Help!!!!decisions, decisions

[Jack21]

Don't want to beat this one to death, but you see what we're trying to say.

If dead nuts originality is not a major concern, the CR is a better car when finished. When built properly, they look like they were driven off the Ford showroom floor, and they're built to last. These cars, had they been available in the '65 - '66 time frame, could have given Corvette a challenge in sales figures.

The '74 - '78 Mustang II front end was a decent enough design, but it has been redesigned by the aftermarket industry for street rods even better. Read the engineering assessment of the MII suspension on the Heidt's website for what to do and not do with the MII. Don't even think of getting parts from a salvage yard, if you can still find any parts.

I used tubular control arms and Carerra coil overs. Not that I'm crazy about supporting the entire weight of the front of car on two 7/16" bolts and bushings, but so far it seems to work, and the ride height is adjustable. Reluctantly gave in to this after cutting up too many sets of springs. I retained the strut rods with urethane bushings to limit fore & aft movement. The strut rod takes all the braking torque, and the CR frame where the control arms mount didn't seem strong enough unmodified, to take strut rodless control arms.

Virtually everyone today uses the 11" Grenada rotor & '78 - '83 mid sized GM caliper setup as a minimum. Stops my Pontiac OK. Used a 4 piston caliper upgrade for the Cobra and it stops OK too. With 17" wheels, there are even better options. But CR doesn't tell you this.

Power steering in a MII setup seemed to be the bane of street rodders and Cobra builders using the MII. The band aids were incredible. Reduced pressure relief valves, do-it-yourself pressure relief valves, adjustable by-pass valves, etc. Most gave up and went to manual. Andy Granitelli Racing (AGR) is a little specialty shop that does power steering setups. They have a high effort late Mustang power rack that overcomes these problems. The passengers side rack mount hole on the CR frame is slotted, and the late rack bolted right in. Concerned with upsetting the geometry as the rack centerline - mount is a little shorter with the late rack, I bolted it in UP with offset bushings. The MII rack is cast iron and weighs a ton. The late rack is cast aluminum and weighs a few pounds. Either a Ford or GM pump will now work. I used GM (also from AGR) because I had brackets already made.

I've wasted enough of your time, so I won't go into the drum rear brakes solution and others, but you get the point. Good car, but check here before you go component shopping. Perhaps it's time to put an updated CR component shopping guide options on one of our websites.