My 1985 Manta Mirage currently has a Mustang II set up. I've been doing research and trying to learn about them. It seems there were different generations of these set ups. I plan to stay with this vs. fabricating say a C4 or C5 onto the car. But I plan to replace everything. I want to get a drop spindle, larger disc brakes, new upper and lower tubular control arms and change to the Chevy pattern so all 4 wheels will be the same. Any thoughts or advice on this or if anyone has gone down this road any input will be well received here!
The Mustang II suspension design is not bad, and a fairly decent unequal length arm suspension. Adding the dropped upright will make it more compatible with a lowered chassis. With all the aftermarket support provided to this suspension, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to do everything you've listed. I am using the the C4 front uprights, so if you've considered fabricating tubular arms, then it wouldn't be much added work to use the early C4 front uprights anyway. They are nice aluminum pieces, and have the bearing assembly as a bolt-on assembly...very convenient compared to the Mustang II hub design. Lastly, the C4's later version had the upright increased in height by about an inch (the top half was extended), which gives some flexibility when looking at pick-up point locations on the main frame for your arms, but the later-model C4 upright probably would not fit inside of any wheel smaller than 17". My shorter early C4 will just barely fit a 15" wheel (barely).
Thanks for all that great feedback. For now I want to spend time driving it and based on the level of spirited driving I do I think I'll just upgrade the Mustang II suspension. Here are some pics of my current suspension. My thoughts are to get new upper and lower control arms, lateral brace bar, new rotors 11"+, new calipers 2-4 piston, new struts (I still have to figure out how to spec the struts out) and Chevy 5 lug pattern from the Ford 4 lug. I may drop in a new rack and pinion as well. I'm sure this new set up will make a huge difference.
Yeah, I can see where the areas of improvement are desired. Being this is up on a jack with what appears to be an unloaded suspension, it would appear that your setup may be close if not actually binding on the spring at or near full bump.
When I bought the disassembled factory Mirage demonstrator, CA license plate "MANTA 2", the factory had started to convert its front suspension from VW to Mustang II. I had to figure out what they had intended to do and then finish the job as well as to restore and re-assemble the car.
The original brake rotors were small for a car of this performance potential so Manta Cars replaced the Mustang II hubs with Chrysler hubs from a "K-Car" series. The rotors are larger and the hubs slip right on the Ford spindle. Even the wheel bearings are the same. An adapter for the calipers was not difficult to fabricate. I used the Ford A-arms but cleaned up the sharp edge o the stampings and boxed he low arm for strength & stiffness. I fabricated a strut arm and converted the springs to an Aldan coil-over shock.
I think for simplicity I'd like to work with the Mustang II set up and to avoid too much fabrication as that is not in my skill set. I see on-line numerous street rod after market applications where it looks like I can get tubular control arms, new rotors and calipers, and change to the Chevy wheel bolt pattern to have a matched set.
Do you think I am on the right track so that these components will bolt onto what I have in place. Also, when it comes to the new coil overs I am uneducated as to the type, length, and specs on what should go into this set up.
Neil it looks like your upper control arm mounts are totally different than mine are. I also am trying to accomplish the upgrade without removing the body from the frame. I like being able to drive the car so don't want it down any longer than I have to. I see some day in the future down the road when I have all the various components together that I'll probably take the whole thing apart with my son and do a frame off with it.
That is correct Ken. It's been a while for me since doing this work, but I believe that under the fiberglass (at least on mine) is a wooden wiring board that may require some stuff disconnected before removing the front bodywork. All of this Mickey Mouse was the main reason I sectionalized my front body into three separate panels, mostly for maintenance easy-access reasons. Attached is a photo of what was awaiting me when I removed the front bodywork. I cannot remember what had to be disconnected before it could be completely removed.
Yes, removing the front fiberglass body section does involve removing the windshield since it is bonded into that section. The windshield comes off attached to the body. It basically consists of removing lots of 1/4-20 screws from inserts in the chassis tubes. The wiring may be easy or difficult, depending on how the original builder did it. MANTA 2 was wired with connectors so it was an easy job.
Another approach might be to just unbolt the front body and tip it up far enough to gain better access to the front suspension without disconnecting the wiring. You might need to unbolt the nose/radiator support to do that-- 4 more bolts.
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