Mustang Suspension & Brakes

Are you ready for some mustang madness? Well, welcome to the horsepower corral.

Today on horsepower TV,

we'll upgrade our pro touring pony suspension with upper and lower control arms plus some tunable coil over shocks.

We'll install some new disc brakes and show you a cool way to bleed your brakes in our race of the week. The past is new again as we tag along with some new nostalgic drag racers of the 21st century.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hey, welcome to the horsepower shop

which today we've turned into the Mustang Ranch. Now, later you'll see some real racing ponies. We got a show horse with this S code 67 Fast back GT

and the one we'll be spending some wrenches on my 65 pro touring project. Yeah. Now, in case you missed it, we've already done quite a bit of work to this thing. In fact,

we've already added a rack and pinion conversion kit from total control products.

A B cool cooling system upgrade

and a new Hearst shifter for the T five tranny.

Well, today we're gonna swap that stock front suspension for a coil over conversion that we also got from total control. Our kid includes upper and lower control arms complete with new ball joints,

pair of new strut rods

and these Alden aluminum coil overs.

Now, the mustang suspension like that of most Oes has been compromised for a good ride quality.

Unfortunately, the rubber bushings up here on the strut rod and on the lower control arm compress and deflect under hard braking. Plus the upper control arm allows for some positive camera gain, which means that the top of the tire leans out during cornering and of course, that makes the car under steer. Now I'm gonna get started by removing the front brakes,

followed by the shock and upper mount.

Then with a jack under the lower control arm heat the coils until they collapse to take the tension off.

Next, the spindle can be removed,

then you can disconnect the sway bar

and remove the strut rod and lower control arm.

Finally take out the upper control arm,

our new upper control arm shaft mounts solidly to the shock tower about an inch below the stock location and what's known as the Shelby location.

Now, there's a template included in the kit that shows you where to drill hose for that.

However, seems like the previous owner had the same thing in mind. So we'll just clean this area to give us a smooth mounting surface.

Then it helps to have a friend in high places when you bulked up this upper control arm. Got those washers and nuts ready. Here we go.

Well, now we're ready for the upper shock mount.

It just drops in from the top and replaces the old one perfectly.

Oh, and it's held in place with these three great eight bolts.

Ok. I'm gonna put a nut on that bolt closest to the engine first. Ok.

All

right.

There

we go.

Is the nut on top? Got a hold of it yet.

The upper nuts got the upper hand here, buddy. Oh, here we go.

The lower control arm and the strut rod are installed as an assembly.

Just make sure that you use the new hardware included in the kit. When you install them,

the retaining bolt on a lower control arm is torque to 75 ft pounds.

There we go.

And then we can go ahead and tighten up the bolt that holds the front strut rod in place.

Now, we can install the spindle and we'll start by bolting it to the lower control arm. Now, the kit also includes the spacer that goes right on top of the spindle like that

and then the nut

now just slip it into the upper control arm

and finally reconnect the sway bar using new end links of the proper length.

Hey, before we bolt in these cool overs, I wanna show you some features that allow us to tune the suspension,

the knobs at either end, adjust the compression and rebound to give us proper valving, whether we're drag racing, road racing or just cruising on the streets and we can change the ride height by turning this adjuster nut for more or less preload,

man. The alignment guys ought to love this set up. What do you think? You bet? Now those turnbuckles are gonna make caster and camera adjustments a real snap.

Well, that just about takes care of it for our suspension upgrades, but before we can bolt on our new master cylinder and brakes, we're gonna take one first, but we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

Later on our race of the week goes nostalgia and rising Sun Maryland.

And you asked for it more horsepower TV, bloopers

for the latest news on horsepower TV. Check us out online at horsepower tv.com.

Welcome back to the shop and our pro touring pony project. Well, now that we've got the suspension handled, hey, we're ready to bolt on some new brakes.

The Mustang's original Kelsey Hayes brakes used a cast iron four piston caliper

and an 11 inch rotor. Now that wasn't too bad, but brakes have come a long way since then. Now our new system comes from John's Mustangs and Classics and uses an 11 and three quarter inch diameter, 820 thousands across. Plus the ha

that section and the hub are both milled from billet aluminum. Well, so are our four piston C and C Calipers we're using now inside them. The pads are a high friction carbon metallic material real easy on the rotors. Now, we're gonna change out that single reservoir master cylinder and the Mustang for this trick aluminum dual reservoir piece that also comes with the kit.

There we go.

I've just bolted the cal or mount to the spindle and I've already packed the new bearings with grease and mounted them in the hub. So I guess we're ready to put the rotor on the spindle. Now,

then the calipers with pads are bolted to the mounts

and the braided stainless steel lines connect the caliper to the original lines.

Before we drop in our new master cylinder, we need to install these residual pressure valves, they prevent the brakes from dragging by letting the pressure bleed off after the brakes have been applied.

Now, since we have a disk drum combination. Now, we have two valve ratings, two P si for the front disk, 10 P si for the rear drums. Now, we also had to bend up some new brake lines to connect our new master cylinder to the old brake lines.

But first things first, we need to get the old master cylinder out. Hey, I'm way ahead of your partner,

but I thought you might want to take a look at the differences between the two. Now, here's something pretty cool. Since we're using a dual master cylinder,

we can actually do away with a proportioning valve since each master is sized properly for the system. It operates,

the master cylinder is attached to the firewall using the stock mounting locations.

Now, we have to do is tighten up the brake lines

and hook up the push rod to the brake pedal.

Yeah, it looks full.

Now we got something else from John's Mustangs. That'll make life a little easier for us. It's a bleeder cap

with this valve stem here, we can pressurize the system and make a quick and easy job out of bleeding. The brakes

just screws on in place of the original cap and comes right off when we're finished bleeding,

we pressurize the master cylinder with air from an air tank.

Now, we like to drain our fluid into an old bottle just to keep from making a mess.

All we have to do now is open the bleeder screw

and let the bleed until the bubbles stop and the fluid runs clear,

make sure to keep the reservoir full during the bleeding process. Then when you're finished,

go ahead and top off the reservoir with more brake fluid

to get the most of our brake and suspension improvements and look good. At the same time, we decided to go with this hauler brand five spoke wheel mounting BF Goodrich G Force radios. Now, it's a classic five spoke design that's been fully polished and they measure 16 by eight inches

with a 4.5 inch back space. Now, that's the maximum size and offset for early mustangs

tires have been maxed out too. After some careful measuring, we decided we could stuff at 2 25 50 up front, 2 45 50 out back.

And we chose the KDWS version of the G Force for its all weather tread design. After all, this is a pro touring car.

It's gonna see all kinds of weather and road conditions.

Well, what do you think about my mustang now? Hey, man, I gotta tell you you're sitting tall in the saddle. Now, I tell you what, you're really gonna notice the difference next time you put the spurs to it or have to rein it in. That's right. Well, Mustangs are not only fine for pro touring, they're great to race and we'll show you some of the quickest quarter horses in the country when we come back.

Horsepower T V's race of the week is brought to you by Edelbrock,

the leader in automotive performance for nearly 75 years.

Hi, welcome back to the show into rising sun. Maryland.

We're about to kick off another NSC, a shootout at an historic track where some of the pioneers of the sport laid down their first numbers

and launched a nostalgic tradition.

Anybody was anybody in

uh Superstock or FX racing was at Cecil County one time in their life. Fred Henderson is back at his old stomping grounds where in the sixties Superstock drag racers waged what was called the war of the manufacturers

at a time when winning on the weekends would sell cars while setting records, they would actually scream and holler at each other and we would pack a racetrack, we would literally pack a racetrack. We were then

the pro stock cars of today.

Well, after 30 some odd years, Fred's back into racing

and so are the monumental muscle cars of those glory days. In fact, thanks to the NSC A's nostalgia superstar classes, many of the classic drag cars and their drivers are enjoying a revved up revival. And it's rare that you find a sport where old cars are still competitive and uh still appreciated. And this is, this is one venue where you can find that. And I think people, people think that's special

sitting behind the wheel of this car

looking out over the hood is just like going back in time for me. It's uh it's like like driving an old friend,

Nostalgia Superstock brings back Classic Iron Warriors like this 64 thunderbolt, one of only 100 made

each made with three

purposes in mind to go fast, go straight

and to win. It was the new hottest greatest thing going and we've been poor people,

you know, our whole lives at that age and up until today, obviously,

and uh it was the thing to have then

get around those

premises.

Nostalgia Superstock cars run on a tense index. And while most of the drivers are old timers who raced back in the glory days. Well, the old class has attracted a handful of youngsters like Stephanie Dimino

who drives a 66 Impala with a big block and a turbo 400.

It is wonderful. I absolutely love doing it. And as I do it more and more, I'm noticing a lot more things and

it's great. I love driving down the track as many chances as I can get. I'm

going to go

down

nostalgia racing. Not only bridges, the generation gap, it brings a family atmosphere to weekend competition.

The pits are full of cookouts and bench racing

and while everyone wants to win, every racer wants to help the other guy compete always more fun when you win.

But you know, you're gonna wanna help somebody get on the track. Nobody wants to win with a bike. We all want to race each other.

Meanwhile, over reliable here runs in a class called pro Nostalgia and it's heads up by the way, this 409 was once driven by the founder of the NSC A who wanted to keep this nostalgic racing tradition alive.

This annual event was named after the late Jim Sellers who made nostalgia racing a fixture of NSC A racing

and who drove this Fabulous 62 409 to a national championship.

I've worked for him for 30 years

and I've inherited it.

So it's really a special thing for me to keep it going.

Pro nostalgia cars have a few modern modifications like aluminum heads that make them run even faster than they did back in their prime

when they leave the ground with the front wheels in the air

and you're looking at the sky, it, it is a thrill. I think that's why we all do it.

Tony Di

Pillow's honking him is one of several mo

bars in the class that came out of the box in the sixties ready to race. They built them just for drag racing straight quarter mile.

There were no

warranties on them at all.

They build them as a factory drag car on.

Um, this is a, a pro nostalgia car,

so we're able to do some modifications to it. It's got ported heads and a

nostalgic

tunnel and

a new hybrid heads up blast is called Nostalgia Pro Street.

The old cars that can be built to handle all the power one can put on 10.5 inch tires.

This weekend, Bruce Palos made history breaking into the sevens and winning the finals.

A car once owned by his best friend, Richie Wyman, two special people up there looking down at us,

Richie Wyman, the guy who used to own this car. I'm racing in his memory,

Jim Sellers, his memorial. It, it just feels good. It's unbelievable.

The nostalgia Superstock winner was Bob Button who ran a nearly perfect 1006 on the tense index. The honor of the old Chrysler Corporation will just keep plugging away as long as guys my age, you know, steel.

This is what we're going to have. Finally, the winning pro nostalgia racer was Jim

Patel,

whose GTO ran a 941 at 144 miles an hour. This is my first win in this class. I've been running it for about five years and uh to win it at the Jim Sellers Memorial just couldn't be, couldn't ask for a better script. And who could ask for a better way to celebrate the new glory days of nostalgia. The drag race?

Hi. Welcome back.

I know what you're thinking. Those guys are getting ready to bear down and boat together. Another killer engine, right?

You asked for it. So now you're gonna get it. Here's more of the best of the worst from horsepower TV.

Here's what happens when you get a goofy case of the giggles.

You know that body kit really works well with the new stance here, but it still needs a little something. Oh, I know what you're thinking. A little van Gogh. Well,

I got

just some

giggle. I can't sell.

He's funny, ain't he? He's real funny.

The manual calls for 15 thousands preload

on these carrier bearings. Now, that's so that as the bearings wear your backlogs

doesn't come out of,

hey, great job partner. Thank you very much. Well, now,

hey, great job partner. Well, thanks.

Sure.

Right.

Hey, great job partner. Well, thanks now. We're ready for the

I thank

you very much. How about that? Like that ma

minor malfunctions can create a blooper or two.

Our hardwood body comes with power windows but just you want to keep

what the

mark, that one?

Ok.

Mhm.

Well, for example, this 34 Chevy sedan delivery has a high tech temperament

work.

Yeah.

Well, this 34 Chevy sedan delivery has a definite high tech temperament

that

A

I did.

Oh,

they have.

I'll leave a Mark Ron you.

Hey man, get any in there.

I got a Lily in there

and installing that cat eye grill shell is just about as easy. But first, we need to remove this corner running lamp.

Installing that cat eye grill is just about as easy. Oops

man, it's real easy.

Tongue twisters turn into tumultuous, takes pulleys and exhaust. Just cost a little under $1200. Hey, that's a whole lot of giddy up for the buck in my book.

Easy for him to say,

hey, welcome back to the shop and our pro touring project plant Pony

Pro Touring pony project.

Welcome back to the shop and our pro touring pro

Po

Ronny project.

Welcome back to the shop and our pro touring pony project.

I forgot the rest of the.

I was so stunned. I got that out correctly.

Oh, man. Hey, man, that wasn't that funny.

Well, it was a little one sided. I think you said you wanted more exposure on TV. Well, hey, I'll tell you what, stay tuned for hot parts, hopefully without any mistakes.

And now hot parts brought to you by car parts.com, everything for your car, truck van or SUV.

Hey, we've really come through in a clutch for you. Five old mustang guys. Actually, what we've got here is an adjustable clutch cable kit from Hayes.

It replaces your weak non adjustable. Factory setup includes this heavy duty cable, a billet, aluminum quadrant and all the hardware you need to install it.

Now you can adjust your clutch to suit your own driving style. You'll just have to adjust your budget to pony up about 100 10 bucks.

Here's something that'll look cool in your pony. It's a new tack and gauge set up from auto meter with a carbon fiber face. Now they're trimmed with an aluminum

anodized bezel and pointer for that true high tech look, plus you can buy them either as a set or individually with either electrical or mechanical configurations. So now you can, uh, keep track of things under the hood and look cool for $50 and up.

I sure love the way these wheels look on my mustang and to keep them looking that way Eagle one has a wheel cleaner called A to Z. It works on all wheels. You just spray it on, let it set and hose it off. Hey, pretty easy stuff. But don't forget about your tires. Now, you'll want to use their wet tires shine to keep them looking as good as the wheels. You just spray it on the applicator, wipe it on and,

hey, that's it. All right. Well, that's it for hot parts. But here's a look at next week's horsepower TV.

It's operation Honda hop up as we bolt on a super charger and turn this little sport compact into a pocket rocket

before testing the power gains on our dyno Jet

and we'll hit a local track to meet some warriors in the war of the imports.

I can have a Chevy or Ford. But uh here I've managed to put a Volkswagen together and run with the Chevy Ford.

And remember high performance fun is what this show is all about

for information about the products used in today's show and more. Check us out online at Horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.