Many times the novice or even experienced rodder looks upon something they've never done before with more than a little trepidation. Installing a Mustang II kit might seem like a daunting task to some, but it's really very easy. There are a lot of people manufacturing these kits today and it's not the purpose of this exercise to recommend one kit over another. What these instructions will attempt to do is illustrate the installation of a typical Mustang II suspension.
Step 1 These are the parts that will be included in the typical kit. A crossmember, spring tower
top hats, boxing plates (if required), and strut rod mounting brackets. This kit included
Cnotch pieces which will be explained later.
Step 2 Here are all the parts required to install the entire suspension. Besides the basic kit, the upper and lower control arms, strut rods, spindles, GM 11" disk brakes, calipers and mounting brackets, a set of V-8 coil springs and shocks. It may seem like a lot but not to worry, all are available either at your local wrecking yard or new from one of the many suppliers. In this case, the lower control arms and strut rods were purchased at a swap meet. Everything else is either new or factory rebuilt. Total cost for what you see here was around a $1,000.
Step 3 In preparation for installation, the front sheet metal, original straight six and transmission has been removed with the solid axle still in place.
Step 4 Once the original solid axle, springs & mounting brackets are removed, the frame rails can be degreased and ground clean of rust. This frame will be coated with POR-15 which adheres best to a rusted surface, so only the areas where welding will be taking place, will be ground to bare metal.
Step 5 The boxing plates are fitted into position and clamped in place. Some minor grinding of the plates may be necessary to allow for a perfect fit. The plates on this installation needed to have a little metal removed from the front lower area to fit properly over a small section of the stock front crossmember. Most kits will supply you with a set of comprehensive written instructions which will show where everything goes. Always measure twice, clamp in place and measure again before welding.
Step 6 Total time to fit and weld the boxing plates was about an hour. A simple flux core Mig welder was used throughout this installation and after all the work was done, the welds were ground to improve their appearance. When using a flux core Mig welder, it's difficult to lay a pretty bead, plus they tend to spatter alot which makes for messy welding. Using gas will produce a much prettier weld, but unless you're building a show car, it isn't really necessary.
Step 7 On this particular installation, the crossmember is located 18-1/8" behind the centerline of the front spring shackle hole. A straight edge was clamped in place through the center of the hole & a metal yardstick was used to measure back from that location. Measure twice and mark the location on the frame. Then, measure again. Before any measuring was done, the truck was set up on jack stands, so it was level front to rear and side to side. All measuring was done horizontally and vertically based on this layout.
Step 8 Here is the crossmember in place prior to welding. Some minor grinding may be necessary just like the boxing plates to get it to fit perfectly. Prior to installing the crossmember I laid out the marks for the
Cnotches in the frame which will be located a few inches forward of the center of the new crossmember.