Does the Aerostar share suspension mounting points with any other Ford cars? I was thinking if could swap it over to Mustang suspension, it would have a lot more potential for handling.

 

From my observations, it looks just like the fox body (mustang) crossmember. I suspect that ford would have used the same strut suspension as the fox body, but ran into problems on the upper strut mount( such as "where are we supposed to put it?!") and came up with the a-arm setup instead. It may fit, but a negative side to the aerostar setup is the puny front disc brakes. You are locked in to a 10 inch setup which is similar to the regular mustang 85-93 4cylinder-V6 brake setup( "yeah, it might be a bit dangerous to have brakes from a 4-banger car, and the aerostar may see loads approaching 5,000+ pounds, but nobody will notice..."). Not all is lost, however. If you were to switch to an 87-93 setup, (you have to get 5 lug rotors) you will get 11inch brakes and aftermarket parts. If you use a 94-98 front spindle, you could switch from the stock mustang 11-inch setup and go to the bolt-on 13 inch cobra brakes(and beyond). Another problem with that is that the mustang spindle is set up for use with a strut, not an upper a-arm. What I think may work is that there is a company(or two, don't ask, I cannot remember the name of the company(s). they will be in some of the mustang mags.) that produces an upper-arm conversion kit that eliminates the front struts. In this kit is a bracket that joins the angled mount of the stock spindle to the upper a-arm. If everything else works out, this bracket may be the key to using the aerostar setup. And it may be that you do not need the lower crossmember from the aerostar, enabling you to use all of the factory and aftermarket parts such as a tubular crossmember, lower a-arms, etc. From what I see, however, you will need to do some fabricating and strengthening to the frame rail to make the upper kit work.
There is probably something I am forgetting......

 

Great, I was expecting to hear that Mustang suspension would jut out 4" or something! If the overall geometery is similar(taking into account much lower ride height), I think a great project for my shop van would be a suspension swap.

I just have to go and measure the suspension and points.

 

My thoughts are that the Aerostar is a mutant Fox body to begins with.....

 

Um, to make sure I am understanding this correctly, you wish to install the mustang macpherson strut setup onto the aerostar? or just parts of it?

 

As much of it as possible. Actually, my main concern was the rear suspension. I want to see about coilovers in the back, and maybe surprise a few people at the next autoX...