Upgrade Your Ford With TCP's Front Coilover Suspension Kit - On The Rebound

The upper coilover shock mount sandwiches the shock tower sheetmetal. The upper portion is used as a guide to drill out the factory openings to 3/8-inch for stouter mounting hardware. Unless you ordered the stock pivot shaft upper arms that require drilling new mounting holes, you can put the drill away, as that's it for chassis modifications to mount the TCP front suspension. The upper mounts are side specific, so be sure you're bolting in the proper side.

The underside of the shock tower gets this reinforcement ring. The rings are notched to clear the '64-'66 spring seat, but on '67 and later models, you'll have to break the drill out one last time to cut out the spot welds and remove the spring seats from the tower. Secure the ring to the upper shock mount with the included hardware.

The upper control arms we're using are the optional billet aluminum dropped pivot shaft design, which allows for a simple bolt-on procedure without having to drill new control arm mounting holes in the shock tower. Using the factory holes is much more accurate than drilling your own. Note, too, the threaded adjustment couplers, which allow easy camber changes without removing the control arm.

The TCP upper control arms slip right into place of the original arms in the shock tower opening. TCP does provide these nifty alignment shims to take up any side-to-side differences in camber settings, allowing the arms to have matching camber settings at their adjusters.

The lower control arms are just as trick as the uppers, and utilize tubular steel construction and a trick spherical bearing pivot socket inner mount. Because the lower arm uses a spherical end, the control arm mounting bolt can be tightened to spec without having the vehicle's weight applied to the arm, as is needed with a stock rubber bushing. Your original spindle/brake assemblies or new spindles can be reinstalled at this time.

The TCP strut rod not only allows for true caster adjustments, but the pivot end also utilizes this uber-engineered strut rod pivot called the TrueCenter pivot socket. The small bushing defines the pivot point of the rod, while the larger bushing accurately controls the strut rod's fore/aft movement during braking. Trick huh?

To install the strut rod, the bell shaped backing nut is threaded onto the main body of the strut rod pivot and is tightened via a standard 1/2-inch drive ratchet or torque wrench and then the small retaining bolt is installed with red thread locker to secure everything.

The other end of the strut rods will bolt to the lower control arm just like the stock hardware, but you'll be adding the TCP billet lower shock mount to the arrangement, as seen here. The billet mount has an arrow engraved in the bottom that denotes the proper direction, so be cognizant of that when bolting everything up.

Caster is adjusted by rotating the pivot stud, shortening or lengthening the strut rod, which moves the lower control arm fore and aft. The large jam nut then secures the caster setting.

Adding the optional antisway bar to the installation is a no brainer. Why perform all these upgrades and not use a beefy antisway bar to help the car even further? Especially when the bar is a direct bolt-on to the chassis and TCP suspension parts. The '64-'66 Mustang antisway bar is 1 1/8-inch diameter solid steel, has a great textured powdercoat finish, and comes with billet mounting blocks.

The antisway bar's bushings are custom designed, not off-the-shelf pieces. Notice the lubricating grease path inside the bushing diameter, as well as the grease nipple opening. The included packet of silicone-based grease is applied to the bushing before slipping them over the antisway bar.

The billet mounting blocks are pressed over the just-installed bushings and centered up with the factory antisway bar mounting bracket on the frame. Secure the mounting blocks using the supplied socket head screws, washers, and lock nuts. Don't forget to install the grease fittings and apply more grease via a grease gun to the bushings too.

The antisway bar end links attach just like the OE pieces. Ensure the bushings are positioned per the instruction sheet and tighten the hardware until the bushings just start to compress. There's no need to crush them.

After all this hard work, it would be bad to have bumpsteer issues with the rack and tie-rod ends. No worries though, as TCP has this great bumpsteer kit that includes a billet adjusting sleeve, a 4130 steel rod end, a tapered stud, and a selection of shims to adjust the outer pivot point of the steering system and prevent bumpsteer.

If you remember, the rack installation last month didn't include the inner and outer tie rods, so we're installing them here. The inner tie rods are OE-type pieces and they mate to the rack's centerlink with the use of a small tapered adapter that fits into the hole in the center link and accepts the tie-rod end's tapered stud.

On the opposite end is the outer tie-rod end's tapered stud kit, which is installed into the spindle's steering arm and then a selection of shims is used to correct the steering geometry. Each setup is different and you'll have to measure your suspension's toe movement while cycling the suspension up and down to determine the amount of shims to correct any bumpsteer issue.

VariShock is a division of Chris Alston's Chassisworks, just like TCP. As such, each division can quickly work with one another's products to find in-house solutions. In this case, instead of compromising with some off-the-shelf shock, TCP had VariShock design a specific shock for the coilover kit. The billet aluminum shock has custom valving and is available in Quickset 1 and Quickset 2 adjustment systems. Shown here is the optional Quickset 2, which is adjustable for compression and rebound individually for up 256 unique combinations.

The coilover shocks are bolted in without their springs to allow for full cycling of the suspension to check for interference or binding of the parts. This also allows you to quickly and easily set the suspension to the included specs at the intended ride height. Speaking of ride height, taller or shorter shock mounts and shock ends are available separately to alter ride height even more.

Once the alignment is set for the ride height being used, and the suspension movement shows no binding or other issues, the shocks can be dismounted and their coilover springs and billet spring hats/hardware installed, and the shocks mounted for good. You're also catching a glimpse of the Wilwood brake kit that was installed on Patti's Mustang too. We'll show everyone that kit install in an upcoming issue.

TCP literally thought of everything in designing and engineering its coilover kit. Take for example these adjustable steering stops. They simply thread into the strut rod's end tab and are quickly adjustable to limit steering travel. Once the tires are back on, the length of the stops will be set to prevent tire rub. Don't forget to reinstall the outer shock tower reinforcements now too, as the upper arm still utilizes the factory bumpstop.

All wrapped up and ready to take on the corners, the TCP coilover conversion is a great setup that can be easily installed without anything more than your basic handtools. Between the power rack, coilover setup, and awesome brakes, it's going to be hard to chisel the smile off of Patti's face. Stay tuned for more of the build in our next issue.