lanky

My car is not disassembled so the above video isn't much help. I looked around but am still unsure if it's better to fasten the 2 screws first and use some kind of hook tool to stretch the spring OR to try hooking the spring first and then do the screws. It looks like the spring has to attach to the trim ring and bucket. There's so little room to work, I could use a 3rd arm.

I am getting ready to install relays for my front headlights, and I'm replacing the outer two lamps right now because they both went bad. I have been fighting with the stupid spring system that fastens the bulb assembly. Is the spring for the inner trim, the bucket, or both? Since the inner trim has the tab with the hole I figure it's at least for that. Does the front end of the spring curve upward or downwards? Mine was facing downward when I took the old lamps out. What is the darn secret with these things? I can't believe how difficult it is to assemble everything and I'm scared to death I will break the original inner trim or the new lamps. To be clear the old bulbs fight just as much, and from comparison I'm sure the bulbs aren't the issue. Why was such a thick spring used? Even with pliers and no bulb/bucket in the way I can barely stretch the spring at all. Seems like a softer one would work just as well right?

Yes that should work.

I got the 3g up and running. I used the common diagrams on the Web and it worked out great. Steady 14.30V to 14.35V in all conditions. When more amps are drawn, the voltage dips for just a moment and then gets right back to that range. My blower fan no longer changes speed on the high setting from idle to the car moving like it used to. Once I have more of it all buttoned up I will take some pics to show how I mounted everything. This really has me wanting to swap the battery to the trunk soon! I love that I can now go to any parts store and buy a replacement easily...or the junkyard on half off day...

1969mach: exactly! I wasn't expecting this problem. Today I fabbed up a simple extension bracket to span the space between the lower mounot and the alternator case, so that my alternator is unchanged.

Today I started installing a 130amp 3g alternator with the 7" ear spacing. I read everything I could before starting and thought it would be a drop in with some straight forward wiring. Here is my $.02 for those with a '69 and with a 351w. These cars have different alternator brackets from all other years I understand. You WILL need to fabricate an intermediary bracket for the lower mount. The 3g case (specifically the 8mm bolt) interferes with the cylinder head alternator mount bolt, the one on the right side. It interferes to much for an easy fix. This means that the alternator can't swing far enough towards the lower bracket for the bolts to go in (even though the spacing is correct). This also means your old belt won't work either. I'll save you time and let you know that the intermediary bracket should have its holes 3" apart center to center, and it should be thick steel like the factory brackets (~3/8" thick I believe). You will need to either make or find a spacer to take up the extra depth created by the intermediary bracket to keep the pulley straight. My last advice: don't bother messing with clocking the alternator case differently for 2 reasons. It's difficult to do (I gave up after doing exactly what I read other people did) AND you can break the aluminum case. It's nearly impossible to do without marring up the aluminum. One more reason not to bother is that if you do need to get a new one for a late model at the regular part store, your wiring would be setup for how you clocked it and not how they are when you buy one. Hope this saves someone some time!

If I could go back in time, I would have definitely gone with a coilover system. But my parts are nice and I sure as hell don't want to change it now.

Cost of springs aside, you get nice geometry improvement from doing this. Almost all modern cars use strut systems or a spring perch of some kind that is located as far outward in the suspension design as possible, because it is beneficial. Or a cantilever type suspensions use a link goes to the outward edges of the suspension for the same reason. Race cars have been doing one or the other for a long time. It helps ride quality by allowing the shock to control the wheel movement better (motion ratio), it helps the chassis resist body roll during turning, decreases stress in the suspension components and in our case the unibody because the spring is on the longer end of the lever now (lever meaning UCA), and although insignificant it does make the front end very slightly lighter haha. Yes I could just get lighter springs, but if I am buying new ones anyway I think its definitely worth my time even if it only helped a little. I just wish there was actual official inch pound ratings for all the offerings.

I don't need springs right now. Unless someone has some with a 420-480 in/lbs range

I have been running the springs in that link. I have a 351w w/fmx right now and I live in CA where roads suck, and like I said these springs are at the limit of stiffness I would want for any street car. I have bilstein shocks at all four corners. No I am not talking about the Shelby drop. You can drill new holes on the UCA further outboard which improves motion ratio and ride quality supposedly. However if you use the same set of springs it will ride stiffer. That is out of the question for me. The only limiting factors for how far out you can go is interference with the spring/shock covers and room on the UCA for holes. I have read that 1" is doable and some cars can have more. As far as the GW springs, 540 in/lbs X 1.2 (b/c they would act ~20% stiffer after the relocation)=648 in/lbs which is even stiffer than what I'm running now. I might end up having Detroit Spring make me springs. Doing this mod isn't at the top of my list right now, but if I found OTS useable springs I'm sure I would do it soon.

I have been searching everywhere trying to find consistent (key word) spring rates listed for all the different types of coil springs for our cars. As far as I can tell, the only consistent thing I have found is that the "620" springs everyone has talked about are called that because the diameter of the spring metal is .620", but even with regard to the "620's" I have read inconsistent information about what the spring rate actually is. I have seen everything from 560 in/lbs to 600 in/lbs. So many sellers of various springs might tell you the application they are for, but few to none say what the actual spring rate is. The reason I am interested in this is because I have been looking for a new set of springs that are roughly 20-30% softer than what I have :http://opentrackerracing.com/product/performance-coil-springs-1967-1973/ . I say 20-30% because I plan on doing the spring perch relocation, and because my cars front end is already at the tolerable limit of stiffness I will not do the relocation without softer springs. Those familiar with this mod know that it allows you to run a lighter spring but the effective spring rate can be the same. I don't know the exact % difference that would be ideal, but the threads I have seen estimate around 20% or so...I know I can't be exact as far as finding the perfect stiffness, but if the springs above are 600 in/lbs that would mean I am looking at a range between 420-480in lbs.

Yes I do. I would need to know if they're original and what motor the car had, and how much you want for them. If you want you guys can pm me.

Hey if anyone has some front springs from a 351w car that they would sell cheap plus shipping let me know...

Forgot to add make sure fuse (s) are used. I over-fuse everything for safety...

You need an ignition keyed 12v source to the inertia switches power inlet. Feed the inertia switches output to the relay trigger wire. Hook the fuel pumps power input to the output on the relay. Recently I spliced a relay into the ignition switch (so almost no amps are drawn through the switch) and wired up a secondary fuse box for all future needed keyed 12v. I've already used it for gauges, electric choke, and soon for the ignition signal for electric fans.

For the cost involved with rebuilding the FMX, plus the fact that many shops don't work with them as much as they do c4s, c6s, etc I would shoot for a 4r70w swap. Your existing flexplate and crossmember should work. You would need a controller and a TP cable but you would be getting a fantastic transmission with overdrive built in. I almost did this swap before going with a toploader. Use the search function, lots of info here and on google/other forums.

4.5 to about 4.25" backspacing will work with a 7" wide wheel in front. With 4" or less you would have your front tires very close to the fenders if not touching.

Mine had goo around the hoses...

Like MN69Grande said it is a two speed fan, and one wire is for low speed and one for high. It can be wired differently, however you want both fans spinning otherwise its pulling air through the unused fan not the radiator.

Does your shifter not have the shift knob that pulls upward or the little two lever prongs for reverse lockout? My toploader from a 68' had the shift knob groove that gets pulled upward before trying to engage reverse.

I have poly ron morris mounts. Slight increase but totally tolerable for me.

What I meant by my comment was that if I had 17x8 TTII's with 4.5" backspacing, or my current setup, the tire and actual rim (not wheel spokes but actual rim) is in the the same place. Meaning force from the tire is sent through the bearings/hubs in the same way. Those who mention wheel bearings are correct ONLY if the whole wheel (rim and tire) is moved outward and yes that would put more stress on the wheel bearing. By this logic switching to any wheel combination wider than factory adds stress to parts, even if its only wider on the inboard side (leverage works both ways). Ideally I totally agree don't run them if you can avoid it, definitely. I do believe wheel adapters are usually better than wheel spacers too, for the fact that a proper wheel adapter self-centers while tightening and very few spacers are designed this way. I have learned from the racetrack that a lot more cars than you think run wheel spacers (not adapters). Yea yea I know they're not street cars, but wheel spacers aren't exactly a guaranteed death sentence either. For you or your bearings.

I have 1.5" wheel adapters (with their own studs) with 05+ GT wheels. I run 235/45 and because I am running near 7 degrees of caster I had to slightly trim the wheelwell in front. If I was running less caster they would fit fine. With adapters like I am running, I always step-torque the lug nuts on both the spacers and the wheels when installing just to be safe they are absolutely centered. I have ran the car this way for years with no problems. If there is not play between the wheel adapters and wheels I fail to see how they would stress the wheel bearings anymore than if I was running equivalent wheels with the same amount of backspace. If you go 1.5" in back you will need longer wheel studs unless you have already changed them.

Which style arms did you get? The shafts sometimes look like they can be mounted either way, but one side of the shaft is meant to be towards the car and one side away. I have ORP roller upper arms and this is the case for them.

I also have one complete with snorkel and heat tube