Lowering front end

[Jhockman]

Is this a good idea or not?

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Method?
Cutting springs?
Relocating A arms?
Drop Spindles?
Reason?
Looks/stance?
Handling?

[Jhockman]

Does lowering of A arms serve a great purpose? Is it worth drilling holes?

[JD]

Very much improves the handling, I liked the improvement.

Whether you want to drill holes in your original "Shelby" shock towers is something you have to decide.  Yes, you can weld them up.

[Bob Gaines]

Keep in mind that lowering the front can cause interference problems with your tires depending on size especially when turning .The metal fenders of a 65-68 Shelby just make strange noises to let you know there is a issue. The fiberglass fenders of a 69/70 Shelby aren't as forgiving and don't typically give that warning and just break chunks of fiberglass off.

[shelbymann1970]

Keep in mind that lowering the front can cause interference problems with your tires depending on size especially when turning .The metal fenders of a 65-68 Shelby just make strange noises to let you know there is a issue. The fiberglass fenders of a 69/70 Shelby aren't as forgiving and don't typically give that warning and just break chunks of fiberglass off.

+1
I see it all the time on social media people lowering and running tires too big for what the clearances were on these cars. The fronts of 68 Shelbys I wouldn't go bigger than 216-65-15 as that is the closest size to the E-70-15s. Lowering even with that tire size could cause rubbing. My 69 Mustang runs 235-60-15s up front(not my first choice) but my wheel lips have been rolled by the prior owner(Cobrask8) because they tracked the car. On the 69 Mach1 if I reverse down my driveway and cut real hard to the right as I hit the little driveway curb lip I hear a noise. Haven't figured out yet what the 235s are rubbing on but I'm pretty sure it is one side. My answer for now is not to cut so hard(Running a 428SCJ with manual steering you can understand why I'd cut hard while rolling out of the driveway). 

[427heaven]

It will look something like this... Looks and performance.

[shelbydoug]

In my experience the handling difference improvement is dramatically better BUT I had to deal with bump steer. That issue has been corrected.

However lowering a-arms opens an entirely new can of worms.

The Shelby drop is the "cheap" way and was limited by Ford Warranty policies. There are much better solutions but then you need to deal with spring rates, bushing materials and the like.

Using radial tires helps with the bump steer issue. With the bias tires the car would change lanes going just straight down the road. I would advise that you do a 1.5" drop and do a bump steer kit at the same time.


Some will say that there is a fender rubbing issue that goes along with this. With tire rubbing at turns, you need to look at what you have dialed in for positive caster.

If you go more then 1-1/2° then the tire will hit the front of the fender opening. So if you have a power steering car, stay with the factory caster settings.

Camber you will want to run with about 3/4-1° negative. That will put the tread pretty much flat, depending on the tire used.

I'm running BFG TA's. 235-60-15's on 10 spokes. The car likes the bigger 1-1/8" diameter bar better then the stock.

As I said, it opens an entirely new can of worms to deal with. It just depends on where you want to stop.

[Jhockman]

Thanks for all the advise