrowed 9" on Q1A coilovers and triangulated 4 link, frame rails, and full exhaust with cutouts.

For my birthday I jumped on a TCI full front package. It was open box and 1900 off. Shop quoted me 5800 to install, yea.so but puckered a bit but I figure once it's done it's done right. Well, the Excklers kit is missing the spindles a d brake setups even though I called and they verified it was.complete. so sending that back, which changes my options and direction to go. I do want to get some drive time on it as the.vikings aren't a bad ride. It has power steering which is standard Ford touchy as hell (I had a 67 mustang back in my youth). The paint is Maaco for sure and is on my list, but the body is straight.

Questions - is there anything I could/should do on the front suspension short of pulling the motor as most kits seem to be.

Or should I leave as is and save for paint next?

It wasn't running to expectations so it's going back to the shop for rechecks now that I have a few miles on it and having them replace the accelerator pedal and linkage with a Lokar setup as it was binding.

I'm a researcher at heart so have read a lot of posts and articles, but being as unique (AND AWESOME) as we are there is was much out there as say Mustang or other models.

Any input or thoughts are welcome.

Thanks so much

Dan
San Diego, CA

[SASSY]

Not sure where you are with install of all them parts but if you want to drive it.
Front disc brakes, a good wheel alignment and drive it.
They don't need to be power brakes and there are threads hee in drivetrain to assist you.

[tomb22]

Your set up sounds a lot like mine. I have the Viking coil overs on the front of mine also. I also installed a 1 1/8" sway bar up front and rack and pinion steering. I got some Granada spindles off ebay for disk brakes up front also. Out back I installed my own triangulated 4 link using Viking coil overs there to. I love how it drives and the shocks are totally adjustable for the ride you want. I could really tell the difference after installing the bigger sway bar when going around corners.
Tom

[YotaMaster]

Thanks that helps.

It has power drum brakes on all 4 corners at the moment. I definitely will be looking to do a front disc conversion on it.

I will for sure check out a thicker sway bar up front. With your 4 link are you running a rear sway bar? They removed mine when installing the rear setup. I will do some reading up on the Granada spindles as well, did you use all Granada parts for the brakes?

[YotaMaster]

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... S80aA1-pK4

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... fWR6Ue5WxA

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... E0TYTOKNgy

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... 3UZoA7xE8K

[poboyjo65]

Thanks that helps.

It has power drum brakes on all 4 corners at the moment. I definitely will be looking to do a front disc conversion on it.

I will for sure check out a thicker sway bar up front. With your 4 link are you running a rear sway bar? They removed mine when installing the rear setup. I will do some reading up on the Granada spindles as well, did you use all Granada parts for the brakes?

Is this a factory V8 car? (you can tell by the 5th digit in the vin) if so you have spindles that will accept Kelsey Hayes factory mustang discs or repros of them. lots of us use the repros by csrp or chockostang. both have good kits. I used the swap 1 manual brake kit from csrp ,it has everything you need except for new hard lines & brake fluid ;
https://www.discbrakeswap.com/Mustang%2 ... TALOG.html
if you do have a factory v8 car using granada spindles & brakes would be a downgrade IMO & may slightly affect steering. yes it is an upgrade for the older cars or 6 cyl cars but 65 V8 manual steering is better & can be upgraded with most any aftermarket mustang parts later on.

I have the 1 1/8th front swaybar & with subframe connectors. it stays flat on curves & doesn't need a rear swaybar

[YotaMaster]

Right on, TY Poboyjo65 (and all for that matter). I will check the vin soon as I get home tonight. I ordered a 1 1/8" sway bar last night lol, perfect to know I won't need to worry about a rear.

I wanted to ask for input on power vs manual brakes. I've read everyone runs pretty much manual brakes with the disk conversion. I've also read some run power brakes as well with no problem. I already have power brakes in the car with drum on all four corners. I'm kind of thinking if it isn't broke don't fix it, so thinking of keeping the power brakes with the front disc conversion. Definitely looking forward to getting home and figuring out that code now so I can see what kits are available now that the TCI kit had to go back (and to be honest that install cost was kind of making me take pause to LoL). Any thoughts are input on the brake setup is definitely welcome as well.

Once again thank you everyone for the input. I love forums and I love the people in them. I'm a member of many from hobbies to different cars that I own and have always found the classic car/custom car scene forms tend to have the best people, maybe it's just cuz we're all getting old so it's where all the cool kids hang out now I don't know, but that's my story and I'm stickin to it..

[poboyjo65]

If that tci kit was a Mustang ii kit IMO would not be your best choice.If you need room for a big block maybe . You can bolt on mustang performance parts cheaper & can probably do most of it yourself. & for less than what you were quoted you could build a frontend built for racing which would be great for street too. Open tracker has a nice kit,as well as lots of other parts, & lots info ,good customer service from what I've heard, I've bought from them but never talked with them.
This one has adjustable UCA's making it lots easier to align ,& modern alignment shops can do it ;
https://opentrackerracing.com/shop/stre ... er-system/
but lots of stuff out there for the early mustangs.

On the brakes, I couldn't see the MC in your , but if it is factory single bowl mc & you add a duel for disc you may have clearance problems with the shocktower using the factory power booster. & if it is still single bowl you need to go with duel for safety .

Changing from factory PB to manual will cause some issues at the firewall too, I should mention. each has a slightly different mounting location. some threads on here somewhere we can find if you go that route, always helps knowing ahead of time.

[SASSY]

Sometimes we forget what Shelby did with early Mustang which is almost the same as 65 Comet.
Think I'd put the handling of a GT 350 up against anything with a M2 front suspension,,,,, wasn't that originally put in a Pinto!?

[poboyjo65]

Sometimes we forget what Shelby did with early Mustang which is almost the same as 65 Comet.
Think I'd put the handling of a GT 350 up against anything with a M2 front suspension,,,,, wasn't that originally put in a Pinto!?

exactly Fred! that's how Roy said it to me, won more races than most any other car, especially pintos & Mii's then figure in almost 60 years of aftermarket research & development. & like that Craig guy with that raced & daily drove the green 63 falcon on tffn said. with an Mii you get what you get & not much you can do to improve it but always better stuff & more coming out all the time for early stang frontends

[Jims65cyclone]

Changing from factory PB to manual will cause some issues at the firewall too, I should mention. each has a slightly different mounting location. some threads on here somewhere we can find if you go that route, always helps knowing ahead of time.

If I recall correctly, doesn't the MC pushrod connect to the brake pedal at a different location, too? That was required because of the difference in location of the MC on the firewall, and the need for the pushrod to be aligned properly with the MC.

Jim

[YotaMaster]

Here's pics of the MC. It's a newer dual style

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ekX1zP ... p=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h44tAj ... p=drivesdk

Here is the ID plate

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C8TbwO ... p=drivesdk

ID reads - 5H23A515***

Reading this right it is a v8 car from Oakland. But I'm a little confused by the motor code. If I'm reading it right it says it's a 390 and I'm not able to find a transmission code 6 anywhere only up to five.

[poboyjo65]

here ya go;
https://www.mercurystuff.com/1965-comet ... ation.html
says 3 sp auto
A code engine is 289 4bbl - 225hp
Is it factory power steering?
good that you have the skinny aftermarket booster but I think you will probably need a new MC for disc,I think they are different from drum to disc.

[YotaMaster]

Yes it is power steering as well.

This all has been some fantastic info. The project list is ever growing already lol. Huge thanks for the info on the spindles, that puts me in the right direction for sure.