1966 Ford Mustang - Project '66 - V8 Conversion - '65-'66 Six to V-8 Front Suspension Upgrade

6 Removing the old shocks shouldn't give you much trouble, but ours were trouble with a capital T. The bottom mounting studs of the shocks were stripped, causing the nut to just spin. The top mounting was secured with a nut inside the shock mounting cap, requiring the use of a second socket to hold the nut while removing the retaining bolts on top.

7 With the old shock out of the way, the spring can be further compressed until the spring is free of the spring perch and can be pulled away. Carefully release the spring on the ground.

8 Monday at 9 p.m. The kids were in bed and my wife said "no more loud noises in the garage." Time to close up shop with just the spring and shock removed. This could take awhile.

9 Continuing on Tuesday night, I got started earlier-around 6:30. I wanted to get the remainder of the old suspension off tonight. Remove the upper and lower ball joint cotter pins and loosen the 71/48-inch castle nuts several turns, but do not remove them.

10 As with the tie-rod end, a hammer is called into play to separate the upper and lower ball joints from the spindle. A pickle fork could be used as well since we aren't saving any of the components.

11 The complete upper control arm is removed once the ball joint is free of the spindle. Carefully remove the alignment shims, and keep them indexed for reinstallation. You will still need an alignment when you're finished, but the old shims will get you in the ballpark.

12 With the upper control arm out of the way, the spindle and brake assembly can be removed from the lower control arm. We set aside the six-cylinder parts since we aren't reusing them, and we simply cut the old brake hoses for quick removal.

13 The strut rod retaining hardware can be a bear if your Mustang is/was a northern car. We soaked our strut rod retaining nuts in penetrating oil the night before, and it paid off with easy removal.

14 The strut rod is then removed from the lower control arm. The '65-'66 strut rods have the steering stops as separate pieces (arrow), whereas the '67-and-later have the steering stop as an integral part of the rod. Notice too that we've removed the sway bar endlink.

15 A pivot bolt in the engine stand/frame brace retains the lower control arm. To remove the bolt, however, you may have to unbolt the No. 2 crossmember to allow clearance for removal of the pivot bolt.

16 The stock six-cylinder sway bar is unbolted from the framerail and tossed into the pile of old parts in favor of the V-8-friendly Magna 1-inch front sway bar.

17 With all the old six-cylinder suspension removed, the inner fender panels needed some attention. The 35-year-old undercoating was scraped off, and fresh paint and undercoating was applied. By 10:30 p.m., we called it a night.