Modifying 66 Fairlane Shock towers.

[garyv]

Looking at modifying the shock towers in my 66 to get a little more clearance.
I know this has been done before.
Looking for some pictures and details if anyone has any.
Searched the FE forum and didn't really find what I was looking for.
Rather ask here first.
Appreciate any info.
Thanks
garyv

[machoneman]

A Mustang but..........

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/suspension-articles/498392-notching-shock-towers.html

[jayb]

Here's a couple of photos of a Boss 429 conversion in a Mustang, in case that might help.  If you don't want to move the top shock and spring mount, you can cut a pretty large section out of the shock tower without having anything hit with the suspension moving.  Get under the car and measure the distance from the coil spring to the inside of the shock tower.  You will have at least a couple inches from the spring to the inside of the shock tower down towards the control arm.  Starting at the most inboard point of the shock tower up at the top, you can cut straight down, and maybe even towards the outside of the car, and take a notch out of the shock tower.  You can go down as far as a couple inches above the upper control arm mounting points.  After you cut it you can fill the hole with a couple flat pieces of steel welded in place.  I did this a long time ago on a Mustang, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures.  But again there is a lot of room there between the edge of the coil spring and the inboard edge of the shock tower, and when you cut the towers back to take advantage of this you will get a lot more room around the plugs and exhaust ports.

Hope that helps - Jay

[garyv]

That is exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks guys

[cammerfe]

When we did the suspension that I referenced in the TP thread, we discovered that the position of the engine results in the exhaust ports being aimed, from very close, at the pivot shaft for the upper arm. Our answer was to move the pivot mount down and outboard and shorten the 'A' arm. Think of it as a sort of 'Super' GT350 mod. (We used circle-track replacement tubular arms that are easily available in a plethora of sizes. And they're quite inexpensive due to being regularly smashed against a wall in that kind of racing.) If you are going to go to the work and trouble of doing fabrication you might just as well get all the benefits you can while you are at it.

For what it's worth, I copied the article I wrote and posted it in the 332-428 forum some years ago. You might be able to resurrect it if you can get the 'search' to work for you.

KS

[JamesonRacing]

Agree completely with CammerFE.  To gain header clearance, you need to either lower the upper A-arm mounting location (Shelby-style mod) or change the arm all together.  You can move the top of the tower out to make it easier to reach the spark plugs, but that isn't all that helpful for overall clearance.