I just wanted to send a shout out to Mike Maier products. First off, no affiliation. I have a 69’ conv. that I’ve been restoring over the last 3 years. The project started out with trying to stop all of the leaks after purchase of a clean, stock, rust free California car. As slippery slopes go, the shop helping me with this suggested it was a few grand to fix all of the leaks or about double that to do a complete rebuild of the stock 351W and power steering mess. This turned into while the engine is out, lets replace the 50 year old suspension with new 50 year old tech, suspension parts to keep everything stock, blah, blah. Long story made longer, everything front to rear was replaced, or rebuilt. I found that I just was not driving it much, and while it worked great, it was still easier to take a different (newer) car most places and let the Cougar sit. I’ve long thought about changing out the stock suspension, and ended up having a long conversation with Mike about this. I said, " it is a driver, I want to drive and enjoy it. I don’t want to turn it into an uncomfortable race car for the streets". I want to cruise and have something that handles nicely but remains comfortable. From this conversation Mike laid out a path with various options to do it piecemeal or all at once. To date, the rear shocks are now Bilsteins, along with a panhard rod setup. The front end has been set up with his coilover kit, shock tower brace, and upper A-arms. The car is transformed into something I want to drive pretty much anywhere. It is very comfortable, handles like a modern sedan (yes, I realize it’s a two door car) and inspires confidence over any surfaces. It is compliant but a lot more fun and agile. All of the OEM/Repro stuff has been removed with less than 1000 miles on it. It worked fine and is in perfect condition if anyone needs this stuff. If anyone is considering rebuilding their suspension, please take a look at Mike’s stuff. He fabricates pretty much all of it in his shop. My car still looks completely stock from the outside but what a difference now when driving it. I seem to do everything twice on this car, including all new power steering components, and then ditching all of that for a Borgeson set up. I wish someone would have sat me down from day one, and said plan your project out, and do it right … once. Oh hell, who am I kidding, what fun would that be.
There are a few really special vendors out there supporting the Mustang/Cougar hobby. Mike is one of them. He’s always willing to talk and guide you. Doesn’t push big expensive mods that you don’t need or want.
Glad you found him and had a good experience.
Following.
Does Mike have a website?
I’ll throw in another glowing recommendation for Mike’s stuff. I am also running his panhard, shock tower brace, Bilsteins in the rear, front coilover kit, but also have his lower control arm/solid strut rod kit and subframe connectors.
I could not be happier!
The parts are top quality and his customer service is second to none. The only times he doesn’t personally pick up the phone at his shop is when he is already working with another customer. He helped me set up my car to be the perfect ‘grand-touring’ car that is compliant over bumps but confident and controlled in the corners. I could not recommend Mike’s parts more for upgrading your car.
I’ll also say this; Mike’s panhard bar was the best, most noticeable improvement to my car of EVERYTHING I’ve done. It instantly increased the ‘flickability’ and response time of the entire rear end of the car. I would upgrade to the panhard bar before you change out any springs or shocks. It should be everyone’s first suspension upgrade. Rant Complete.
Ken
Bit more for the racing applications, but the knowledge is awesome…
http://haneperformance.com/Products.html
check out the video about him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn5HwnMPGNc
Quick question for F23 (Ben), did you do the front coilover kit and his lower control arm/solid strut rod kit at the same time? Mike said I wouldn’t benefit much from doing the lower control arm and I’ve been curious I guess. It rides so nice now I’m not sure if it makes sense. I’d love your prospective if you did them separately. I also left the stock front sway bar and was wondering if you did his larger front bar?
Thanks,
Kevin
Well, some three years later, I can answer the questions that I posed above to F23 (Ken). If you read my first post about suspension replacement above, this will make more sense.
I recently added MM’s lower control arms/strut rods and his larger front sway bar. Combined, this made a significant difference above and beyond my initial mods. Steering feel and turn in were improved (noticeably) and while the car did feel a little firmer (the ride), it was still very comfortable. Most recently we did the subframe connectors. Once these were installed/welded in, the car feels great. Everything feels more solid/connected. Even braking from my stock front disks feels better, almost no front end dive and just rock solid stable, firm, but still comfortable. Two thumbs up!
Great to hear how much you enjoy driving your ‘69 now. I feel the same way about mine after equipping it with brakes/steering/suspension from Street or Track. An added benefit for me is my proximity to Shaun’s facility. Same low key approach to mods as you describe above for Mike. Similar parts-Bilstein shocks, tubular upper and lower arms, adjustable strut rods, big front sway bar. I chose to also do Unisteer R&P steering, big four wheel manual disc brakes, and composite mono-leaf rear springs. This fall I’m swapping the rear end to a three link design with Bilstein coil over shocks. I’m very pleased with the changes and love driving the old cat!