Progress Thread Komo's 1990 GT - Parts Gathering Purgatory & Home Remodel

[gkomo]

Check all the rear control arm bolts, check shock compression and rebound, you may in fact be running outta shock travel.
do you have bigger hoops with short sidewall tires?
they can make the SRA dance around a little.

Wheels and tires are nothing crazy, 17’s with 45 sidewalls. I’ll check the LCA bolts next time I’m under there. My guess is the shocks can’t keep up with the springs. These damn ‘race’ springs definitely aren’t ideal in my current setup. Maybe some Bilsteins would help.

 

[gkomo]

Ok my birthday is around the corner and I already got a gift card to American Muscle, do I want the 87-93 shock or the SN95 shocks? I forget if the SN95 ones can handle lowered cars better or not.

Just talking the rears for now. I’m reading the SN95’s are a better design with internal bump stops but mostly what I’m seeing is SN95 guys running fox shocks on their lowered cars, not the other way around.

Edit: maybe spoke too soon. Figured I’d go to the trusty MM website and see if they have any input. Looks like they recommend the SN95 version even for foxes, just need to remove the frame mounted bump stops.

 

[gkomo]

I went with the SN95 version... MM says you actually gain .40" of bump travel over the stock shocks.

 

[AeroCoupe]

If you go to Koni's website it appears the SRT's (orange) shocks are for stock ride height or mildly lowered cars. The Sport (yellow) shocks are for more aggressively lowered cars. Also, the SN95 shocks have the bump stop built in internally so they are highly recommended for cars with coil overs in the rear of the car. On SN95 cars most use Fox front struts are they are the same dimensions but have more travel than the SN95 units.

So on my Coupe I run Fox Mustang Koni DA Sport front struts and SN95 Mustang Koni SA Sport rear shocks with coil overs on all four corners.

 

[gkomo]

If you go to Koni's website it appears the SRT's (orange) shocks are for stock ride height or mildly lowered cars. The Sport (yellow) shocks are for more aggressively lowered cars. Also, the SN95 shocks have the bump stop built in internally so they are highly recommended for cars with coil overs in the rear of the car. On SN95 cars most use Fox front struts are they are the same dimensions but have more travel than the SN95 units.

So on my Coupe I run the Fox length front struts and the SN95 rear shocks with coil overs on all four corners.

I do have plans for front coilovers at some point but i 'probably' won't ever do rear coilovers. Either way, with the SN95 Bilsteins i do have that option. Would just need to get them grooved.

Good call researching the Koni's for me... I would not call my car 'mildly' lowered with the Race springs... so i'm sure the shocks were barely doing anything. Problem is now i'll probably want the fronts to keep up, which means more $$$ spent. I think overall, if i do keep the H&Rs, i'll have a solid rear suspension setup with those springs, Bilsteins, the MM LCAs and eventually the panhard bar.

For your front setup running the Fox struts, those work well with the SN95 spindle? I thought i read it increases the distance from the top hat to spindle mount and the Fox length struts aren't long enough. Or, since cars that run the Fox length struts with SN95 spindles are lowered it removes/shortens that distance and therefore doesn't matter?

 

[AeroCoupe]

You can run the SN95 struts on an stock height car with zero issues. I would say that even lowered up to 1" would be fine but any lower than that and you want to move to the Fox struts.

 

[bird_dog0347]

Also was able to drive her to work today:



I noticed i get a lot of rear end movement going over bumps, like for example going on a curved on ramp or interchange between freeways at higher speeds while turning, if there is a bump in the road the car really wants to kick out from the rear. Need new shocks? For those who don't remember my exact setup, i have H&R Race Springs, unknown condition Koni orange shocks, MM HDLCAs, and a stock sway bar. I wonder if the H&R Race springs are too low for the Konis to keep up.

Are your upper CA's stock with rubber bushings? If they are aftermarket with Poly bushings they can bind and load up then release when you don't expect it, same with worn rubber bushings. If you have a stock style 4 link make sure you have good rubber uppers (or spherical if you don't mind the NVH) and make sure all the bolts are like a German Virgin (gooooodentight).

 

[gkomo]

Uppers are stock and probably worn bushings if they’re any indication of everything else in this car lol

 

[gkomo]

And just like that, my backlog of parts has risen again. I've started a pile o' parts, need to decide what to do first. I'm thinking just tackle the valve covers/injectors cleaned project first:

- Rear Bilstein shocks
- Valve cover gaskets and all gaskets to the TB / Have injectors cleaned
- Panhard Bar
- High/Low PS hoses and poly rack bushings
- Oil Pressure & Coolant temp gauges
- Motor mounts

 

[gkomo]

Alright possibly dumb question but I’m just trying to make this go quicker than maybe it has to be. Do I need to remove the interior hatch panels to loosen/tighten the top of the shocks? Obviously a socket won’t work because it just spins the shock shaft. I was trying to use crescent wrenches but it’s not going to plan with the little hole available.



If I need to remove panels I will, just hoping someone had a trick to share.

I have both bottom bolts out for each shock.

Would those crows feet type sockets work?

 

[Noobz347]

 

[gkomo]

I ordered a set of crows foot sockets. I'll give them a go first. If they don't work for this application, i know they've been recommended a lot before throughout my thread so i'm sure a set won't be a waste of money.

 

[Noobz347]

They should work just fine.

 

[gkomo]

Switching gears and planning ahead for the valve cover gasket swap project, it seems easier to install my Coolant temp gauge during that project as well.

From what i've read, you remove the stock coolant sender and put the autometer sender into that port in the front drivers side lower intake manifold.

Then, you relocate the stock coolant sender to an unused port in the rear of the drivers side lower intake manifold. Does anyone know specifically which port (that is currently blocked off?) that is? Just looking for a picture or something. I couldn't find a labelled picture Googling.

I think with the upper intake off, all this relocation work sounds easier/more efficient.

 

[AeroCoupe]

So here is a question. Why remove the stock coolant sensor and relocate it just to put the aftermarket sender in the stock location? If the alternate location is good for the stock one why not just put the aftermarket one in the alternate location and save yourself some headache.

I installed mine on the passenger side of the lower intake at the rear.

 

[gkomo]

So here is a question. Why remove the stock coolant sensor and relocate it just to put the aftermarket sender in the stock location? If the alternate location is good for the stock one why not just put the aftermarket one in the alternate location and save yourself some headache.

I installed mine on the passenger side of the lower intake at the rear.

I am by no means an expert, but from my reading and research, the stock location is the ‘best’ place for a coolant temp sender, but that the stock one is basically a ‘dummy’ sender that doesn’t tell you much from the cluster gauge. So moving it to a different location opens up the ‘best’ spot for the autometer sender which will tell you a much more accurate reading. By relocating the stock sender, at least the cluster gauge will still work, even if less accurate.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Just making sure you had thought this through. Getting to the ones in the back of the intake is a pain but for me the one on the passenger side seemed less of a pain.

 

[RaggedGT]

I bought a thermostat housing with a port in it

 

[gkomo]

Just making sure you had thought this through. Getting to the ones in the back of the intake is a pain but for me the one on the passenger side seemed less of a pain.

That’s kind of where I’m at, I have the plan I just don’t know exactly where to relocate the stock sender. I’ve read there is a port on the rearward drivers side lower intake, but I don’t exactly know. I’ll have the upper intake off which I hope makes this a little easier.

 

[gkomo]

I bought a thermostat housing with a port in it

That works too I’ve read a lot of people doing it that way. Some people have said that if the thermostat gets stuck it won’t be accurate or something. Can’t confirm nor deny that, just what I’ve read. I also don’t want to have to remove and replace that housing. In my head just unplugging (whatever the port I’m trying to figure out) in the back of the intake sounded easier.