Would love your expert opinion

Armydad

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Hello everybody,

Before I actually start wrenching, I would like your opinions of my proposed setup. I will be doing spirited street and windy road driving on the weekends.Engine will be modified, approx 300-350Hp ,same torque.
Tires:
245/45/17 BFG gForce (front)
275/40/17 BFG gforce (rear)

MM rectangular sfc
MM strut tower brace

Strange 10 way shocks and struts
H&R sports - drop 2in front, 1.5 back

Front:
Cobra A-arms with extended ball joints
offset rack bushings
bump steer kit
poly sway bushings with shortened end links
MM cc plates

Rear:
FRPP UCA
Lakewood LCA

Any thoughts and or opinions would be appreciated
 

GDTrumbo

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For the "twisties" I would recommend adding the Panhard Rod kit from MM to your list. Gotta tie that axle down. Ford finally saw fit to use it on the '05+ cars.

GT
 
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Armydad

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I've been thinking of that as well. Will probably add that to list. How about everything else though? Does everything mesh? Am I missing any key items?
 

ram360

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Are you going to be driving that hard on public streets to really need a panhard bar? I have a ton of susp work into my car pretty much everything but a pahnard bar and my car handles exceptionally well in corners more than good enough for the street. Just saying if might not be worth the expense. I kicked around the idea myself but not sure it's worth it for something that doesn't see a race track. Maybe one of the road race guys in here can chime in.
 

Javi

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some thick sway bars, maybe The Eibach kit sway bar.
 

96sohc

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If it were me....
- run a 275/xx/17 at all 4 corners.
- skip the strut tower brace.
- I'd look into a set of Bilsteins or Koni SA over Strange.
- I had the Sport springs and I don't think my car was lowered that much. Outside of looks, I thought the springs were not much better than stock; I would buy something a little more aggressive.
 

94 DropTop

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skip the strut tower brace, and get a stock one. This will be the one of the first times i say this but get the MM control arms the weight jackers. Get the new sway bars. And dont listen to handz.
 

GDTrumbo

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94 DropTop said:
skip the strut tower brace, and get a stock one. This will be the one of the first times i say this but get the MM control arms the weight jackers. Get the new sway bars. And dont listen to handz.

Hehehehe! Tryin' to cut Handz's royalties??

GT
 

fixthedoor

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Search this forum for shocks and strut suggestions as well the H&R springs, many discussions have been had on all three. :headbang:
 

OnyxCobra

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My only suggestion would be to go with H&R SuperSports. The drop for the Sports is 1.6/1.5, definitely not a 2" drop.
 
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Armydad

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Thanks all, and I think I misspoke, I actually have H&R super sports. As far as the panhard I will be glad to cross that off my list.
 

95PGTTech

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  • The panhard bar will make more difference to the vehicle than any other suspension modification, period (well, R comps did wonders, but he's not running R comps on the street).
  • The Strange 10 ways are a poor choice for your use. That's a drag race shock, they're meant with ten different drag race adjustments. Even their more hard settings, most people referring to them as street, are not nearly the correct dampening and rebound rates of a performance shock. The 2003-2004 Cobra factory Bilstein shocks are more suited to what you need while being within a reasonable price range.
  • The supersports are fine.
  • Add CC plates only if necessary after checking alignment. They do add a bit of NVH, avoid if possible.
  • same comment about bumpsteer kit. both these items are to bring back geometry lost by modification. if you car can align without them, there is no reason for them. don't pee in the ocean, so to say.
  • with factory k member you will want center drilled rack bushings, not offset. go with solids on this. a lot stiffer without any NVH. if you have any play in your steering wheel, add MM solid steering shaft = never a problem again, amazing feeling to wheel
  • keep the factory uppers, MM lower rear control arms. it is arguable whether they are even needed.

your tire and swaybar selection should be last, as these will both largely influence your oversteer/understeer balance. get the car aligned and see how it feels. many times for a mustang people like to run the big wide tires in the rear for looks but it kills the car on the track and street because the rear already has so much grip, causes the car to understeer worse running the bigger tires in rear.
 

95PGTTech

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as an additional note, ask people what suspension modifications and what racing and street experience they have before you ask for advice. there are a lot of drag racers in this thread, and a lot of people in general on this forum who have simple shocks and struts and think their mustang is a miata simply because they haven't driven anything else, or just plain want to believe their mustang handles that good.

don't buy parts you don't have to - other than wasting money, you can often end up worse than you started by changing too many things at once - do your shocks and struts first, and go from there.
 

SRT Handz

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Sway Bars, Sway Bars, Sway bars.

Day and Night difference, thats all i have to say
 

GDTrumbo

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95PGTTech said:
  • The panhard bar will make more difference to the vehicle than any other suspension modification, period.

    I have to agree. Not only does it control transversal axle movement, it adds another whole crossmember to the rear end and really stiffens up the rear subframe.

    GT
 

blackpony

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id start with shocks and struts, then move on to subframe conn, some nice upper and lower cont arms (stay away from lake wood) something like mm or hpm are nice, then a set of sway bars (this will give the most noticable gain but would not recommend as a first mod), then you can move on to k-member and front control arms... as for tires you get what you pay for simply put.... you can pm me i have been doing a lot of research on handling as that is the direction i am going with my car...

toby
 

95PGTTech

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blackpony said:
id start with shocks and struts, then move on to subframe conn, some nice upper and lower cont arms (stay away from lake wood) something like mm or hpm are nice, then a set of sway bars (this will give the most noticable gain but would not recommend as a first mod), then you can move on to k-member and front control arms... as for tires you get what you pay for simply put.... you can pm me i have been doing a lot of research on handling as that is the direction i am going with my car...

toby

the gains you are going to get from a front K member and control arms are minimal, if any. a panhard and torque arm are a far better investment. likewise, aftermarket upper control arms bind the suspension when any lateral movement is put on the rear axle - they're a drag race part.

I did forget about subframes though, that is a good recommendation
 

blackpony

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yea with the member i have i notced minimal gains but have been told that if you buy something like a granatelli or mm then there is huge gains... not sure as i havent been down that road yet.... i also noticed a HUGE difference with the arms... the rear dosent want to hop or slide out when pulling outta corners now... but yea i agree a panhard and torque arm are by far better investments if you check book will allow...
 

95PGTTech

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a k-member and control arms aren't cheap, they're more expensive than the torque arm and panhard bar if you consider that you need to purchase coilovers to go with them.

I've got the full MM equipment - coilovers, panhard, subframes, torque arm, anti roll bar, control arms front and rear, k member. Haven't driven the car since I installed them, doing a motor project, actually swapped to the AJE k member, but I have driven my friend Adam's 1995GT. He's who inspired me to stay with MM.

I originally had MM springs, 03 bilstein shocks, subframes, MM rear lowers and thought it was a handling machine. drove his car with the panhard on it, oh my god. I've been lucky to help him with installs so I knew the hiccups and get to drive the car from mod to mod, the panhard was easily the best bang/buck change - but only once shocks/springs were done. the adjustable rear anti roll kit is really cool, he had his heart set on big rear tires even though the car already tended to understeer, the adjustability helped us get a lot of that out.

back in the day I thought my ford probe on coilovers and trailing arms handled like it was on rails, I had no idea how a properly set up fox chassis was.



OP, if you're going to set up your car for the purpose you described, I recommend the following steps:

1. get MM subframes, get them welded in
2. keep your springs and add 2003 Cobra front lower control arms and shocks. get the car aligned. if they can't align it or you run into excessive bumpsteer, add the MM bumpsteer kit or MM CC plates.
3. MM solid steering shaft, steering rack bushings, MM panhard rod
4. how is the understeer/oversteer balance? your tire selection is excellent for what you want - look into azenis rt615 if you want a little more aggressive but still streetable. add tire width and swaybar based on oversteer/understeer.

that should net you the best bang/buck, as well as change as little as possible in steps that make sense and won't baffle you wondering what change made stuff better and what change made stuff worse.
 

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