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73 GTS upgrade advice needed |
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Compton 
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Joined: 22-April-2017 Location: Auckland Status: Offline Points: 629 |
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 Topic: 73 GTS upgrade advice neededPosted: 01-August-2020 at 3:35PM |
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hi...needing some info on upgrades for several areas...have done a site search and while info comes up theres an awful lot of unrelated topics to wade through
1: Brakes: as in am not in the US crown vic and other later model ford brake options are not easily achievable so am looking at aftermarket sets...currently have stock discs/drums combo...want to go to discs all round (13" front/12" rear drilled and slotted or the like) and would prefer either wilwood or baer...has anyone had experience with fitting these parts and what part numbers/problems etc...have no problems with making a mounting bracket etc 2. Suspension: looking to drop the nose by 3" (if possible) and the rear by 2"...want to keep the classic raked look...are drop spindles available and from where? what other components are around? Any other methods to achieve this...? In NZ we aren't allowed to cut springs and an auto engineer will be doing the certifying so has to be above board....have a poly bush kit and Spohn rear control arms to go in but what else is available? 3. Steering: is currently pretty sloppy and lazy...consensus seems to be a lares 841 box does wonders but these all seem to be unavailable...other options...? have a complete MOOG rebuild kit so that should help but want to replace everything while the car is apart... Any advice would be greatly appreciated...thanks...greg |
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Rockatansky
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Joined: 30-July-2010 Location: On The Road Status: Offline Points: 6072 |
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Posted: 02-August-2020 at 2:47AM |
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i've never heard of anyone using these drop spindles so let us know how it goes  |
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72 GT Ute
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72FordGTS
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GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 5848 |
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Posted: 02-August-2020 at 3:05AM |
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BRAKES You may have to contact him for details, as he doesn't have too much detail in his thread. He had to do some custom fab work to make it work. However, don't write off the Crown Vic brakes. While not available locally, you can easily get all the parts from someplace like RockAuto or Summit Racing which will send overseas. The Crown Vic brake conversion will be considerably cheaper than going aftermaket. SUSPENSION For the suspension, a 3" drop is a lot. These cars don't have a ton of suspension travel and dropping 3" will really limit the suspension travel. Drop spindles will help ensure you have some travel, but your front crossmember will be awfully close to the ground. Fatman supposedly makes some but the listing suggests they won't fit. They list it as 1965-73, which would be the Mustang years. Torino had a massive change in 1972 and stayed the same to 1976, so the listing makes no sense. However this thread suggest that they might work, although the quality is dubious. Here is the website with the parts: For the springs, how will the engineer have any idea that you cut the springs? If you cut them with a cut-off wheel and repaint the spring there will be no evidence they were cut. Mine were cut and repainted and I can guarantee no engineer would figure it out. It's pretty hard to get your desired stance without cutting springs. As rear springs, all are pretty much stock height but there is some variation. You can check out our coil spring stance thread to see how different springs sit. You can't cut the rear springs due the pig tails (well you can, Aquartlow (Todd) did cut and reformed the pigtail, but it's not something most can do). See out coil spring threads for more info: If you really don't want to cut springs, then you have two other options. One is to order custom springs from Eaton Detroit Spring or Coil spring specialties. The other is to convert to adjustable coil-overs. Ilyes did that that in his thread I linked to above. Be warned, there are some coil over kits on eBay that are crap. Ilyes did it properly in his thread with good parts. STEERING The Lares 841 box is one option, but I think the better option is a Saginaw steering box. If you get a Ford style Saginaw box with the three hole mount (used in 1971-73 Mustangs as well as some 1973-76 Torinos), you can have it built to 12.7:1 high effort ratio. When I did my car, I had Cancraft Steering build me a steering box from scratch (no core required). I am sure other steering companies could do the same, like Lares. It is quick and has great road feel. I have to modify the new coupler to work with the factory setup and I had to run a new high pressure line (just order one for a 1973-76 Torino with Saginaw box), but otherwise it's bolt in. It works fine with the stock Thompson pump and Saginaw boxes are much easier to mod over the Ford boxes. Good luck, and keep us posted. Edited by 72FordGTS - 02-August-2020 at 1:01PM |
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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