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Mustang II Steering and Suspension Transplant

AlpineII

AlpineII

Donation Time
I had heard that someone had installed Mustang II front spindles to an Alpine. Is it easily accomplished? Anyone take it further to include more of the Mustang II front end? Steering? I will be doing the Ford 2.8 upgrade and since I will have an entire Mustang II for parts, does it make sense to look at this as well as the engine?
 
Mark T

Mark T

Donation Time
Hi Eddie! My car's PO installed mustang spindles in it. I asked him how he did it and here is his explanation:

The front spindles were a big job. As the Sunbeam spindle’s ball joint assemblies are vertically straight in line with respect to upper and lower ball joints and the Mustang’s are offset, I had to extend the lower control arm about 1†to accommodate the offset. Another adjustment was to have the calipers facing the front instead of the traditional behind position. This is what many rodders are doing anyway so it was not out of the norm.

Then the Mustang spindles had to be taper bored exactly to accommodate the ball joint’s tapers. After that my next challenge was to come up with the right combination of the tie rod and rod link. I tried a dropped tie rod style but it did not work as the weight of the vehicle alone turned the wheels inward and threw everything out of whack. Once I found the right combination of the tie rod link, all parts fit and worked great.

The final challenge was the brake flex lines to the calipers and the fittings. These too were a special fitting used by Indy cars….the challenge was mainly due to the tight clearances at the caliper housing once the positioning was reversed.

All in all it was well worth the effort to convert to Ford brakes.

Hope this helps!
 
C

Chuck Ingram

Donation Time
AlpineII said:
I had heard that someone had installed Mustang II front spindles to an Alpine. Is it easily accomplished? Anyone take it further to include more of the Mustang II front end? Steering? I will be doing the Ford 2.8 upgrade and since I will have an entire Mustang II for parts, does it make sense to look at this as well as the engine?
Click to expand...

Eddie
Email or PM me with your email address and I'll give you the information and help.Been there and done it all.Even did the complete Mustang II front end in 1979.
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
That's a lot of work for Ford brakes.

It is possible to use 11" Pontiac rotors and the GM "Metric" caliper. A simple modification to the Alpine hub to accept the rotor is the only modification need to the Alpine. Only catch is you have to use 14" wheels. 10.5" rotors are doable with 13" wheels, but more difficult.

Bill
 
R

Randy

Diamond Level Sponsor
I went to the car show this last weekend and took a alpine spindle with me. I went to the Heidts booth, if you've seen their ads, they have a nice set-up with rear steer/brakes and the spindle looks almost ( it's very close) at the same angle as the alpine. I talked to the guy that designed it and he shot me down on my question of using his spindle in place of the alpine. His response was about changing the geometry. If the car would go down the street safely. So I gave up on him. I would still like to know how this could be done using the alpine steering and just change out the spindles. Thinking about this the top a-arm would need to be shorten or the lower a-arm needs to be lengthen. Steering stops need to be addressed. The spindle length is a bit shorter so there would be a little bit more spring compression. And is the spindle location the same for ride heigth?
 
AlpineII

AlpineII

Donation Time
Chuck,
I received everything at the updated e-mail address. Thanks so myuch. This is really going to help me out big time!
 
Alpine66

Alpine66

Donation Time
Hey Bill,
Could you fill in the details on the info for pontiac rotors and calipers such as years/models ,what the modification(s) are etc?
Looks like a good idea to use. Does this work on a 66 Alpine?
Thanks,
James


Bill Blue said:
That's a lot of work for Ford brakes.

It is possible to use 11" Pontiac rotors and the GM "Metric" caliper. A simple modification to the Alpine hub to accept the rotor is the only modification need to the Alpine. Only catch is you have to use 14" wheels. 10.5" rotors are doable with 13" wheels, but more difficult.

Bill
Click to expand...
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
James, the rotors are '90's Grand Prix units.

The modification: The Alpine rotor must be removed from the hub and the hub turned to accept the Pontiac rotor. The hub has considerable meat in this area and must be turned so the rotor mounts 3/8" closer to the outside of the hub. The rotor mounts in the stock location and must be drilled to the Alpine rotor pattern.

The caliper is mounted using Metric caliper brackets from Speedway Motors. They have to be cut down (hacksaw job) and drilled to match the Alpine caliper mounting holes. I also had to make fitting adapters to match up the hydraulics.

All this is considerable work, parts cost me about $400, but gives outstanding brakes. The cost is probably less than a first class front brake overhaul on the Alpine. If you choose to use aftermarket aluminum calipers, the finished job will probably weigh a pound or so less than the stock setup. Mine, using rebuilt iron calipers, weighs 2 pounds more than stock.

I'd recommend using 14" rims and the 11" rotors. I think it would make the job easier and result in better brakes. The market for 13" tires is terrible and getting worse everyday. I used the 10.5" rotors.

If you are still interested, I have some pictures in my wifes computer, but it will take some time to dig them out as i don't know how to do it. Also don't know how to post them. If you decide you want to do it, I can also probably help you out on the machining.

Bill
 
Alpine66

Alpine66

Donation Time
Thanks Bill, sounds like it's worth doing.Don't worry about digging up the pics, this is what I need!
James
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Alpine66 said:
Thanks Bill, sounds like it's worth doing.Don't worry about digging up the pics, this is what I need!
James
Click to expand...
James, dug some pics out of the 'puter for another lister, can send them to you (or anyone else) no problem. They show the hubs before and after machining, the adapters mounted on the Alpine, assembled hubs and complete unit on the car.

If interested, please drop me an e-mail.

Bill

(weblueatcomcast.net) Replace "at" with @
 
twospeed

twospeed

Donation Time
Thanks alot, I think I will go this way.As soon as I can get the car back to my shop I will take it apart and start.Should be no trouble,I have a full machine shop and looks like a fun job to do.
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
You should be able to work your way past the rough spots and I'm sure you will find a few. I found the experience to be very challenging. Mostly I think, due to the fact I did not know what was needed to turn the concept into a viable system.

Have you decided which rotor size you will use?

As Don says,
Have fun
Bill
 
twospeed

twospeed

Donation Time
I just put 14inch wheels on it from a fairmont-----so the biggest rotor I can use is what I need to look for.
Thank you
 
BlackDog

BlackDog

Silver Level Sponsor
When I bought my Tiger, It had Porsche 11" rotors bolted to the stock spindles c/w Wilwood 4 piston calipers. Also Porsche 914 rear 'hats' and calipers. I'm running a '79 280ZX master with 15/16" bore and no booster and it works great. I needed the bigger bore booster as the fronts have 1 3/4" pistons ( they're available with smaller ones). This all fits nicely under my 14" Epsilon wheels.

http://groups.msn.com/431HeronPlace/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=89

Jim
B382000446
 
MikeH

MikeH

Diamond Level Sponsor
BlackDog said:
When I bought my Tiger, It had Porsche 11" rotors bolted to the stock spindles c/w Wilwood 4 piston calipers. Also Porsche 914 rear 'hats' and calipers. I'm running a '79 280ZX master with 15/16" bore and no booster and it works great. I needed the bigger bore booster as the fronts have 1 3/4" pistons ( they're available with smaller ones). This all fits nicely under my 14" Epsilon wheels.

http://groups.msn.com/431HeronPlace/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=89

Jim
B382000446
Click to expand...

I tried to look at the pics, the link takes me to the site, but no pics. Any idea how much modification it took to do the rotors?

Mike
 
BlackDog

BlackDog

Silver Level Sponsor
MikeH said:
I tried to look at the pics, the link takes me to the site, but no pics. Any idea how much modification it took to do the rotors?

Mike
Click to expand...

Not sure why you can't see the pics... I can click on the above link and get them even though I'm not logged in there... Hmmm..
Unfortunately I don't have any info on how it was done... I could figure it out easily if I had a 'stock' spindle setup to compare to...
 
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