thunderbird "mustang II" conversion

I am planning on installing a new front end on my 65 thunderbird. I've narrowed it down to either TCI or Heidts. Anyone have any feedback on either of these makes, good or bad. Or any other suggestions or comments on this conversion.

Thanks

I'm just wondering why you would do this.

Yeah,,,i'm wandering the same thing,,,Cos i have a 64 and a 62 Thunderbird,,,and they ride realy nice,,and they are plenty low to the ground,,,,and the Frame sections are way stronger than the Mustang II sections you plan on using,,,so why would you want to do this change over???
Just curios.

That's why I posted the question for some feedback. Thanks.

The idea of replacing the front end is basically two parts.

1. The original front end is history. Just worn and old. I realize the replacement kits for these are inexpensive compared to the kits I am looking at.

2. I have been told by some that the conversion will greatly increase the driveablity and handling of this car.

and I wanted to upgrade the brakes. Seemed like a good way to take care of several issues.

Any suggestions for a better way to proceed?

Thanks again.

You can also greatly increase the handling and driveability of the car by rebuilding with stock components.

Do as you wish, but if I were a buyer looking for a nice T-bird, I'd pass on a unit with a MII front. These cars will only get more valuable as time goes on and a mint original will bring all the money. Don't say you'll never sell it, you don't know what will happen in the future.

The T-bird is quite a bit heavier than the MII car is and I'd be concerned about using lighter-duty components. Plus, you'll have to upgrade the MII brakes to have decent stopping power, so why wouldn't you just convert the Bird to discs and stow the original parts away in plastic?

Give these guys a call and discuss it with them:
http://www.mpbrakes.com/

Or these guys:
http://www.ssbrakes.com/

Or these guys:
http://www.baer.com/

Another vote for the T-Bird stuff.

As far as handling is concerned with the 62 thru 66 Thunderbirds go,,,They were built for cruising the highway with extreem comfort,,,replace the bushings, ball joints and shocks, Then take it for a spin and you'll wonder why you ever considered switching.
And even though the disc brake conversion is nice,,i gotta tell ya,,,the front drums give me plenty of stopping power,,and if i want more,,i can alway's go oversize on the wheel cylinders.
Needless to say,,,,,I love my Birds.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments.
I will definitely give the project some more thought before moving forward.

Thanks Again.

Hi Zieg99, I too was considering that same swap but I was after the rack and pinion streeting. I have to agree the car rides nice like it is and there are big brake kits from Stainlees Steel Brakes. IF you don't want to go that way the 66 bird has big brakes that are stock from Ford. There is something else to consider though. Air Ride Technologies makes air ride kits for 61-66 birds. The following link should take you to the page I found and the kits aren't that expensive.

http://www.ridetech.com/productinfo/coolride.asp

Good luck
Adrian

Adrian,

Thanks for the info.

I orignally wanted to upgrade the suspension because I was going to upgrade the engine.

I decided to stay reasonably stock. The conversion required moderate frame work. I didn't want to get too experimental. I'm replacing all bushings, ball joints, tie rods, etc. and I went with a heavy duty stabilizer which should help. Also, I will hop up the 390 as best I can. I'll find out later if I made the right decision.

Thanks again and good luck with your project

"I will hop up the 390 as best I can"

http://www.speedomotive.com/fe_ford_...id_stroker.htm

Have them swap out the flat-tops for some dished pistons and let 'er rip.

I was considering a 428 crank to add some inches. I talked to speedomotive and the 390 kit you "linked" is giving me something to think about, for sure.
They are also only 30 min from me. I will head over there when my block gets back from the shop.

Thank you again.

Hey guys, just wanted to say hello. I have been searching for someone that was hot rodin a thunderbird, I thought I was the only one! I currently have a 1966 thunderbird that is at paint as we speak. It is recieving a two tone paint ( pearl green on top/ champange on bottom) I have shaved the emblems, hood "v", door handles, mirrors ect..

My question is this, I want to put a set of intro wheels on it, 18x8 in front, 18x10 in rear, does anyone know the offset, backspacing and whatever other measurments that I would need to give them to ensure that the wheels I order fit?? Thanks for the help!

Kicking around this old thread a little more but I have some questions in regards to the subject. My dad has a 61 we are working on. I have a 94 Bird that we swapped a DOHC 4.6L from a Mark VIII into. He's been wanting to do an old hot rod with a newer fuel injected motor in it and these motors look real cool and make good power. After driving my car he decided that that motor would be the way to go. The problem is, they are wider than the FE and 385 series Ford big blocks and don't fit between the shock towers. So, with this in mind, what thoughts does anyone have on redoing the front suspension with a Mustang II style kit?

Have you measured the width of the shock towers and the motor? In my humble opinion, I think I'd rather modify the shock towers and retain the original handling and steering characteristics than install an MII front on this car.

Again, I would agree. Use the T-Bird stuff. My other suggestion would be to look at the 4.6L SOHC with the 3 valves per cylinder (same engine as in the new Mustang). It has the same HP rating as the older DOHC engines (300), but should also be narrower. Any improvements that work on a new Mustang (engine wise) would work on your T-Bird.

Few years back I had a 61 Bird with the factory 300HP 390 (only engine available in 61). Eventually put a 63 Tri-power set-up on it and bigger exhaust which really made it a fun car.

I really liked the way the car felt going down the road and the only changes I would have made were the addition of disc brakes and sway bars.

The big drawback on the 61-3 Birds from a performance standpoint is the weight. These old birds usually weigh well in excess of 4000 pounds. I have seen the HP figures on the 4.6s but have not come across torque numbers, and torque is the force that actually gets the car moving. Before I started taking the car apart and making any major moods to it I would check and see how the torque figures compare between an FE and the 4.6. Remember these engines are in a lot lighter car than the bird is and the lighter the car the less engine you need.

I'm not saying the 4.6 won't work, but I really wonder if it would produce the amount of torque required to move the big boat around like you would like it too. At a minimum, I suspect you'd want to use a lower rear end gear and OD tranny.

Admittedly, I'm pretty much into doing things the "old fashion" way but if it was me I think I would build an FE. Depending on exactly what I wanted the car to do and how deep my pockets are; 390, 428, 427 or stroker versions of these, and then check into using aftermarket FI on it.

Dad is a Ford Master Tech in Electronics and is really looking to put a newer fuel injected motor in something. He already has the engine and the 4R70W tranny from a 98 Mark VIII along with all the associated wiring, picked up the whole set up for $450 with around 60,000 on the car it came out of. The SOHC 4.6L's are the same width as the DOHC engines. All the extra width of the head extends to the inside making the intake manifold narrower. Plus, in a hot rod, you want it to look cool, and the 4V motor looks much much neater than the 2 or 3V motors. I have even read in one place that the SOHC was a tad wider and a friend with another 94 T-bird commented that he though the valve cover on his SOHC was slightly closer to the shock tower on his car than that of the DOHC I have in mine. As far as weight goes, the Mark VIII's are on the verge of being 4000 lbs. They aren't much under it. So i don't really see the extra weight of the old Bird being much of an issue. With 4.10's it still should be a high 14 second car if it were ever taken to the track (I'm sure it won't be) and get 23-24 MPG cruising along at 80 MPH.

The motor is a done deal, its going in there. The topic here is definitely the suspension.