Front Coil Over and 60’ times – 65 Mustang

jeffstar · Jan 11, 2009

Front Coil Over and 60’ times – 65 Mustang

This question is only applicable to the crowd drag racing 64-73 Mustangs.

I have a 65 with the typical coil spring mounted on top of the UCA. My car is mostly street driven but I like to get it out to the track every once in a while.

Car ran low 11’s last time out, would like to run a 10.99 this year. I also want the car to handle well.

I’m considering converting the front suspension to coil over, (coil spring sits on top of the LCA). TCP, Global West, etc.

I would imagine one down side to this arrangement is that with the lower center of gravity, weight transfer and sixty foot times may suffer.

Have any of you installed one of these kits and compared your sixty foot times before and after?

Tweaked 65

mrmustangman357 · Jan 11, 2009

what is your 60 foot so far, and what are you running for rear suspension/tires?

Bullitt · Jan 12, 2009

The change in CG isn't going to make any difference. If anything you should lighten the front of the car which will help and it'll likely reduce friction allowing the front to rise easier which also helps.

I don't see any downside to this change.

jeffstar · Jan 12, 2009

Not sure on the 60' times

28x9 M/T slick, crappy non adjustable shocks in the back, slapper bars. Front lifts about a foot, coming out real easy <5000RPM.

I sure would like to hear from someone that has converted.

mrmustangman357 said:
what is your 60 foot so far, and what are you running for rear suspension/tires?

jasonn · Jan 13, 2009

Wrong, c/g has a HUGE affect on the launch. I have just been through this with my car. My car runs high 10's. I have talked with many of the top chassis shops and they all say the same thing. I know I had stock 6cyl springs in it last year. Car sat real high but lifted the tires about a foot and a half. Ran 1.46 60's. Man was it a blast. Then over the winter, I lowered the whole car about 1.5". Front by cutting the springs. This really screwed things up. Now it does not transfer the weight very good, but it looks so much better. I have been comtemplating the switch myself. I think if I would do it, I would go with the setup that Alex (moneymaker) over on mustangs and more, has. Cheaper than any of the other setups. And these super stock racers that have been doing it forever are some pretty sharp guys! You can also adjust the c/g real easy with these setups. I don't know if I would spend the coil if I were you right now. I would get a set of caltracks and some adj. rear shocks. Then maybe even clamp the rear springs. this is what really helped on my mach when I had the 408 in it.

mrmustangman357 · Jan 13, 2009

a foot of front end rise is pretty decent for a stock suspension car. is your swaybar removed and are you getting traction?

it sounds like you have enough front end lift to not really need coilovers, and your drivetrain setup needs to be inspected if you are looking for lower times. without a 60 foot or a video, recommending anything to you is a shot in the dark

Bullitt · Jan 13, 2009

jasonn said:
Wrong, c/g has a HUGE affect on the launch.

True it does; however he only referenced changing the front suspension to a coilover arrangement of which the weight different and moving the shock is not going to make a huge difference. Now if that's coupled with lowering the car, you're absolutely correct it is going to make a huge difference.

10secgoal · Jan 13, 2009

I'd get the adjustable strut rods because thye move freely, and a set of roller perches. I noticed a HUGE diffrence with those in my car. Although I haven't converted, I'm not un happy enough yet with my suspension to change. It's been as low as 1.43.

jeffstar · Jan 13, 2009

Traction with my current setup is not a problem. When I take the car to the drag strip I remove the sway bar and bolt on 90-10 shocks up front.

This car is dual purpose not just a drag car. The reason I want to change to the TCP style coil over is to improve handling on twisty roads/road courses.

These kits come with double adjustable shocks so instead of changing shocks for the drag strip, I would just adjust them to 90-10 while at the drags. My concern is that with the lower center of gravity that the car may develop traction issues when drag racing.

mrmustangman357 said:
a foot of front end rise is pretty decent for a stock suspension car. is your swaybar removed and are you getting traction?

it sounds like you have enough front end lift to not really need coilovers, and your drivetrain setup needs to be inspected if you are looking for lower times. without a 60 foot or a video, recommending anything to you is a shot in the dark

Bullitt,

I disagree, the weight of the car (via the coil spring) will now be sitting on the lower control arm instead of the upper control arm.

I just measured the distance between the LCA and UCA mounting points and the LCA is 9" lower. This is one of the reasons why these coil over kits improve handling.

Bullitt said:
True it does; however he only referenced changing the front suspension to a coilover arrangement of which the weight different and moving the shock is not going to make a huge difference. Now if that's coupled with lowering the car, you're absolutely correct it is going to make a huge difference.

mrmustangman357 · Jan 14, 2009

jeffstar said:
I just measured the distance between the LCA and UCA mounting points and the LCA is 9" lower. This is one of the reasons why these coil over kits improve handling.

that doesnt make sense. the lower cg of 20 pounds worth of shock and spring? not gonna cut it when you have a 600 lb motor in the front.

you should have told us your original intentions in your first post.

jeffstar · Jan 14, 2009

My original post said

I also want the car to handle well.

I’m considering converting the front suspension to coil over, (coil spring sits on top of the LCA). TCP, Global West, etc.

I would imagine one down side to this arrangement is that with the lower center of gravity, weight transfer and sixty foot times may suffer.

Have any of you installed one of these kits and compared your sixty foot times before and after?

I'm not a suspension expert, and that is why I posted my original question.

The weight of the shock is not the issue. The entire weight of the front half of the car is suspended by the coil springs. In the original configuration that weight is transferred to the spindle via the UCA. With the LCA style coil over, the weight is transferred to the spindle via the LCA. The pivot point for the LCA is 9" lower than the pivot point of the UCA, I would expect that to have a significant effect on weight transfer during a launch.

mrmustangman357 said:
that doesnt make sense. the lower cg of 20 pounds worth of shock and spring? not gonna cut it when you have a 600 lb motor in the front.

you should have told us your original intentions in your first post.

mrmustangman357 · Jan 14, 2009

jeffstar said:
My original post said

I also want the car to handle well.

I’m considering converting the front suspension to coil over, (coil spring sits on top of the LCA). TCP, Global West, etc.

I would imagine one down side to this arrangement is that with the lower center of gravity, weight transfer and sixty foot times may suffer.

Have any of you installed one of these kits and compared your sixty foot times before and after?

I'm not a suspension expert, and that is why I posted my original question.

The weight of the shock is not the issue. The entire weight of the front half of the car is suspended by the coil springs. In the original configuration that weight is transferred to the spindle via the UCA. With the LCA style coil over, the weight is transferred to the spindle via the LCA. The pivot point for the LCA is 9" lower than the pivot point of the UCA, I would expect that to have a significant effect on weight transfer during a launch.

umm does anyone else see this in his original post? all i see is you want to ask drag racers about a coilover setup and your car is street driven?

regardless, the pivot point (referenced vertically betwen uca and lca) doesn't make a difference. what would occur from the change the most is your effective spring rate at the tire, which your spring/shock package would be tuned for anyway. where it mounts (uca, lca) is not really important for a drag launch. . . . i still dont understand your complications with the cg? cg of the car? cg of the spring/shock package?

p.s. they do make coilovers that mount to the uca if you still are concerned about mount location.

Psydwaze · Jan 15, 2009

This type of coil-over should give you what you're looking for. Double adjustable valving plus the option of a near stock ride height or a one inch lowered upper mount. This setup has about three more inches of suspension travel that the LCA mounted coil-over. This allows more usable and tunable front end lift during launches.

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