Well, I decided it was time to upgrade my ?66 Coupe. Nothing fancy, no blowers or NOS (yet). Anyway, every old car like this needs better suspension, brakes, and steering before adding more power. This is a daily driver street car, and certainly not a race car. I also didn?t want to spend millions for minimal results. I had some free time and empty garage space while the Cobra is in Paint Shop Prison, so now?s the time.
Next up, got to improve the factory power steering system. It?s heavy, bulky, takes a lot of power to run, and leaks all over the place. And the power assist doesn?t work all that well. It was all rebuilt (except the gear box) about 12 years ago, but it?s still old technology and replacement parts weren?t that good then. The system wasn?t bad, but it wandered a lot and had a pretty vague feel to it. Plus, that hydraulic system sucked a lot of power out of the engine.
There are a variety of options available now. The Mustang II set up is probably the hot ticket. No shock towers, lower CG, no strut arm, better A-arms and bushings, and huge disc brakes. But that?s a lot of very careful work, needs to be done with the engine out, and costs around $2500-3000?ish, depending on how much work you can do yourself. Best done during a total overhaul. Great set up, but more involved than I want to get right now. The Fat Man Fabrications kit is also very nice. Provides an advanced suspension system with modern parts and brakes, but still essentially a bolt on operation. It also requires that you scrounge up and rebuild a few parts from a late model Mustang; something I didn?t really feel like doing. . It is a little expensive, costing around $3-3.5K total with rebuilt/new brake parts and steering rack.
So, again, I called Mustangs Plus, and had them send me their Flaming River bolt on R&P kit. Cost was about $1300?ish. It?s a simple bolt on, right? Actually, it almost was. To start with, the instructions stink. Much worse than an FFR assembly manual. I struggled until I tossed them and did it my way. Much easier after that.
Again, disassembly can be a pain. The worst part is removing the steering box. This is a ?66, the gear box and shaft are one piece all the way up to the steering wheel; affectionately referred to as the ?Thoracic Impaler?. In a front end collision, guess where that rod ends up? You got it. That?s a good reason to get rid of it.
Once you remove the column cover, you have this big hole in the firewall with a 3 foot greasy, nasty steel rod poking through it and a heavy box hanging from the end. The instructions in the kit are pretty simple, and the service manual is just as easy. Remove the pitman arm. Remove the 3 bolts attaching the box to the frame. Remove the steering box assembly from the car. Wow, how hard can this be?
What they don?t tell you is that you have to jack up the engine to get the box between the frame rails and exhaust manifold. OK, no big deal. Remove the bolts and jack up the engine a couple of inches. No sweat. Now, you have this 3 ½ foot chunk of steel to try and maneuver out of the car. Not happening. The instruction manual and the magazine articles show this in a car with a rag joint, or the engine is removed. With the engine in, there?s no way this is coming out whole; no matter how much time you spend wrestling with it. Fortunately, I own a Sawzall. Do you know why it?s called that? Because it does. Even a Mustang steering shaft. Once you do that, it almost falls on your head, so be careful. The box is trash, but I?m sure I can use the shaft for something.
Now everything is out, and time to install the new stuff. It?s a simple bolt on, right? What a nightmare. I installed the steering column, and marked the location for the floor plate screws. Took it all back out, drilled the holes as marked, and tried to install those crappy sheet metal screws they supply. Again, not happening. So I drilled the holes bigger, and installed threaded inserts. That worked great. Let me tell you, you have to be a real contortionist to get that column in and out 2-3 times. Right now, arson was sounding like a good idea.
About this time, I started thinking about the wiring. The instructions don?t mention that until last. That?s wrong. It should be done first, as soon as all the old parts are out. Trying to make those connections with the column in the way is almost impossible. So out comes the column ? again. Hey, I?m getting good at this! And I traced down all the correct wires, soldered them together, and plugged it all in. With the column lying on the floor nothing worked. No horn or turn signals. Crap! Now it?s time to trace back all my connections and circuits, go over the schematic a fifth time, and try and figure this out. No, it was time to quit for the day before that arson thing came up again.
The next day, I was back at it. I spent an hour or two retracing all the circuits, and checking every connection. Provided two new ground circuits, nothing. Everything looked perfect! Nothing wrong anywhere. What?s the deal here? Very Frsutrating. I think I started making up my own sear words. Then, I got a wild hair and pulled out the 4 way flasher switch. Now everything works. Maybe that little tid bit should have been in the instruction set. ?Again, information I could have used yesterday!?
OK, so now the I have the new tilt column bolted in, adjusted, and wired correctly. Looks and feels pretty good; but I think Flaming River needs to work on their columns a bit. I don?t know what kind of bearings they use, but they are not as smooth and quiet as they should be. Installation of the horn button is done with a standard Grant adapter kit, so no big deal there.
But now it?s time to crawl underneath and start the bolt on process. The cradle almost fits as advertised. The instructions tell you about two small frame tabs that need to be trimmed about 1/8?. Sure enough, there they are - 2 minutes with a grinder and you?re set. What they don?t tell you about is the interference higher up in the shock tower. So you have to put the cradle in and out a few times until you get it just right. Then it really does bolt right up to the frame rails. The holes actually matched!
So you bolt the rack to the cradle, set the cradle in place, and measure for the DD shaft. Measure twice and cut once. Actually, measure four times and cut once, that DD shaft is expensive. So now you have wrestle it all together. Insert one end of the DD shaft in the U-joint at the end of the steering column, and then try to get the other end into the U-joint on the rack. Oh, and did I mention that you need to hold the rack up by hand while you?re doing this? Remember, the DD shaft goes in the middle, so you can?t just bolt in the cradle, then insert the shaft. It?s a struggle, but it can be done.
Great! Now just tighten down the bolts on the frame rails, and we?re in the home stretch. Guess again, Pony Breath. Not so fast. This is where I discover that right side retainer bracket hits the starter motor. I had to take it all apart, modify the bracket, then paint it, then re-install everything. It?s easier the second and third time around; you get the hang of it.
OK, so now it?s all installed. It?s simply a matter of installing the tie rod ends to the correct width, attaching to the spindles, and you?re done. Did I say done? What was I thinking? The ads and the instructions say to use the original tie rod ends. Great! Mine are pretty new, so I?ll just use them ? save time and money. However, there?s the fine print. On a P/S car, you have to use two right side tie rod ends; the left side is different and doesn?t work. Now you tell me! So I have to order the part from AZ; takes another day.
On the final day, I installed both tie rod ends, put the wheels back on, set the toe in, and went for a drive. Wow, what an improvement. The old system wasn?t bad, but it was pretty old. Straight line tracking and corners are a dream now. It feels even lighter than the original set up. Turn the wheel just a little, and that?s where it goes. No wandering at all. It?s a new car. Still too much caster so parking lots are a little tough, but an alignment tomorrow will fix that.
Would I do it all again? Maybe. Sure is an improvement in handling and braking. It was pretty expensive, close to $1500. It was also a real bear of a job. I wouldn?t volunteer to do that again. But it sure would be easier on the second car Last year I rebuilt the front end with all new parts. And last spring I rebuilt the rear suspension, welding in Shelby traction bars and sub frame connectors. Now the old girl really drives nice. Almost as good as a new car, but much better looking and cheaper.
So what?s next? Probably rebuild the differential, that?s nearly 40 years old and sounds terrible. The engine/trans is pretty good ? using the old fashioned
302/C4 combo; all overhauled 12 years ago. Strong and reliable, but nothing to get excited about. So, 5.0? Blower? Big block? Stroker? Nah, to bland, too ordinary. I?m trying to get my hands on a 4 cyl turbo with AOD out of a Thunderbird TurboCoupe. Now that would be a fun swap. Plenty of power, light weight, good fuel mileage, easy to drive. Keeping my eyes open for a good donor car.