What else do I need for my rear suspension?

hoopty5.0

mechanicus terribilis
15 Year Member
Dec 14, 2010
7,480
6,632
214
SW Houston
For you guys that have sub - 11 second cars, I need some input.

I'm looking at doing this for the back half of the suspension:

Single adj uppers and lowers with spherical bushings
Watts link or wishbone?
Anti roll bar (Single or double and whats the difference?)
Coilovers with Strange single adjustables

Going to put in an 8pt cage and minitubs. Do I need to tie it in to any part of the suspension?

Any other suggestions?




THanks,
Collin
 
  • Sponsors (?)


You want double adjustable uppers and at least single adjustable lowers. All you need is a anti roll bar without 1 link per side. You don't need a rear sway bar or the dogbone. Tie the upper and lower torque boxes into the cage and put in torque box reinforcements if you haven't already. Unless you are going for total ride height adjustability there's no need for rear coil overs. Cut the stock springs down and use the strange single adjustable shocks. Or double adjustable shocks are the way to go but even the cheapest ones (strange) are still pretty costly, but worth it. You want the lower control are to be level or on a slight angle downward which you can achieve with instant center brackets. If you run all solid bushings in the rear get you pinion angle to about -1.5.
 
You want double adjustable uppers and at least single adjustable lowers. All you need is a anti roll bar without 1 link per side. You don't need a rear sway bar or the dogbone. Tie the upper and lower torque boxes into the cage and put in torque box reinforcements if you haven't already. Unless you are going for total ride height adjustability there's no need for rear coil overs. Cut the stock springs down and use the strange single adjustable shocks. Or double adjustable shocks are the way to go but even the cheapest ones (strange) are still pretty costly, but worth it. You want the lower control are to be level or on a slight angle downward which you can achieve with instant center brackets. If you run all solid bushings in the rear get you pinion angle to about -1.5.

Got the torque boxes done already and will do the cage when I get home from this hitch. I'd like to over build the rear suspension to handle more power down the road. When you say tie the upper and lowers into the cage, would the lowers be welded to the main hoop and the uppers tied to ???

I'm looking at a pre-fab 8 point cage that I can weld in myself. So far the Competition Engineering and Wild Rides are what I am considering. Any reason not to use them? They're certified to 9.99 and I don't forsee going anywhere near that on this current setup and my lack of driving skillz. Maaaaybe 10.50s.

Thanks for the info! I've actually spent the last 2 days on YB reading the stock suspension and chassis forums. The 25.5 and 25.3 cars are ridiculous, and you're right, my brain hurts. I was hoping someone here could dumb it down a bit. I didnt want to post over there to avoid all the wisecracks and un-needed remarks.
 
http://autofabcart.net/ford88housing-boltonadjustablecontrolarmbrackets.aspx

I found these on a thread on YB. Everyone says they are great and affordable. Guys in the 1.30 60' range. But I'd have to run coilovers because with stock springs, moving the control arm changes the ride height. With coilovers, you just raise them up to account for the difference. This is what the thread says at least. Many people said these brackets helped them go from blowing the tires off to a dead hook with no other changes.
 
http://autofabcart.net/ford88housing-boltonadjustablecontrolarmbrackets.aspx

I found these on a thread on YB. Everyone says they are great and affordable. Guys in the 1.30 60' range. But I'd have to run coilovers because with stock springs, moving the control arm changes the ride height. With coilovers, you just raise them up to account for the difference. This is what the thread says at least. Many people said these brackets helped them go from blowing the tires off to a dead hook with no other changes.

Correct but you generally dont need to change your ride height all the time. I cut almost 1 full coil off a set of stock springs, with brackets I got from a guy on YB 1 hole down from stock which is about 1" the lower control arm is going down on a slight angle. Body mounting point is the higher side, it is 2 degrees. Car is sitting at 27 1/4" with 1/4 tank of fuel. With a full tank its a C hair over 27" which is about where you want to try to get it. Front is at 26". Front tires are 26" DS2's and rears are 28x10.5 MT.