We've been looking into doing a coilover swap on our 72 while everything is out of the car. I plan on notching the shock towers as well but not until I know exactly how much I need to cut. Has anyone tried Alden American Shocks on their cars? The kit includes everything to do all four corners too. Thank you. https://www.jegs.com/i/Aldan-American-Shocks/038/300124/10002/-1
Hi, We cut the shock towers in my Comet. It was a 2.5 inch cut in the area just above the upper control arm and basically a line straight up, plated with what looks to be 1/8th inch steel (a bit overkill ... it was done at a drag car chassis shop). Looking at it now, the cut was a good idea. So much more room to work on it now, spark plug changes are a breeze. If doing it over, I would salvage the factory piece cut out and move it over, with a pie-shaped cut, wide at the bottom, and not so much up top. The factory stamping would make it harder to detect anything had been done.... except for the horizontal ridge down low. I have a 351W in the car, and it came with a 302. This was done in the mid-1990s when the swap was the way to get more cubes. With stroker kits out there now and the wide selection of heads, I would do a 302-based motor. The reason why is available exhaust headers for the 302 in this car are widely available. You can get big tube headers for a 302. With the 351, the exhaust wants to be in the same place as the upper A-arm bolts. I can't stress enough how tight this is. Also ran into clearance problems with the oil filter and you definitely have no choice but to cut the hood even with a low rise intake. You can easily build a 331 (my choice) or a 347 out of a 302 now. The savings on the exhaust headers will probably pay for the stroker kit. Unless you go strut front suspension .... eliminate the towers completely, then 460 motor, and I just saw one stroked to a 501. LOL.
