1991 GT Suspension question

could be both. i'd just change it all. whats probably going on is your shocks/struts are shot and it's been riding mostly on spring support which caused the sagging due to the higher weight on the driver's side with you in the car.

Congratulations, you have the foxbody lean.

Have a fatty friend ride shotgun for awhile till it evens out.

Seriously, think unibody and springs.

Good luck.

I would start with springs because they are what determines ride height. My wife said something to me yesterday that my passanger side sits lower than the driver side

DEFINE "sag". Are wee talking about a "sag" of 0.0001" or 25"?

Unless the spring is broken, it's NOT the spring. It could be the isolators. Those do wear and can cause up to ~1/2" of lean.

My struts cause this. Sometimes the car rides 4x4, others it looks like a low rider and bounces more than a 2 dollar hooker!!!

squeak93 said:

My struts cause this. Sometimes the car rides 4x4, others it looks like a low rider and bounces more than a 2 dollar hooker!!!

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Struts will not effect the height of the car/fender. They will effect the ride and the bounce. The car is supported only by the springs - nothing else.

After the springs, the struts and suspension components can bottom out. But, in a properly designed and setup suspension that will not happen (or the bump stops will be hit).

Last: The sway bars hep to transfer/equalize mass ("weight/force") between the sides.

Ok.... Then help me explain why the car can be tucking wheel one minute then later--w/o moving the car be back up in the air ready to of wheeling?? Is this the coil gaining tension back???

squeak93 said:

Ok.... Then help me explain why the car can be tucking wheel one minute then later--w/o moving the car be back up in the air ready to of wheeling?? Is this the coil gaining tension back???

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For the upteenth time, modern car springs like on the Fox/sn95 do *not* sag. And a suspension spring doesn't sag/ get-good/ sag /get-good/ sag.

You might have a binding strut, binding FCA bushings, binding sway bar bushings, etc. You may have a broken spring, something else broken, etc. What ever it is, you should get it fixed *ASAP*. Because, eventually it WILL break in a non-good way.

Push up and down on the car and listen. Put a jack under the ball joint, jack up the car, take off the wheel, and have someone push up/down on the car while you listen. But, SAFETY FIRST! Don't even think of getting under the car with it supported by just a jack under the ball joint. Just stay to the side of the fender and listen.

If you hear something,, then do the SMART thing and support the body AND K-member with at LEAST 3 solid jacks, and use another jack to move the FCA up/down while hunting down the source of the noise.

Even a pressurized gas strut exerts very little force compared to the springs. Put a 50lb weight on the end of a pressured strut/shock, and watch it go down. Now, the front of the Stang has a spring rate of at least 400lbs/in and a MR of ~0.50 (closer to 0.55). But, the strut has an MR of closer to 1. So, a strut that could exert 50lbs of upwards force. So, at the MOST it would be "similar" to putting 50lbs of weight on the fender. Working through all of the math, even a rise of 0.25" would be a LOT! In reality, you MAY see a *fender* rise of ~0.1" with NEW pressurized gas struts.

From what I've seen, after a few weeks, even that little rise will go away (Note: you MUST take into account the tire diameter (wear, pressure, temperature, etc).

I was just in there to redoe the front brks. I did an overall inspection of everything and nothing looked out of the norm. My only guess is what ur saying and the strut is binding and holding the car down for a small period of time. It only does it when u go over rough bumps (which here is every darn road). Thanks for the input.

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but surely its info others will want/need......

I've replied to too many "springs" questions. IMHO, they are boring to me. But, your's is interesting because it's not the typical "I want ricer springs on my Stang to lower 1.5". Are these good?" question.

How old are the struts? HOW much of a difference in fender height are we talking? Bring along a small tape measure if it happens for only a short time. Next time it happens, see if you _feel or hear_ something as you push down on the bumper.

Something very funky is going on. With my car, I had a broken spring and sometimes, I would hear a creak in the front end. It seemed like it was because of the FCA bushings. But, it ended up being a broken spring. The only way to find out was to remove the spring.

You might even have the sway bar binding because of worn bushings.

I'm swamped at work and often work late. So, I may not make it back to the forums that often.

IMHO, find out what the problem is asap. It might be something like my broken spring where if I didn't care about the car sounding like a POS, I could have left it that way. But, my feeling is that it's an indication of something that will fail.

When it does stay down its like u cant even budge the whole car. It sits low almost to the top of the wheel (tucks the whole tire) Other side sits perfectly fine. The car has 158xxx miles on it and has had a rough life to my knowledge. Had been in a rear end accident about 1 year ago. Its my second car so I don't drive it that much or very far for that matter. This winter I am going to do springs, struts, upper/lower lcas and sub frames to make this thing drive nice again.

On a side note when I'm driving when u hit a big bump the car want to go to the left (its the drivers side that sags at times) So I am still thinking that its the strut causing all my problems.

When I push down on it I can hear no noticable noices other than 15 year old groans and moans from the WHOLE car. Its just like someone ratchets that side down and then lets go of it slowly. Actually had to pull over the other day b/c it went so low that I couldn't turn the front wheel. But that was after going over a very very rough spot that would make any car hurt.

That is weird! Sounds like maybe a sticking strut - not good at all.
Or, check the sway bar, sway bar link, sway bar bushings (where the bar mounts to the body). There is a *very* slight chance that something is broken and your getting binding.

For older Stangs that see winters, the bottom of the spring can RUST to the FCA and that will prevent the spring from fully flexing at the FCA. Then, the spring can break right at that point. That's what happened to me, and I got another Fox spring from someone that did the same thing.

But, even then, at worst, it would add height as the broken part sat on top of the rusted in piece. When you said 4x4 then not, that was the one thing that came to mind.

But, strut bind is *much* more common!

When you're doing the suspension this winter get the new FRPP FCAs. They have the new "forever" ball joints, and slightly stiffer FCA bushings. Also, get at least a poly isolator for the bottom of the spring. The OEM rubber compresses over time and that's what causes the most drop in the fender over time

If you want a firmer ride but not much drop, go with the Mach1 (~1/2" drop) or Bullitt springs (~3/4") drop. But, there is a 1/4"-1/2" difference between cars depending on a number of factors (alum heads, AOD, AC, 3 core rad (more water weight), etc).

I run the Mach1 springs, poly isolators, and a 1/4" Steeda spring spacer (to give me an ~0.4" fender rise_. With my AOD, AC, 3 core rad, POS heavy *ss iron heads, my car sits at 27" (vs 27-1/4 ->27-1/2 spec). The springs are ~50% firmer than stock (600 vs 425), but the car handle awesome one the roads.

I have a bunch of info at:
http://veryuseful.com/InvisionBoard/index.php?showforum=2

But, I need to better organize it.

The 4x4 look is how it should sit when stock. It matches the pass side when at the top of its ride height. The other looks cool but not very practicle around here.

I saw on your page that you hated the Pro Kit. I had sportlines on my 04 gt and didn't like them at all.

I have been looking at a package from mustangs unlimted that sells basic kyb stuts and shocks (stock replacments) with a pro kit, basic upper/lower rear control arms that are boxed with new poly bushing and sub frames for 670ish.
Now I know I can spend more and piece together a way better performing kit but i am looking to restore and add subtle upgrades. This car will not be a 10 or 11 sec car at all. In fact, if it hits 12's I will be suprised as I am trying to make it more show and tell than go and blow. I want a nice clean fox that people can say, damn thats clean. Not a 10 sec drag car that I have to spend tons of money.

You said the bullits are good, where do I find them? What is a better not much more costly alternative to the kyb shocks?? Hate wasting money on chit and the more I look into the "cheap" package, the more I fear I will be wasting money.

Cool link too!

EDIT: After reading more of the info you have there (much of which was over my head due to my lack of an eng degree) but I have a set of 04gt M/T springs that I removed for some junk Sportlines. Can these be installed for a better slighly lower ride. I dont want to lower much just enough to make the fender gap respectable. We all know foxes don't sit right and ride like poo. Is this possible or just a waste of time and effort?

I cant offer much (so much is subjective, or ends up being applies to cow-poop).

I have used HP's and really like them for the money. I have the Prokit on the 94 and love it. I'm not sure if I'd like it on the fox vert as much (the 94 is more of a handler and much stiffer).

I run Mach 1 springs on the 88 GT vert and like the ride height decently (it's not too low but would get rid of a 4X4 look). I do wish I had lopped a hair off the front coils, only because I wonder if the vert's portly rear is a bit much for the toothpick rear Mach 1's. ). I have pics of the stock vert rear springs vs the Mach 1's and it's a joke. To my surprise, the rear didnt drop very much with the Mach's.

FWIW, I've had a KYB shock seize before (this was not on a stang, and it was promptly honored with a lifetime warranty swap). There was no change in the height - it looked like that corner was bagged and dropped. If your strut rod is just bent, I'm not sure how that would be (or how predicable it would be).

Good luck.