Shelby UCA Drop & Roller Spring Perch Install - 1968 Mustang Coupe

In today’s video, we’re working on a 1968 Mustang coupe, and we tackle the installation of Opentracker Racing roller spring perches, and perform a Shelby/Arning upper control arm relocation while we’re at it. These two mods will drastically reduce the “understeer” built into these cars from the factory. By allowing the front suspension to “work” the way it is supposed to, it will change the handling manners from its current “understeer in all conditions” to a much sportier “throttle on- oversteer, throttle off- neutral” setup. Add in a Shelby-spec front-end alignment, and this little pony should wake right up on the road!
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Roller Spring Perches:
opentrackerrac...
(Provided for reference; no compensation from Opentracker was provided for featuring these products - we just really like these parts!)
Shelby Alignment Specs:
1) No more than 0.25 degrees difference between driver and passenger side
2) +2.0 to +3.5 degrees caster
3) -0.5 to 0 degrees camber. NO positive camber.
4) 1/16” to 1/8” toe in.
Music Credit:
Gearhead by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@parkerazz4385]

Very handy custom tool

[@donsmanufactory]

Looks like your spring perches are in backwards.

[@oldschoolautomotive2660]

Nope, that would only be true if they were factory-style rubber-bushed, which they are not. These are rollers, so not only can they be installed in either orientation, both Global West and OpenTracker suggest purposely mounting the perches "backwards" with the tab and spring tail outboard. Supposedly makes for a slightly lower stance, and better handling. But the bottom line is that roller perches can be mounted either way, unlike their factory counterparts.

[@donsmanufactory]

@@oldschoolautomotive2660 - Very interesting I did not know that, obviously.

[@MrBigal123123]

soooo.... did it make a difference? does the drop help with bump steer?

[@oldschoolautomotive2660]

The drop isn't meant to help with bumpsteer, it's meant to change the camber curve of the suspension to make the front end "grippier", and that it does! In the 60s, Ford was worried that a sport suspension would be a liability on the street; that a car that would oversteer would end up causing people to wreck, and thus bring lawsuits. So to prevent that, Ford purposely gave the Mustang a camber curve that would cause the car to understeer in all conditions - this was believed to be more predictable for the average driver. By lowering the upper control arm mounting point, as theorized by Claus Arning and used to good effect by Caroll Shelby, the new camber curve made the front end "stick", allowing for throttle-on oversteer/throttle-off neutral handling, rather than the factory understeer. This is much more suited to sport/performance driving, and this mod does exactly that. As to bump steer, that is addressed differently- by changing the mounting point of the tie rod end in relation to the steering knuckle. It's the subject of a completely different modification, and has nothing to do with UCA lowering and roller perches.