Monte Carlo Bar

Hi,

This is a fairly common occurance

on a Mustang. Your idea of jacking up

the car can work as can a tool (porto-power

or something similar is what it's called)

that press's the front end apart to fit the

bar. You also have to make sure you have a

correct monte carlo bar, of course.

We had to use a this tool when we fitted a bar

on my friends 1970, Shelby GT350 Convertible

that he wanted a monte carlo bar on. It was really

needed as the front had sagged inwards more than

an inch.

Good luck.

/Bo

There are generally two problems, one is the distance between the shock towers and the other is the quality of the monte bars. Most of the bars are made in China now and the bolt holes on the bars don't fit well, so you may have to drill some of them to get the bar to fit. If you need to spread the shock towers you can start by using a floor jack at the center of the cross member near the pan. If you can't get any incremental gain in the width with the floor jack then it's a bit more challenging. Find someone who knows how to use a porta power or you'll end up damaging your engine compartment.

A little late but I have had success installing Monte

Carlo bars after jacking up the front of the car and, with

1 jackstand each under the torque boxes at the firewall,

suspend the car weight on the 2 jackstands. In every case,

tho, the Mustang unibody has been structually sound...no

major rust problems to possibly cause unibody distortion.

Easy way out: take your torch and heat the center of the bar enough to squeeze it into position. When using a bar w/ the curved center portion to clear an air cleaner, it's barely noticeable.