I'm wondering if there is another route for suspention upgrade rather than mustang II

I met a fellow who used his wishbone suspention
added disc brakes and a newer steering box . I'm not sure what else he made have done but he was quite happy with his settup .

gerry, i used a beam axle suspension in a 1940 ford a few years ago. i used a 'Super Bell' 4" dropped axel, split wishbones[you want as little distance apart as possible]with a "Chassis Engineering" wishbone spliting kit. you will have to modify your center section, C.E. makes this also. i used chevy pow.strng. box and disc. brakes.Also had sway bar. it rode, drove, and handled well. now, i have known some guys that did this without buying all the aftermarket stuff,
and really had cars that worked as well as mine, if you are a preety good fabricator you could also. if, like me, you aren't then you will need to buy this stuff and it will cost as much as the Mll. the ride and drive is about the same[have a Mll in a 46 at present, building another 40, this time with Mll. if you think that you are up for fabing stuff, i'll be glad to give as much info as i can. Joe

let me add this, with the Mll you have many more options for spring rates, performance bushings, sway bars and you can add dropped spindles Joe

If you're on a budget, you might consider using a front clip off another car. I used a nova clip on my 35 sedan, it was cheap. Main concern is getting a clip that's the right width so the tires fit under the fender, get it straight and plum, tires in the center of the fenders etc. Also, unless you're an expert welder, have a professional weld it for you. You should be able to buy and install one for about a 1/3 of what the MustangII costs. Also, there is a technician by the name of PHAT on this site that can give you much more detailed info than just the basics as I did. He is a master and I believe he does work such as this for a living. In any event, I'm well satisfied with my nova clip and got it in and down the road for a song. Good Luck

I have done two MII conversions, put a 70s Monte Carlo front clip in a '57 Chevy Pickup (sweet. Hard to tell it wasn't there forever.), have stock drilled and chromed I-beam in my '36 Willys Gasser, and plan on rebuilding my stock '53 Chevy pickup I beam front end for current restoration. Point is, there are no rules (except for the current batch 'in charge' of street rodding who dictate what is in and what is out. Ignore them.), just what YOU want your car to be like. That's the beauty of hot rodding it's totally personal.

I agree with Willys, do it your way. I have a 50 Chevy Panel truck with Mustang II, and a 40 Ford, being built as early 50s custom, with a dropped axel, split wishbones, stock spindles, disc brakes with brackets from MP and other parts from doner car. Point being, decide what YOU want.
Jack

I am not sure why so many people go nuts over the Mustang-II front end (being in Australia, I have never seen one out of a car....)

I have a '51 F1 that has 'lost' the I-beam front-end, and been replaced by a Mitsubishi L300 (a courier van type thing) cross-member, Mitsubishi Triton (4x2 & 4x4 ute) stubs + rotors (they are stronger and use standard Ford stud pattern). A steering rack out of an early Holden Commodore (GM) and a Ford Cortina steering column.

Every fits together and there is no cut'n'shut required.

All you need to do is find one of the crusty old blokes who has been working at fixing cars all his life to ask what fits to what. This rack is low profile, the shocks go inside the springs, and it ties the front end together as well as lowering it right to the deck.

Hope this helps....

Gerry I agree to using other than mustangII setups becuz I don't like rack&pinion steering, had them seize on me & others, they require maintenance to replace that fluid regularly and also they are difficult to add an anti-sway bar to. I don't know what you're building but often a late sixties camaro/firebird front subframe is used, its very similar to Nova (& sistercars)through 1974. I intend to go this route on my 35 Hudson cpe. Some latermodel IFS will work with more effort. I've done the measuring & intend to use a '80s to '90's camaro IFS on a '34 chev sedan. This requires the addition of a strong bracket to secure the top of the mcferson strut but will help the handing alot & keep it all Chev.
Goodluck either way.

I am building a '47 gmc with a 400 SB motor and I am using the front and rear end of a Jaguar XJ6 good independant suspention with disks all round, it has power steering as well.