How To Suspension Detail on '71-'73 Mustangs

After we got the Mach 1 home, we took out the steering box bolts one at a time, bead-basted them, and then painted the washer edge closest to the framerail. We then reinstalled them, torqued them to spec, and painted the heads with the detail gray.

Though there are two things to look at here, we are going to concentrate only on the strut rod in this photo. This is one place where we did not use urethane parts. We feel that the rubber with its additional give is better for a street car such as this. The rods were painted with detail gray.

We retained our front lower control arm, thinking it was the original. Bob Perkins set us straight, however. These are probably Ford replacements, due to the jacking stands (arrow). Perkins informed us that the correct style would have had bumps where the stands are-oh, well. We still moved ahead and did the half-paint thing. The back half is Martin Senour semigloss black, while the bearing end is detail gray. We left the adjusters (not shown)unpainted for now. Since the suspension will have to be worked on, we figured that it would be best to paint it after the alignment.

Our pitman arm was the original and bore a Ford D1ZE part number, so we wanted to reuse it. National Parts Depot has a nice arm available, as well as rebuild kits that will allow you to keep your original. We just removed the old rubber and used a hacksaw to cut the sleeve in two places. We then pried out the sleeve.

Afterward, we pressed in the new front bushing (TRW PN 12253) using our bench vise and a large socket. Make sure that the socket, arm, and bushing are centered up, and then slowly apply pressure. We also used some light machine oil to help the bushing slide into the same depth as our original.

After it was finished, we used some Must for Rust and found a pink paint mark surrounding the arm. We bead-blasted the arm, and then taped off the area that was originally golden cad and painted the arm with spray gray. Then, we applied the pink stripe.

The pitman arm was retained by locking nuts that were red iridite. This was probably done to differentiate the special nut from the rest of the ones used on the car. The bolt was painted detail gray and the nut is a correct nut available from AMK.

Incredibly, our outer tie rods were Ford replacements that, as with the originals, lacked the zerk fitting. The inner tie rods were originals that lacked the zerk as well. Where the zerk would be there is an "8" stamped into the metal. The tie rod was painted detail gray and the adjuster sleeve was sprayed spray gray. The white mark was on the sleeve and Perkins confirmed that this was not roadway paint but a factory mark.

Before reassembly, we greased the tie rods, and then replaced the boots. The castellated nuts were bead-blasted, tapped, and painted Testors silver after installation. To make our lives easier, we used a die on the tie-rod threads as well. If you are planning to do your own assembly on your Mustang, we highly recommend a tap-and-die set. Though not visible in this shot, there were pink marks at both holes for the inner tie rods.

Some of our hidden handiwork is shown here. We used NAPA end links, and though they aren't exactly factory, they are nice. We didn't use the correct rubber, however. Instead, we used Energy Suspension bushings to tighten up the handling.

The centerlink bushings are cut down Energy Suspension items. AutoKrafters has urethane bushings in the works that will fit into stock brackets such as these. The bracket was bead-blasted and painted with detail gray, as were the bolts, though we waited and painted the bolts after they were installed.

The bar was painted POR-15 semigloss black. The Mustang Club of America rules we have (1996) state that the bar should be natural. Ours seemed to be painted semigloss, so we used the POR-15 in this highly sandblasted area. The two stripes are Testors gloss green and yellow and are the correct colors for the Competition Suspension sway bar.

You might have noticed in the previous shot that one side is incorrectly bolted. Well, it is. We returned it to this configuration, just as it was when we disassembled it.

Our brake lines were installed as the suspension went in. We used Eastwood's Nyalic on the NPD brake-hose brass pieces. The Inline Tube solid lines are stainless and even have the correct dichromate finish. It is best to bolt the hose to the solid line, and then bolt the unit to the framerail.

In the engine bay, we used the original grommet and solid-line brass connector to tie the firewall lines to the shock tower lines. This piece was brushed in Nyalic as well. As with the frame-mounted lines, these should not be fully tightened until the brass piece is tightened.

OK, so it isn't the suspension, but this is what the firewall lines should look like on a '72 Mach 1. Several cars we have seen have the fuel-vapor return line in front of the brake lines, so we chose to do this as shown because of the potential for rubbing.

Even though we are tightening the brake lines up here, what we wanted you to see was where another pink paint mark goes. Since Ford used the same suspension components on cars with or without power steering, the color codes are the same. The upper control arm got a splotch of pink paint on the ball-joint cover (arrow).

Ready to roll. The front suspension and brakes are now complete on Lazarus. All that remains is the rear suspension. From there, we tackle the interior!