Fitment ?'s for Granatelli front coilovers

[superhuaman]

I have a 90 LX notch with 94/95 front spindles, 87-93 V8 KYB GR2 struts, and FRPP CC plates. My wheel and tire combo is 17 x 8, the 5-star pony wheel from the 2000 GT, with a 245/45/17 tire.
View attachment 493803
And yes, I know the car sits too high in the back. But I think the front will sit too low with 4-cyl springs after I drop in the 306. And I don't really want to mess around with V8 springs because they're not easy to install. So I thought of using coilovers instead.
I have a few questions. First of all, can I use the Granatelli coilover kit with the street (300lb) springs, or will it hit the tire?
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/superhuaman/coilover.jpg
Second, do you adjust the ride height on those on the ground, or in the air?
And finally, since the spring load is on the strut towers, and not the upper spring seat, do I have to worry about putting too much load on the spherical bearing in the caster/camber plates?
View attachment 493804
There's a pic of the cc plate.

Also, perhaps the Granatelli kit is somewhat unreliable. I honestly have no idea so tell me what you think.
:SNSign:

 

[90mustangGT]

Nice 4 popper!!!

I have the Granatelli front coil over system but the drag kit. Mine has the 175lbs springs which I view way too firm for drag IMO, but 300 would be really firm. You have to understand that because of the position of the spring right on the spindle which is twice as close to the wheel as the stock location, you actually need half as much spring tension to give you the same amount of acutal tension. So 300lbs/in is like 600-700 in a conventional spring, which is quite tight.

I know by looking at your struts you think that the coils will rub the tire, I thought the same thing and when I got my coil-over kit I was real carefull with it thinking I would have to send it back. Turned out that it worked just fine. I had 17x9" cobra R wheels.

The C/C plates IMO are a must, since now the strut tower will be supporting all the weight all the time. Those will work fine.

When you adjust the sping hight, the kit comes with two spanner wrenches, you lift the wheels off the ground and loosen the one nut, adjust and then retighten, lower the vehicle back down.

 

[93-331-29psi]

I have the 200lb Front coil over kit on my car and, with only 100 miles on it, I can't wait to get it off. Perhaps I need a softer spring, but the ride quality is equal to an old covered wagon. I have a new set of Eibach Pro springs on the way. Good luck.

 

[superhuaman]

Thanks 90mustanggt!

Do you think I should get the 200 lb "drag" kit or the 300 lb "street" kit? I didn't see any listing for a 175 lb.

I got this from Maximum Motorsports' website:
Q. How do I compare a coil-over spring rate to my conventional spring in the stock location?
A. The spring rates must be converted into wheel rates. The wheel rate is the spring rate measured at the wheel. The wheel rate (for the front) of a Mustang is ¼ of the spring rate of a spring in the stock location. For example, An 800 lb/in stock location spring has a wheel rate of 200 lb/in. For a coil-over suspension, the wheel rate is 9/10th of the coil-over spring's rate. A typical coil-over spring rate for street performance handling would be 350 lb/in, which provides a wheel rate of 315 lbs/in.

So...
I'm not saying you're wrong but thats different than what you said.

Also, how reliable do these kits seem to be, in terms of the adjuster mechanism? That breaking seems to be what I hear about a lot.

 

[Mr. Potato Head]

I don't want to hijack this, but I have a quick question. What is that plug directly behind/above your CC plate?

 

[superhuaman]

no problem. the gray and black round ones in back on the left connect the engine harness to the dash harness. the gray round one in the middle connects the dash harness to the underhood harness (lights and stuff). the square black one in the back is the diagnostic connector, where you pull codes from. and of course the thing at the front is a 60 amp maxifuse with holder for the electric cooling fan.

 

[Mr. Potato Head]

Thanks man. I wonder why all my stuff works properly, but that plug is unplugged. Oh well, back to coilovers.

 

[90mustangGT]

I didn't know the exact formula. Maby mine is a 200lbs spring. Way too stiff for drag. It is a 12" spring I know that. I will soon swap to somthing like a 110-130lbs spring.

 

[04sleeper]

I had 12-200's in my coupe. They were good for street use but they could be softer for track use, maybe 175's or even 150's.

I wouldn't worry about the load on the spherical bearing. That is what it is designed for. But looking at your picture shows you have 2 spacers on top of the CC plate. There should be 1 on the bottom and 1 on the top. Not 2 on top.

 

[superhuaman]

I put in the spacers according to the FRPP instructions for "stock height". Here is the link to the PDF instruction sheet. The spacer diagrams are on page 4, the last page.

http://www.fordracingparts.com/download/instructionsheets/FordInstShtM-18183-S1S2.pdf

 

[04sleeper]

Ok. Got ya.

 

[superhuaman]

Ok, I have another question...
Obviously a strut tower brace is a good idea period. But is it required for use with coilovers? I am talking front or rear, here.

 

[90mustangGT]

I am sure a STB would make a bigger difference on a car with coil overs due to the added weight on the towers instead of the k-member, but it is not nessasary. A good STB does make a difference.

 

[superhuaman]

hey thanks guys i really appreciate this

:SNSign: