Sorry to hear that.  My template from Daze was spot on.  It was my drilling skills that lacked.  I shattered two 1/2 inch bits (one per side).  Ended up warbling the holes to get a final fit.  Nothin's ever easy I guess.

I know Daze is a straight up guy. I bought my whole hydraulic clutch setup from him. I dunno, maybe the open tracker uca is the issue. Tomorrow I'll try and fit the other one from the set and see if it fits differently. Should have done that tonight. I suppose I was feeling just a bit overwhelmed. Although I did try to fit the old control arm in the new holes and it wouldn't fit either.

I dunno, nothing seemed to be too far out to be concerned with at the time, but I felt like it was a trainwreck I couldn't seem to do anything about, it just kept getting worse and worse. My son was working with me and he felt the same way. I feel like if it was WAY off I would have been better off, I would have stopped, but I kept feeling like I had it figured out and a little persuasion would get it done, and ....

Well, if it it's the uca, not much I can do now after hitting on it and cutting the bolt/nut. I'll get the new bolt in it, and get it mounted in the holes as they are now, and I guess I feel confident this little horror show will be over. 

Thanks,

Bob

Last edited by rbtconsultants (9/07/2013 10:57 PM)

I think that daze his plates will be spot on to fit but

i used aluminium plates that i made myself,but they are not the best for fine fitment

thats way i make them in steel (lasercut)

Just want to add my 2 cents. Got plates from Daze and used them on 65 and other set of 68. Both types perfect.I used a 1/2 in drill, no bit problems.

Thanks for the thoughts. I guess the idea of the 17/32 bit led me to believe everything was supposed to have very tight tolerances.  If, in fact, the hole actually needs a little slack to allow for alignment, that makes sense.

At this point I believe I suffered from small variance in the template, the uca, my drilling precision, compounded by my belief everything had very tight tolerances. If I had it to do over again (which I do), I'll be a little more relaxed on tolerances and git 'er done.

Oh,and I drilled from the fender side. 

Any tips on getting the old bolt out of the pivot arm?  Will a BFH suffice?

Thanks,

Bob

Last edited by rbtconsultants (9/08/2013 10:39 AM)

The distance (center line) between the pivot shaft bolts on a '65/'66 Mustang is 3.750". The distance between the pivot shaft bolts on a '67-'73 Mustang has a 1" wider spacing at 4.750".

The pivot shaft bolts have splines on them (just under the heads) and are pressed into the shaft. When removing the nuts, the heads of the pivot shaft bolts should be backed up with a wrench to prevent the bolts from spinning inside the holes in the shaft. If the pivot bolts turn, then it tears the splines off the bolts. --the bolts in the pivot shaft of the spring perches and the bolts on the trailing ends of the strut rods are also splined.

'65/'66 Mustang upper control arms utilize shims between the A-arm pivot shaft and the shock tower to set alignment. '67-'73 Mustangs do not use shims. Alignment is set by rotating the eccentric at the inner pivot of the lower control arms.

In the case of a '67-'73 Mustang, keeping the pivot bolt hole tolerances tighter, when lowering the A-arms, is more important than on '65/'66 models because they don't need the extra give for the installation of shims.

Mine were done on my '69 back in the '80s, before templates were invented.  A friend who had done his Falcon did mine with string with a nut tied to it and a diagram from a magazine or maybe the Boss 302 chassis guide.  With the original control arms and pivot shafts it was tight putting the control arm on the car.  Fast forward to the late 2000s and new aftermarket control arms and shafts.  Still a tight fit butt the attaching bolts were too short.  I don't know why. Pro Motorsports sells longer bolts for this application. so it is a problem for some.  As I recall with a washer there were no threads extending past the nut and that's why I had to use the longer bolts.  The bolts you are getting from AMK could be too short, just sayin'.

Mine worked Great from Daze also.  I also bought his bit and I just used my whole drill bit set and step it up one until I got to Dazes Bit.  Takes more time but it saves on the bits and makes sure its right on.  Did you try installing your old UCA to see how that fit after you drilled your holes?

Steve69

And to top it all off... the new Global West UCAs I just installed have 5/8" bolts!!!  Those little Harbor Freight step drills are your best friend for this.  Who has a 5/8" drill bit or a drill big enough to turn it?

On the first side, I used a file to enlarge the holes.  Then I saw the step drill, which I never think to use.  It went through it in 10 seconds.  I would rather use one of those than a series of twist drills now.

I also use the Daze template with no issues.

Greg B wrote:

How many people have done this drop and then welded up the old holes?   Maybe we need to come up  with a good way to mark this area so future owners down the line x years from now dont try to do this mod a second time without knowing it was done.  

Maybe a market for a template that allows the owner to know if this mod has been previously done?  

We not only need to think about these cars here and now, but to help future owners with POS and mods.  

My thought for the day......

On my car I used a simple and effective method to mark it so future owners know this mod has been done... left the original holes.

I have used Daze's templates to do the shelby drop on my '67 and two '66 mustangs and found them to be spot on.
 

Last edited by Michael H. (9/09/2013 12:26 PM)

MustangSteve wrote:

And to top it all off... the new Global West UCAs I just installed have 5/8" bolts!!!  Those little Harbor Freight step drills are your best friend for this.  Who has a 5/8" drill bit or a drill big enough to turn it?

On the first side, I used a file to enlarge the holes.  Then I saw the step drill, which I never think to use.  It went through it in 10 seconds.  I would rather use one of those than a series of twist drills now.

 
X-2 on the step bits!
Same here....I almost never remember to use them!!
6s6