[sumfoo1]

My car is a 61 as some may remember.

Sorta going for a pro-touringish car with a big ass engine (aluminum pond 427 with a t-6060 behind it) Low compression for possibile turbo/supercharger.

does anyone know what stock spring rates are... my googling skills are lacking I'm wondering if i save a few hundred pounds on the engine/tranny combo if my 1.5" drop spindles are going to end up almost level.

As far as minimizing play in the front end will a new steering box, new ball joints tie-rod ends etc. do it? Or should i try to find a R&P setup?

Should i convert power-steering to the borgeson quick ratio unit?
the current control valve is leaking pretty bad and to replace it and the steering box it's just cheaper to go to the borgeson and its possibly a better option anyway... or is it?

Why doesn't anyone make tubular a-arm replacements with poly bushings etc?

are 1" huge swaybars a good idea or not ? (1" front 7/8" rear?)

Should i consider triangulated 4 link for the rear or just get a nice trac bar/ watts link setup with some cal-tracs ?

Basically how would you flatten her out some in the corners?

 

[BH107]

My car is a 61 as some may remember.

Sorta going for a pro-touringish car with a big ass engine (aluminum pond 427 with a t-6060 behind it) Low compression for possibile turbo/supercharger.

does anyone know what stock spring rates are... my googling skills are lacking I'm wondering if i save a few hundred pounds on the engine/tranny combo if my 1.5" drop spindles are going to end up almost level.

As far as minimizing play in the front end will a new steering box, new ball joints tie-rod ends etc. do it? Or should i try to find a R&P setup?

Should i convert power-steering to the borgeson quick ratio unit?
the current control valve is leaking pretty bad and to replace it and the steering box it's just cheaper to go to the borgeson and its possibly a better option anyway... or is it?

Why doesn't anyone make tubular a-arm replacements with poly bushings etc?

are 1" huge swaybars a good idea or not ? (1" front 7/8" rear?)

Should i consider triangulated 4 link for the rear or just get a nice trac bar/ watts link setup with some cal-tracs ?

Basically how would you flatten her out some in the corners?

My Moog coil spring book shows that the stock springs had a rate of 436 lbs/in.

It's going to take alot to get that heavy car to handle like a pro touring car. Stiffer coils, heavy sway bars, and good shocks will be a start.

 

[jhooch]

Fatman Fabrications makes upper and lower tubular a-arms for these cars. I believe they can use standard coils or Shockwave air-ride systems.

..::FatmanFabrications::..

 

[JEM]

does anyone know what stock spring rates are... my googling skills are lacking I'm wondering if i save a few hundred pounds on the engine/tranny combo if my 1.5" drop spindles are going to end up almost level.

My calculations from the Ford parts manual (provides wire dia, # coils, free length, height and design load etc but not, directly, rate) was that the stock springs in the Galaxie family were ~350lb/in plus or minus, except for the HP390/406 which were vastly stiffer (I think they came out over 700lb/in from the book numbers but I'm not sure how accurate that is.)

I'm targeting something around 500 lb/in.

As far as minimizing play in the front end will a new steering box, new ball joints tie-rod ends etc. do it? Or should i try to find a R&P setup?

Should i convert power-steering to the borgeson quick ratio unit?

I would go with the Borgeson, or if you want a little fabrication effort you can adapt a Cadillac Catera ZF Servotronic box like I'm doing. I haven't yet seen a rack-and-pinion setup that gets everything (turning circle, bumpsteer, and OE-quality durability) right. The Borgeson setup is a good part.

Why doesn't anyone make tubular a-arm replacements with poly bushings etc?

Tubular A-arms are out there, I've got a set of the Gearheads upper arms and they're very nice stuff. I have certain quibbles with his Saginaw 605 steering box conversions, but these arms are very, very nice.

Most importantly, they're rubber-bushed, NOT urethane. Urethane is a crappy, horrible, awful thing to use in control-arm bushings.

are 1" huge swaybars a good idea or not ? (1" front 7/8" rear?)

1" is hardly huge, suspension tuning is a matter of getting the balance between spring and sway bar rate right. Sway-bar stiffness is a function of bar diameter and length, and the length of the legs. The Galaxie bar has fairly short legs, so 1" is a fairly stiff bar, but nothing like what some folks run in other applications e.g. gen1/gen2 Camarobirds.

Consider that the Galaxie structure - frame and body - is not particularly stiff, and that at some point you get the suspension stiff enough that frame flex becomes as big an issue as the suspension. I'm still hoping to figure out how to pump my frame full of Terocore like Ford did on the late Crown Vics.

Should i consider triangulated 4 link for the rear or just get a nice trac bar/ watts link setup with some cal-tracs ?

When you say triangulated 4-link you're referring to the Ridetech setup? When you say 'watts and Caltracs' you mean in combination with leaf springs?

The Ridetech setup looks pretty interesting for an off-the-shelf product, and the price isn't horrible once you REALLY look at the cost of fabricating something else. It depends on your level of expertise and your willingess to experiment.

Were I doing something other than what I'm doing (MN12 IRS) I'd probably try fabricating my own torque-arm setup with some trailing links (OE front spring mounts would work fine, get them near level at normal ride height) a Watts and some coilovers.

 

[DeepRoots]

Rebuilding a power steering control valve costs $25 and takes at worst 4 hours, probably half that time after you've done it. When the system is working and all parts are good, it's a very good system. Of course like everything else on a early 60's Galaxie, there are just way too many parts involved.
If the steering gearbox is bad, I'd have Redhead rebuild it, and it'll probably outlast the rest of the car.
I really like their rebuilds.

I can understand wanting to upgrade, I've never used the aftermarket deal you're talking about so I can't say how much better it would be.

 

[sumfoo1]

Gear heads is out if business and I can't find the Fatman fab ones in their website.

On the sways I'm used to my legacy gt where my 1" bars were almost unbearable, but you are right the "arm length" is what was adjustable to increase the wheel movement to bending moment ratio.

So I'll rebuild the stock steering. Are there any 16/1 stock steering boxes?

I know she'll never be a g machine but not flopping over and playing dead in the turns is completely possible.


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[DeepRoots]

As I mentioned previously, I would send my existing box to a rebuilder (I prefer Redhead). Rebuild the control valve, replace tie rod ends and all the assorted bushings in the front end.
Dont' forget to replace the rag joint.

Steering on both of my vehicles are steady as a rock at 100+mph

 

[pacosarae]

I believe they can use standard coils or Shockwave air-ride systems.

 

[KULTULZ]

Gear heads is out if business

Good News...

 

[sumfoo1]

Fatman has the control arms
Gotta measure mine cause apparently there are 2 lengths of uppers ?

Looking up the steering box rebuild place now

Do they do quicker ratios than stock ?

I mean my car has some play in the wheel but she holds true at 75-80 fine
just the slop, the leak and having to go hand over hand for a regular right hander.

 

[JEM]

Good News...

I'm not going to dispute your sentiment.

But...I hope someone who knows who made the tubular arms for him (since scuttlebutt is that Frank didn't do them, and that's pretty evident looking at the quality) will pass that info on or otherwise keep that pipeline open, 'cause the arms are good stuff.

I think I'd buy a couple extra sets of the uppers just to have 'em, if I could buy direct from the fabricator.

 

[JEM]

Fatman has the control arms
Gotta measure mine cause apparently there are 2 lengths of uppers ?

Looking up the steering box rebuild place now

Do they do quicker ratios than stock ?

I mean my car has some play in the wheel but she holds true at 75-80 fine
just the slop, the leak and having to go hand over hand for a regular right hander.

Do the Fatman arms work only with their Granada spindles?

Personal opinion: I would not under any circumstances build a car that was anything but a restoration with the Ford linkage-boosted power steering. It's not as bad in Galaxies as in Mustangs and Falcons, for some reason, where it basically destroys the feel of the car. But you will never get rid of that two or three inches of slop at the rim.

The problem is that the valve motion, which induces some play in the steering and in an integral-assist box is directly actuated by the input shaft, in the linkage-boosted steering that motion is multiplied by the box ratio.

A perfect, good-as-new steering box and a perfect, good-as-new valve is always going to have an order of magnitude more play than a more modern integral-assist box.

With the money you're already spending on that engine, the Borgeson box is peanuts.

 

[sumfoo1]

They work with both their spindles and factory. I was going to go out and start measuring the upper a arms to order the Fatman setup today but we are all iced in :-/.

Then I was going to measure the rear wheel well to see if I should move the leaf springs in a touch for more wheel room. (Want to run at-least 275s 305s would be cool )

Anyone running a triangulated 4 link ? I dunno why but I like a well set up set of leafs...


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[sumfoo1]

Anyone know anyone running a wurth it designs power rack?

If so how hard was the installation?, was it worth it? and did you lose any turning radius?

Same deal with the borgeson conversion.. .

how much steering column modding was required?