FordRacing M-5400-A SN95 Handling Kit???

Has anyone installed the Ford Racing 1994-04 Mustang Handling Kit? The part number is M-5400-A. I have a stock ’95 Cobra and the handling is somewhat disappointing. I’m looking for a cost-effective approach to improve this problem. From what I’ve read, this kit is supposed to be the sane springs as what’s used on the produciton Bullit and Mach1 cars. I could use some advice/insight from anyone who has experience with this kit. Also, is it possible to install these front springs without a compressor like the other lowering springs?

Thanks in advance, Whitecobra95

Hi Cobra90GT,

That was actually pretty funny. I started reading this thread and thought it looked familiar! Also, nice Wings pic!

Okay, here’s what I ended up doing after obsessing for a quite a wile:

03/04 Terminator A-arms (FR D arms)
FR C-springs
M-5400 kit Struts and Shocks
Stock Cobra Sway Bars
Maximum Motorsports LCA’s
Steeda HD UCA’s
Engergy Suspension Spring Isolators

After buying the kit, I spoke with one of the FR techs and he said that the springs wouldn’t lower the car much, contrary to their description. I read several posts here and elsewhere that confirmed this. These springs are more for the heavier New-Edge cars. The dampers however, are setup perfectly for the C-springs which are just a bit stiffer than the Bullit springs from the kit. The height difference was immediately apparent when I put the two next to each other. (Now I wish I had taken some pics.) This difference also makes the C-springs a lot easier to install – no compressor required.

I kept the stock Cobra sway bars because they are larger diameter than what’s in the kit. (My car is a weekend driver but will also see some vintage road race use, so the big sway bars are a good thing.) If anyone is interested in the Cobra bars, they are relatively cheap from the online Ford OEM parts dealers, and much cheaper than aftermarket. The 94-95 Cobras had the biggest bars of all the factory SN95’s and New-Edges to help compensate for the soft factory springs.

For the new A-arms, I pulled the alignment specs for the Terminator Cobras. I was really surprised to see that they are identical to the ’94 GT/Cobra/V6! I’m starting to think that the only difference with the D arms is that they have a different ball joint and a stiffer rear bushing. In any case, I had the alignment shop run -0.5 deg camber and push the caster to the limit at 3.9 degrees. I wanted 4.5, but this wasn’t possible on my car without CC plates or elongating the strut tower holes.

For the rear I chose the steeda HD UCA’s since they use a stock rubber bushing on the body side and I don’t want to damage the body mounts. Steeda also shortens the arm by welding in a washer about ¼” inward from the stock holes. (It's not the cleanest job, so I filled in the old holes and re-drilled the washers.) This is done to restore the proper pinion angle on lowered cars. I don’t think they mention this on the site. The MM LCA’s are pretty standard now for road race cars, and I might go with the panhard rod later.

The overall appearance has impreoved dramatically. The 4x4 look is gone. The C-springs do lower the car every bit that they claim. I didn't measrue the stockers for a comparison, but on steep driveways I can hear the front air dam scrap now. I haven’t bottomed out on the exhaust yet.

And the most important part… My Cobra finally handles and feels like a sports car on the road!!!! The high milage soggy Taurus feel is gone! It rides a bit rougher, but better; before it would hit a bump and wallow around. Now takes a bump a little harder than before but settles out immediately. The steering also feels a lot better (that 50mph steering wheel shake that 94-95’s are known for is gone), but the steeting still isn't perfect. My next mod will be a solid steering shaft and hope that it resolves the funky on center feel once and for all. Overall, it's a HUGE improvement and I wish I had done this years ago.

If I could do anything different, I would probably not buy the kit since I only used the dampers. Instead, I would just buy the Bilstein HD’s along with the FR C-springs, and keep the other mods mentioned above the same.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I hope this helps,
WhiteCobra95