1972 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Front Suspension Upgrade Part 1 - Equestrian Competition

Given production tolerances and a variety of spring rates, coil spring installation may require a spring compressor, which you can rent from your local parts store if you don't happen to have one. We installed the new urethane upper coil spring insulator pad, put the spring in backwards, lubed up the rubber pads, and then muscled it counterclockwise until the tail of the coil clicked over and into the tang.

Once the Grab-A-Trak spring was in place, we installed the new Grab-A-Trak shock. The Grab-A-Trak coil spring rates are as follows: '65-'66 GT 260 lb/in, '65-'66 620 coils 560 lb/in, and '67-'73 620 coils 600 lb/in.

Don't forget to install the new shock bushings. Our old pieces were largely destroyed, so there was no confusing the two.

Next up are the new polyurethane strut rod bushings. Again, the aging bushings in our Mach 1 were done in, but the new poly pieces will tighten things up and deflect less under load. You'll reuse the washers, the larger of which goes up front. Mustangs Plus includes a new metal sleeve however.

To install the new tie rods, assemble the inner and outer pieces using the stock unit for a length reference. That should get you close to where you were before. You can see from the old tie rod at the top that one of the wheels hit a massive pothole or curb at one point in time, and the impact bent the adjustment sleeve and the outer tie-rod end.

The tie rods are then secured using the new included castle nuts and cotter pins.

We hung the new Grab-A-Track antisway bar from the new included polyurethane frame mounts, and then swung it into place to connect it to the endlinks.

You'll need to jack up the lower control arms to get them high enough.

That concludes the front half of our budget-friendly performance handling upgrade. Next month, we'll come back with the rear suspension installation, track test, and photos to show you how it all turned out.