Shelby drop for handling.
Borgeson for steering.  Does away with the sloppy ford power steering.
Moog tie rods, Idler arm best quality.
Dr. Gas 620 progressive lowering springs.
Bilstein shocks.
I have the above and am very happy with the ride and handling.

I did my suspension a couple years back. Going by my experience on my car. First, take some time and really understand the basics of handling and what you're looking for. The Arning drop is the single best thing you can do. It's basically free. If you did nothing else, this is the one thing to do and it makes a big difference. It takes away that plowing feel and gives more of that go cart feel. The whole idea of the Arning drop is you want the upper ball joint higher then the upper control arm mounting location basically. This gives you that negative camber curve. It also raises the roll center which is a imaginary axis that the front of the car wants to roll on. The higher it is the more stable to a point. As far as all the components, obviously you want them in tip top shape. Going into the $$$ stuff. Definately good shocks. Something like Koni or Bilstein or equally good quality. They do make a difference. I'm very fond of adjustable struts. The main reason it takes away the squishiness of the rubber biscuits. The compress erratically which changes caster, camber and toe. With the rod ends on the struts, they act consistently no matter what. No matter how hard you brake or don't. Next up, improved spring pearches, either the roller bearing Opentracker sell or the other ones with Delran bushings. I have the Opentracker roller bearing version. I believe they make the car ride better and will outlast the stock rubber bushing replacement. Off course a 1" front bar. You do not need a rear bar. Leaf springs unlike coil springs do provide some amount of anti roll properties. I would recommend making the range of caster and camber as large as you can. The adjustable struts help but a word of caution I'll get to. The adjustable struts are good for extra caster on 65/66 cars besides the shims used. On 67 & later they'll allow more accurate and easier caster adjustment. 67 & later do not use shims but there is no reason why you could not use them to add more caster. On 65/66 cars camber is set with shims but you start to run into a compromise between caster and camber. Opentracker sells a camber kit for 65/66 cars. It's not expensive but you will have to do some welding. The problem with these cars is a lack of range for caster and camber. Using what I said will give you more options. These cars seem to drive really nice with 3* positive caster and .5* negative camber

Now the spendy stuff. Roller bearings! My whole front suspension is Street or Track. Everything is bearing. Do you need it? No. But what it does bring to the table is a whole new world of driving experience. Ride is improved significantly You're not getting stored energy in bushings that resist movement then snap back. You get a more supple and compliant ride. You get a very precise feel. You do not get a harsh ride or noisy ride. My warning on the adjustable struts before was about the stock lower arm rubber bushing. This bushing takes a beating between going up and down and as well as following the arc of the strut rod. Tighten up on the strut for extra caster, you'll wear the lower bushing out quicker. With the bearing in the lower arm, it allows free movement in all directions and adding extra caster is a non issue. I also have a roller bearing idler arm. Some people say it's a waste of money and a waste of time and not needed. Is a $10K paint job a waste of money and not needed? To me it is. I do not regret for one second what I did nor would I do much if anything different. I am not a rich person, this was hard earned money from selling a lot of scrap!

Bottom line, you can make your car drive and handle really well cheaply. You can make improvements as you decide. These cars were designed for bias tires and the old alignment specs are even worse when used with radial tires. Make the suspension as adjustable as you can IMO. My last $.02 and this is highly, highly recommend from my experience. Buy a caster/camber gauge and learn to do your own alignment. Don't know how? What makes you think the car at the chain tire store does on these cars? They only work on strut. It's not hard and really worth it! I learned to do my own.

Oh, I wanted to add something about the Arning drop. It won't put the susension into a negative camber curve with stock arms. It will improve the curve and make it better then what it was. The problem is the angle of the ball joint on the stock arm. Any more then 1" and you'll break the ball joint. After market arms will allow to lower the arms even more but for the street, I don't think you'll need it. It also has side effects such as lowering the car. The Arning drop will lower the front by about 5/8" due to the increased distance between the 2 spring mounting points. it will or can have more effect of bump steer too as you start to lower the car more.

Last edited by Huskinhano (9/25/2017 2:09 PM)

Based on my recent experience with diy wheel alignment I would definetly go with roller spring perches and adjustable struts. Another thing I am considering is adjustable upper control arms. I am just starting to research it myself so that is just a suggestion. Other than that I'll repeat what has already been said. Quality parts and the Shelby drop.

Same as above butt..........go manual steering!
These cars AIN'T that heavy and unless you have modified the front to hold big "road-packer tires" you can't put a front tire on it that makes it hard to turn. (even when parallel parking..as soon as the car MOVES the steering gets EZ'r and manageable.)OR a 429 "shotgun"/Boss/SOHC engine.
Manual steering boxes don't normally leak either!!!
6s6

The problem with manual steering is that most people don't know how to. It sounds silly but it's true. There's a art to it. Just like 6sally6 said. Have the car moving, even slightly. Next, watch your tire pressure. You know pretty quick when a tire starts to get soft. We've just got to complacent about everything with automatic this and that. We no longer do a physical inspection, get personal with the car.

Again as 6sally6 said, these cars are light. About 800 to 1000 pounds lighter and that's significant. When less weight, you don't need as much assist with anything if at all. With less weight and improved suspension, you don't need as big of a tire either. I run 215/60/15 and I'm fine with them. I have a 16:1 box, 4° caster along with a roller bearing idler arm and fresh high quality synthetic grease in the steering box, it's quite easy driving. Even at lower speed parking, it's not a problem. How much time do you actually spend parallel parking?

My 66 is all manual for a reason. It's refreshing to drive something that really puts you in touch with what the car is doing.

Pass on the manual steering.  If I want to drive something I'm in that much touch with I have a '17 Model T.  Manual spark advance adds a whole other dimension to driving.

I had manual for years.  That's what the car had.  I had all the parts to convert it to power, but having driven a couple cars that had the factory setup I decided not to convert it.  The factory system was leak prone and provided WAY too much assist, leaving the car numb with no road feel or feedback.

20+ yeas later you've got options.  The R&P setups are IMO a waste of money.  By the time you're done you could easily have $3k+ in a setup like that, and a lot of them increase your turning circle.  But, the Borgeson setup can be had for about $1k, is a straightforward install, maintains factory turning radius, and offers enough assist, but not too much.  Winner, winner...you know the rest.

After considerable research I'm not sold on all the roller bearing stuff either.  The concern for me is that roller bearings are meant to turn through full revolutions constantly.  That's how they stay lubricated and keep from wearing out.  BUT, suspension arms don't move like that.  Those bearings only see partial rotation.  My concern would be wear in short order.  I love the idea of removing bind, just not sold on the method.

Anything with heim joints faces the same problem, so the whole tubular arms with heims as attachment points I'd pass on as well. 

In truth, the Shelby drop makes a huge difference.  You aren't going to see a huge ride height reduction from it though.  Dropping the upper A arms 1" doesn't drop the ride height 1".  The spring sits on the hypotenuse of a triangle and you are in effect altering the length of one side of that triangle, so the result is a slight reduction in ride height, but not the full distance.  You might see 3/8" drop.  If you want to change ride height do it with the springs.

In general, the suspension is an area where you can easily tie up $10k dollars without making the car handle markedly better than a car where $2k was spent.  The key is matched parts and sensible mods that have been known to work for 50 years instead of opening your checkbook an assuming that expensive parts must be better than lightly modified stock ones.  The path of matched springs and shocks, good bushings, matched sway bars, and good bushings & ball joints takes you to the same destination as a complete $10k Total Control front and rear suspension system. 

Oh, and without chassis stiffness any suspension work is pretty much a waste of time.  Subframe connectors should be #1 on your suspension to do list.  Then Monte Carlo bar, export brace, etc. 

I concur Tom. I believe the kicker is using quality rod ends.

Steve69 wrote:

I have a Street or Track coil over in my 69 Mustang.  Its good but I don't feel its worth the price for the ride quality it has.  It rides rough.   I  even swapped the 450 springs with 400 springs and its a little better.   I also have a Unisteer rack.  If I was starting from scratch I would go with Shelby Drop and Oem Moog parts.  I would do Manual rack with Electric steering.  No matter what you do and how much $ you spend you still have a 50 year car that will never feel or drive like a newer car.   Heck my 2003 Mini Van handles better than my Mustang...LOL    Though most of the roads up in Wisconsin are Crap!   So that doesn't help either.  Steve69

 
I like the idea of the electric power steering especially if it has the manual selector so you could turn it off on the road turn it on to park. However my solution to parallel parking is to park somewhere else.

My home built coil over suspension with QA1 shocks,  350# front and 200# rear springs rides quite well imho on city streets and at 125 mph on the open road. For my car I certainly won't go to any stiffer spring up front.

I installed convertible inner rockers and one piece seat riser along with a 6 point roll bar with removable door bars. The convertible inner rockers and seat riser are mods I would highly recommend as they stiffened the chassis considerably.

Use a torque arm system for the rear.  Its superior to a four link without about the same cost and amount of work.

On the front, can't really help.  Total Control has a great rep, but their stuff also seems a bit pricey (could well be worth it though).  I'll let those who have done this conversion comment because I have no first hand experience. 

TCI, CorTex, and Chris Alston all make them.  I can't say that one is better or worse than another as I've no direct experience with these systems on early cars.  Fox and later Mustangs had a terribly designed factory four link (triangulated, no panhard rod) that made them dangerously handling cars at the limit.  3rd and 4th gen GM F-cars all had torque arms and you could run them right up to the limit without any fear, because they were totally predictable.  Maximum Motorsports, Griggs, and other started offering torque arm conversion systems for the Fox and SN95 cars many year ago, and we found it gave us the same great handling as the F-cars, but in a lighter car with more power.  Having studied suspension design for years I'm convinced that a TA system is the best, reasonable cost option for any solid axle street car looking for precise, confidence inspiring handling. 

I'm thinking about changing my rear end gears from 3:40's to 4;10 . what can I expect as far as acceleration and drivability ? I have a 66 mustang with a 302 and AOD tranny with 15 inch wheels .