1970 Mustang AJE front suspension conversion.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. I worked on it last night until 12am last night then 12 hours at work today and we welded the major stuff tonight. Beer-thirty now.

Finished up the mounts, bars, lower radiator support, etc. Cleaned the edges up and threw a can of paint on it. Its to glossy so I'll go back with some semi flat black. I'll be assembling the front end this weekend and take some more pictures. The car will go to a guy Monday to get the two header tubes built, front end alignment and scale it....if I can get it all together this weekend.

Are you going to re-skin the tower & sides of the engine compartment, or leave it all open?

I was reading a magazine the other day and came across an ad that caught my eye and this thread came to mind. Fatman's fab has a complete bolt in kit to put struts under a 69-73 mustang and it also works on Torinos etc. It does away with the upper a arm and looks pretty slick. The other thing they have is a complete front end replacement for 65-68 mustangs. It replaces everything from the fire wall forward and is a strut front end. It accepts all engines and is really a nice piece. If I was building any of these models I would check them out!! Just wanted to let you know.

nice project! hope it turns out the way you want it

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Are you going to re-skin the tower & sides of the engine compartment, or leave it all open?

I'm going to leave it open. I hope I have enough bracing. The forward bars are welded to the outer side of the tower and the 1" tubes welded on the inside.
Future plans call for some A heads and complete custom headers. I'll probably end up adding extra tubes in then. One going diagonal from the top of the tower back to the bottom of the windshield/door bar. I still need to add a dash bar later so that would tie in to the midplate mount later like on the other thread.

jeffgfg wrote:I was reading a magazine the other day and came across an ad that caught my eye and this thread came to mind. Fatman's fab has a complete bolt in kit to put struts under a 69-73 mustang and it also works on Torinos etc. It does away with the upper a arm and looks pretty slick. The other thing they have is a complete front end replacement for 65-68 mustangs. It replaces everything from the fire wall forward and is a strut front end. It accepts all engines and is really a nice piece. If I was building any of these models I would check them out!!  Just wanted to let you know.

I may be wrong but if I remember the Fatman deal was north of $5000. I may be thinking of the company that has the aluminum k member for these cars.

NOS42 wrote:nice project! hope it turns out the way you want it

Biggest plus will be getting to the plugs now without having to use an open end wrench....and loosing 100-200 lbs.

Yup the complete replacement front clip for the 65-68 mustang is almost 5800.00 However the bolt in strut suspension for the 65-73 starts at only 1995.00 and looks like a heck of a deal. Like I said I was just letting everyone know that there are other options out there.

your gonna need a brace like the factory ones that went from the tower to the top of the firewall and or one going from tower to tower....... it will flex I promise.

richter69 wrote:your gonna need a brace like the factory ones that went from the tower to the top of the firewall and or one going from tower to tower....... it will flex I promise.

I still have the factory one that goes to the firewall. I saw a picture of your brace that went from tower to tower. I may do something like that.

The factory brace may be enough, just measure with it on all fours and front wheels in the air, mine had over 3/8" of deflection hence the bar added across the towers

richter69 wrote:The factory brace may be enough, just measure with it on all fours and front wheels in the air, mine had over 3/8" of deflection hence the bar added across the towers

Wow, with this setup that would change the alignment pretty good.

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Are you going to re-skin the tower & sides of the engine compartment, or leave it all open?

Hey Dave, if I don't reskin it.... Will it have a negative effect? I do have the carb sealed to the cowl towards the windshield. If needed,I would make some carbon fiber inserts to seal it up.

I finally got one side finished up on the AJE setup. The caliper bracket for one side wouldn't fit on and had to take a hair out of it to fit on the spindle. Then the bolt holes wouldn't line up. I called AJE and they said 2 bolts would be fine to hold it. Those 2 bolt holes were a hair off also so I deburred them some to line up. These are a countersunk head to fit in so they had to be pretty close. Then I ran a tap through them. The back side gets a lock nut. Its definitely not a bolt in. I will be giving them all this info as the guy that had this kit before me returned it. Hopefully this will help them out in the future.

Installed the struts with no pressure on the springs and cranked it up by hand. Kmember is 4" from the ground with no motor. All 4 wheels on the ground now and rolls much easier compared to the old stuff. I'm    so far.  

70FB wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Are you going to re-skin the tower & sides of the engine compartment, or leave it all open?

Hey Dave, if I don't reskin  it.... Will it have a negative effect? I do have the carb sealed to the cowl towards the windshield. If needed,I would make some carbon fiber inserts to seal it up.

If extra tube bracing isn't welded into the tower after the towers are trimmed back to help support the vehicle weight the tower caps have to carry (primary loading), then the open side really should be closed back up/re-skinned to help support the tower cap. One method or the other needs to be done when the towers are trimmed back (or both methods could be done together).

But adding back the missing sheetmetal won't really reduce the amount the towers might flex in/out (secondary loading). That's the reason for using the OEM (or tube) firewall braces and/or a cross brace like Jon mentioned.

Engine plate and spacers finished up. I can start making my brackets to go from the forward bar to the engine plate now.

Engine plate is sitting on the frame and has two bolts on each side through a piece of angle iron welded down. I'll make a bracket to attach the forward bar to the engine plate up where they intersect at to stiffen things up.

Update

Rerouting everything that was on the inner fenders. Wiring,brake lines and solenoid. I still have to install the safety wire on the bolts that hold the rotor on. Flushing all the old brake fluid out and installing the shortened driveshaft. It ended up 1-3/8" back. Still have pinion angle and other stuff to do. I have just been working on the little irritating stuff lately while I have the engine out for the last time.

Finally took the cover off of her since December.

Engine is in for the final time. I have 1-1/2 degree difference between the tailshaft and driveshaft going down. 2 degrees on the pinion angle. Oil pan is sitting 1/4" off the rack. Bellhousing is against the wall almost. I had to make a new trans crossmember. Fox body headers still fit except the 2 tubes. Rewired entire car front to back. Still have some wiring, bleed brakes,longer radiator hoses, install dash, front end alignment, upper engine plate mounts, etc.. still a ways to go but the worst of it is done.

Did you have to drill any holes in the firewall to make it easier to get to the bell housing bolts? Or was there enough room?

I didn't have to drill any holes. I can get an open end wrench on the bellhousing bolts. One is a little hard to get started with the fingers.