Hi Joe,

A lot of guys stay with the stock IFS and say it is good, although 1949 was the first year Ford put it into their cars. I went with MII from a local hot rod shop after looking at alternatives from guys like Fatman and Heidts. They were just too expensive. If you can get it done and installed for $1,300. then do it before they guy changes his mind. It gives advantages you can't get with the original stuff and you will probably spend just as much fixing up the old stuff with dropped spindles and disc brakes. Jamco seems to be where everybody goes for lowering kits for the stock suspension. My setup uses 11" Granada rotors and Camarro calipers and has a 2" drop from stock. You can use a Mustang or T-Bird steering rack (I put in a power rack so my wife could drive the car) and that gets around the clearance issues some of the guys have with their steering boxes being too close to headers. I assume you are not keeping the flathead. I am using a 351W and AOD transmission with a 9" rearend out back.

Good luck with your car.

Terry