Description
Replace your heavy, non-adjustable leaf springs and transform the ride and handling of your 65-73 Mustang!
This huge step forward in rear suspension technology for your 65-73 Mustang completely replaces the heavy and non-adjustable leaf springs and stock type shocks with a fully adjustable, modern system. Rear end positioning is easily adjusted forward, backward, side to side and up and down. Ride height changes and corner weighting are a snap to adjust and transform the car into a balanced, corner carving machine. Custom valved Bilstein shock absorbers and industry leading Hypercoil springs give you exceptional ride and control from your classic Mustang.
A quick benefits list of our coil over system compared to a conventional spring/shock arrangement would be:
- Easy installation. Our Watts Link Frame and 3rd Link Frame bolt into the frame rails and transmission tunnel. Rear trailing arm brackets and rear 3rd link brackets need to be welded to the housing. We designed our system this way so you can bolt the frames into the chassis and then if you cannot weld you can take the housing somewhere to someone that can. Its easier to take a housing somewhere than the chassis! Purchase one of our Full Floating 9″ Rear End Systems at the same time as our 3rd Link System and we’ll fixture and weld all the brackets in the correct spot. If you wish to use the conventional axle design, we have you covered there also, you can order one of our 100% new 9″ housings with Torino bearing ends.
- Easy ride height adjustment. Our shocks feature a threaded sleeve, simply rotate the adjuster with the supplied wrench to raise, lower or cross weight the car. No cutting springs, no guessing.
- 1:1 motion ratio allows use of lighter springs and more shock motion for improved control.
- Rear exit exhaust compatible up to 3″ pipe.
- We’ve designed our system to feature super easy spring/shock removal. The entire spring/shock assembly is held on by 1 bolt on the top and 1 bolt on the bottom. No spring compressors, no swearing.
- Monoball bearing shock ends further reduce bind found in stock setup. This transmits road forces directly to the spring & shock allowing it to do what its designed to do and get the tire back on the road quicker for more control and better handling. Other systems on the market that use rubber or polyurethane shock bushings will bind during regular suspension travel and slow down the shocks reaction to bumps.
- Our billet 3rd Link Bearing Support installs inside the transmission tunnel and enables us to achieve a longer 3rd link than the S197 Boss 302.
- Complete Bilstein 3-Link Coilover System is 30lbs lighter than the leaf spring system we took off our 66 test car.
- Shock valving and spring rates are matched to our front Bilstein Front Coilover System. When you equip your vehicle with both systems that are designed to work together, you’ll achieve a superbly balanced chassis.
Just like our Bilstein Front Coilover System, we worked for a full year (in fact the testing and development never ends) computing motion ratios, wheel rates, sprung and un-sprung weights, critical damping and a massive list of other variables to design our own proprietary Street, Sport and Race shock & spring combinations specific to the 65-73 Mustang and other vintage Fords. We do NOT use a standard ‘off the shelf shock’ that simply fits in the space and ‘sort of feels right’. Each shock and spring package is designed based on the vehicles weight and intended use. Alongside the year of math, shock curves and shock dyno time we drove many, many street miles and 100’s of laps on our favorite racetracks for a real world ‘seat of the pants’ validation of each combination.
The shock valving & spring combinations available for our Bilstein 3-Link Coil Over System are:
Street
We feel that this combination rides as close to a modern production car as you are likely to get from your classic. That was our goal and we feel we’ve met that. Choose this system if you want a smooth yet responsive ride from your classic that you can drive for hours and hours without feeling beaten up.
Sport
We worked really hard on this package to design it for all those dual purpose street or open track cars out there. This package gives a smooth, crisp, controlled ride on the street but can also handle bouncing off the curbs and sticky tires at the road course. Choose this system if you like carving around bends, on/off ramps and/or open tracking with NO need to switch shocks or click gimmicky knobs.
Race
For our race setup, the shock gets switched for one with a Schrader valve to adjust/set nitrogen pressure. With a shock inflator gauge like #LON50473 and a tank of nitrogen from your local welding supply store, this enables the customer to change gas pressure beneath the dividing piston. Choose this option for a dedicated track car. This valving can also be built into a Bilstein shock without the Schrader valve should you not wish to have the option to tune gas pressure but still want the race setup. A lap of Road America showed this setup was 3 seconds faster than the Sport! Beaten on around Road America, Gingerman Raceway, Waterford Hills and Autobahn Country Club this setup is quick and very durable.
Double Adjustable
Set the rebound and compression at #1 and you have our Street valving, set both at #5 and you have our Sport valving, both at #10 and you have our Race valving! Feel free to play anywhere in between to tune the ride how YOU want. This all aluminum shock body w/spring is 1.6lbs lighter than our standard steel bodied Bilstein shock assembly and features ride height adjustment threads on the body instead of a separate sleeve. The aluminum body will lower un-sprung weight and shed heat quicker for longer lasting high performance.
Select valving under ‘Options’ in the drop down menu’s above.
Double adjustable shock shown
Front trailing arm mount options:
Leaf spring hole
Quickly and easily install the trailing arms into the stock forward leaf spring mount. Perfect for those looking for the simplest install while still benefiting from excellent geometry and no wheel hop.
Frame rail mount
Lowers and lengthens the trailing arms which improves the Side View Swing Angle by 51% – reducing pinion angle change during suspension travel. Requires welding brackets to chassis. Choose this option for mini-tubbed cars and maximum suspension performance.
Select under ‘Options’ in the drop down menu’s above.
System includes:
- Street or Track Watts Link – bolt in design, multiple positive roll center height adjustment points.
- 3rd Link frame – bolt in design, billet 3rd Link bearing support.
- 3rd Link – press formed from a single piece of material eliminates failure points, contoured to follow the trunk floor to allow maximum clearance for lowered cars.
- Custom valved Bilstein coilover shocks fitted with shaft mounted bump stops, thrust bearing washers and Hypercoil springs.
- Trailing arms and brackets.
- Hardware required to install the system.
- Spanner wrench to adjust ride height.
- Detailed instructions.
Applications:
- 65-73 Mustangs
