i was looking through the junkyard today and i noticed that a 1998 mustang front end assembly is a bolt on self contained unit.it seems as though with a bit of fabrication i could put this nearly 30 year newer assembly into my maverick and make it easier to get the mav to handle better.it has a real rugged crossmember and holes that look like they will be easy to adapt to my fe block. i guess the width of the frame rails will be different.i gotta try it.
Keep us posted and take lots of pics! There are some SN95 Mustangs in few junkyards around here. My dad's handles VERY well around corners and stuff. It would be awesome to get a Maverick to handle like that.
thats what i was thinking too.i was watching the indy car practice today here at watkins glen. handling was on my mind 3.4 miles in 1:33.81 awesome!
My uncle is putting a build 283 into his 2dr '47 Nash. For the extra weight in the front end, and better handling/spindle drop, he's using a mustang 2 front end. What he did was measure it, cut it to fit like the stock axle, then plated the top and bottom with C-channel, and then the sides with plate, it's stronger than stock..and fits well, also effectivly changed the bolt pattern from the Nash's which is a hard to find one, if i were you, i'd be worried about bolt pattern issues as well, for matching wheels If you ever need pics, i could sure send some to ya on request
I'm not sure what the 98 looks like compared to the 93 but the 93 I junked I looked at to see if it was adaptable. It wasent. The mustang frame kicked way up in front of the firewall where ours dont.
thats one thing i was pondering but what i wonder is if the top a arm holes will line up close to the mustang frame work.the mustang frame is wider so i think it may fit over the outside of the frame.i measured the outside of a 2001 mustang with the wheels on it. its around 70 inches,with a different wheel the assembly it should fit inside the maverick fenderwells.my thoughts at this time are to use a heavy angle iron to adapt to the top holes then make a shock tower mount on this to make it sturdier and more durable.with this set up i should be able to completely eliminate the existing shock tower except the top a arm mounting point.i want to use the lower arm mount to provide a mounting point for the cross member.if not i will remove it and weld a bracket to the existing sub frame.then i am considering extending my frame connectors to tie in to the back mustang mounts.of course this may not work but i need to get the parts together to find out.i am not sure how much the difference will be weight wise,but the balance should be comparable to a camaro or nova from the same era most likely less weight as the chevy sub frame is constructed of heavy steel.
I believe the SN95's have the same (FOX) suspension as the '87+. Good luck, Burlap. Sounds like some work ahead of you but will probably well worth the effort. "Dibs" on you doing mine next if it works out!
i used to build prototypes in a machine shop years back my nephew is an expert welder and fabricator and his wife does prototype work at the machine shop he works for.we are going to try to do this so the parts can be fabricated in the shop and possibly be in a kit form.supply your own front assembly.if it works out these will be made in the good ol' usa!!
Sure be nice if someone can verify it works. Cheaper than doing an aftermarket M-II swap from scratch. I am sure you could snag a decent parts mustang for less than $2500.
My concern with this set up is the height of the frame rails on the fox chassis compared to the maverick. the distance from the ground to the frame rail is much higher on the fox which means cutting the frame rails off of the maverick to use the stock K-member arrangement. If someone would engineer a bolt in Maverick K-member utilizing the stock Maverick frame rails, I think that would kick a$$ due to significant weight savings and handling ability without the dangers of front-halving a car. I would be interested to see if this guy ever finished it. He may have figured out a solution. If you went with a coil over conversion for the SN95 and just used the K-member for lower control arm and engine mounting it would save a lot of work since our cars are supported on the upper shock tower anyway. You should be able to shave the entire lower shock tower back to the frame rail.
