Installing Subframe Connectors 

Good advice, I should have mentioned that. :)

Yeah, these parts are great. It's always cool how one part can drastically change the car. :)

Agreed!

You can do it!

I never understood it either. :)

Thanks 👍

Thanks!

Yeah, there are lots of good brands out there. :)

Thank you! Cheers!

@@AndyKruseChannel no problem.

Glad you enjoyed it

Yes, good shocks can go along way. :)

This is one of those parts that most people won't be able to tell the improvement made to the car. I look at it like it's part of a larger modification. Meaning, the subframe connectors, plus additional chassis stiffening, plus larger sway bar, plus panhard bar, plus better suspension, etc, all add up to a better handling car. While this car will not out perform most of today's sportscars, it's a massive improvement over what came from the factory, and that's what I'm trying to do. To speak on these specific bars vs other brands, I chose these due to their ease of installation and price. If I had it to do all over again, I might pick a different brand, but those other brands would be more expensive and require more effort during the installation. It's things like brand B is harder to install, costs 3-4x more, offers maybe 10-20% more rigidity, and is 2 months out compared to brand A (what I have here) that was on the shelf, can bolt in or weld in (I recommend weld in), and fit everyone's budget. :)

You should, I don't think you'll be disappointed. :)

No problem

It's all part of the show, need to dramatize everything to keep you hooked!

Nope, not for stuff like this. You could remove the ground for the battery if you were concerned, but it's fine. Maybe if you were welding near the gas tank (like right next to it), it might be worth exploring the options to remove the fuel, but it's fine as long as you're not welding to the gas tank. :)

Thx a lot, need to do a weld on the rear fender.

​@@benzin47mon ami the mercury cougar is such a Beautiful car. Well done. Respect from Fiji. My uni rugby team coach was a Frenchman who was also the coach for Stanford university during their playing season. Best wishes! #V8Freedom

I have thought about it, but it's expensive and I have a lot of items still on the list. :)

I had these same subframe braces (but I bolted them instead of welding them) on my last car where I had the Hellwig rear sway, no issues at all. The panhard bar is even farther away from these subframe braces, so you're ready to rock!

Strong torque boxes would help, but they don't impact how the back half of the car works with respect to the front half. :)

@@AndyKruseChannel Are you sure? Load path from the front suspension (assuming no front torque boxes) is front frame rails to footwell/cowl to rocker panels. Rocker panels back to rear torque boxes to rear suspension. The wider your can disperse the torsional loads the better. So although it seems logical to just tie the subframes together the reality is for torsional loads going through the rockers and torque boxes is actually better.

I'm not arguing the impact torque boxes have on the torsional load of the car, but these bars are meant to improve the torsional rigidity from the front half to the rear half of the car. Relying on the floor pan to do the work is not ideal.

I think it would take a trained driver to notice the difference, but that doesn't mean it's not helping each time you drive. I look at this part as just one piece of many that I need to make this car handle better than it did in the 60's. :)

I think people can weld that in place there and it would be a better connection. I elected to bolt it in as I wasn't sure about my future plans.

Because these braces are reducing the torsion of the chassis between the front and rear frame rails, the holes that the bolts go through will be stressed over time. This will reduce the stiffness of the connection as the bolts begin to move about within those holes. The weld bars still see the same stress, but the welds will maintain the stiffness as there's no moving parts or connections that can be moved. I put these same bars on my last Mustang, but I didn't have the car long enough to observe the effects of the bolted connection. I'm in the same boat with this car, I haven't had them installed long enough to notice the welded connection. I have also upgraded so many suspension related components that it's getting difficult to notice the changes I make as everything is "stacking up" and the car is tightening up over the soft stock setup. :)

@@AndyKruseChannel my set up rack and pinion. CPP UCA&LCA. Global west 600 lbs coil springs Bilstein Sports shocks all the way around. Reverse mid leafs (4.5.) 1 inch sway. Monte Carlo The biggest improvement I have seen over everything is the CPP Mini subframe delete caster rods and bushings. I can’t rec this enough. My car sticks in the turns. I don’t have torque boxes. But I feel I don’t need them after doing that mini front frame.

Sounds like a pretty good list. Wait until you install a Panhard Bar, it'll change your life. :)

@@AndyKruseChannel but I am not running a rear sway bar. I didn’t like the mounting fixtures it came with. Are you running rear sway?

@@luckyluciano4968 Nope, I do not have a rear sway bar and I currently don't plan to add one. I had arear sway on my previous Mustang, but after learning about Panhard Bars, I'll probably never think about them again (for Classic Mustangs). :)

The cheap ones. :)

@@AndyKruseChannel cool than I’ll buy your quick jack :p.

Maybe, these would need to be welded to have any chance of helping reduce the warping during the pan install. :)

How do you like them? Did you notice any difference in how the car felt or handled?

@@AndyKruseChannel doing mine this fall on my 68 coupe... Andy, curious why you did not weld the back ?? I'm hearing only good things about the subframe connectors for the mustangs , I had them on my 97 convertible back in the day and it was NIGHT AND DAY !

@@Ralphis1970 I need to weld the back ends, but I think I might need to do some patch work to the frame back there, so I was holding off until I determine what I need to do. :)

@@AndyKruseChannel Smart man then ;-) great videos by the way. Appreciated that you take the time to do so.

Don't tempt me!!

@@AndyKruseChannel TEMPT! TEMPT!

These connect the front frame with the rear frame, instead of relying on the unibody to do the work. You might be thinking of the lower crossmember that connects the two front frame rails to each other?

I wonder if it’s for other models? Or possibly to be bolted in? But I agree, it seems to be useless. 😁

Maybe support so the bolt won’t shear off?