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| Pane |
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G'day
I've heard around the traps that you can move the upper control arm of the xd-xf falcons front end downwards. This is surposed to aid in the handling department of these models. Does anyone know how its done or what is done to move it. Cheers
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| Interceptor |
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it can be done, and it originated as a shelby modification to mustangs in the mid-late 60's
problem is, on falcons, you cant drop them much lower before the reinforcing plate that the upper control arm is bolted to ends all that is done is a pair of holes are drilled 3/4"-1" lower than the existing upper contol arm mount holes
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| Pane |
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So do i do it myself or does someone have to do it for me. I'm thinking that this would be an engineers certificate mod would it not? And be f**ked if i'm going through the trouble of getting another engineers report. The one i'm getting atm is being a pain in the behind.
I want to drop the arms down to match my drop spindles, so that way the geometry of the car is about the same as it would have been if it were standard. Cheers
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you shouldnt need to change anything on your suspenion to match a set of drop spindles
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| Pane |
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The reason for the change is to move the roll centre of the front suspension. Becasue the drop spindles play with the geometry of the front suspension. (It chnages 3mm) the drop in top control arm should even it out.
You dont need to make the change but i want the car to handle better than it does now. Cheers
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the biggest benefit to be gained with lowering the upper control arm mounting point is to bring the upper control arm from a slight downward slope away from the car to dead level at normal ride height
as you drive along, the upper control arm has a slight downward slope, but when you pull into a corner, the suspension loads up, and as the car pushes down, the control arm moves up, and untill it reaches the point of being horizontal, it pushes the top of the wheel outwards, reducing the amount of rubber on the road, but as it continues up, it brings the top of the tyre back towards the body of the car, bringing more rubber (as well as putting more force on the tread and not the sidewall) into contact with the road surface for most people, the standard setup is fine, but in performace/competition or hard driven street cars, that short time that the top of the wheel is pushed away from the car (thereby reducing the tyres contact patch on the road) can be enough to send you off into the dirt.....
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| Pane |
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I'll have to check my measurements but i think that with the hq stub axles the wheel moves into positive camber by 3mm when the arm flattens out.
Because the hq stub axle is shorter than the xf one it takes longer for the arm to flatten out, thus causing the top of the tyre to have less contact patch for a longer period of time. I spoke to early bird falcons and the suspension shop that also race historic touring cars. They drop the top control for the exact reasons you have said. They both suggested to me to do the same thing because of the drop spindles. If i didn't want the car to be a nice handler it wouldn't matter but cause i wont it to handle close to a new car it should be done. The other concern with dropping the top control arm is the angle on the ball joints. I wont know whether it will be an issue until i decide on the spring height i want to run. Cheers
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yea, mustangs that have lowered upper control arm mounts have issues with the top ball joint binding if the pper control arm mounting point is lowered too far..... i believe the usual fix is for a wedge shim to be mounted between the upper control arm and the top ball joint when the ball joint is fitted to the control arm.....
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| Pane |
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Yeah spot on, as for what size the shims are it depends on the amount of angle you need to get rid of.
Cheers
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from what i've seen of the parts available for mustangs, there's only one size/thickness of wedge available
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| muzzlecar |
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Apologies for the massive threadmine here - I picked up the link off a newer post.
Pane, how did you end up going with the upper control arm relocation mod? Cheers, Hamish.
_________________ 250ci 4-speed XD S-Pack, XE S-Pack front bar & rear bumper, 14"x7" & 14"x8" Chevoit 5-slotters, 60mm drop, Fairlane interior, Clarion CD tuner, 4" & 6"x9"s, Pioneer amp. |
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| falcon33 |
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the roll centre is an imaginary point where ,if you drew a line through the upper arm; the lower arm and the steering arm(tie rods). they would meet in a central location between the front suspension. a formula one car's suspension does this. the standard street cars are a compromise due to the need to carry passengers in comfort. the xy.gt falcons and some mustangs did the same modification that you mention.(in the case of the g.t's i beleive the upper arms were also spaced out by 1 eight of an inch)
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| falcon33 |
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p.s. dropped spindles should't change the steering geometry at all.
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