Thread: 51 Ford stock front suspension- subframe or modify?

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I just bought a 1951 Ford sedan.



Body work is all done, the rear frame is all fabricated of 2x4 stock and the body is sitting on it. Airbags are on all 4 corners. 8" Ford Maverick rear end.



The front suspension is stock besides the airbags. The guy that sold it to me runs his own hotrod shop. He has a Mustang II front suspension crossmember (with full suspension, rack, and brakes) that he will sell me and install for $1300 out the door. Obviously, this will probably change the ride height in the front. If I went this route, I would probably put airbags up front in the M-II suspension.

Now, I want to let everyone know that I am fairly new to these cars and am not all that familiar with the potential modifications. What sort of upgrades could I do to the stock front suspension for $1300? What, at minimum, would I want to upgrade in the stock front end to give a decent ride quality? Basically the car is going to be a cruiser. I also am on a budget, but I don't want to do a half-ass job either. Any suggestions?

thanks
Joe

PS Does anyone know why my IMG tags aren't making the pics show up, but rather they are just links?

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