Lots of Awesome New Pictures! (Post-Suspension)

Ok, so the awesome pictures will come in a bit. Just scroll down a ways if you don't care about the install pics/notes.

A few weekends ago, I finally lowered my car. I went with the 01 Bullitt springs (used), Bullitt sway bars (used), new Tokico Blue HP series shocks/struts, Steeda X2 ball joints, and Moog tie rod ends. I also put on new tires (Nitto NT555 275/40-17 all around) and got it aligned. Wow, what a difference did that make! I also got the windows re-tinted.

Overall, I'm very happy with the handling, ride, and looks, but we'll get to that later. I'll start with some install pics.

Here is almost all of the parts I installed.


The shocks/struts.


Tie rod ends.


Bullitt springs.


Bullitt sway bars.


Steeda X2 ball joints. Man, were these things a pain!!


The mess I had amassed shortly into the install.


Stock rear spring vs. Bullitt rear spring.


Stock front spring vs. Bullitt front spring. Quite a difference!


Stock front sway bar on top, Bullitt front sway bar on bottom.


Stock front sway bar diameter.


Bullitt front sway bar diameter.


I measured the rear sway bars as well, but didn't remember to take a picture of it. The Bullitt one was several millimeters smaller, like the front one.



Now, I have some before and after photos from similar angles just to show how much better the car looks lowered.

Before.


After.



Before.


After.



Before.

After.

Before (Front Tire).

Fender gap

After (Front Tire).

Fender gap

Before (Rear Tire).

Fender gap

After (Rear Tire)

Fender gap

So when you take into account the taller new tires, the Bullitt springs, with no isolators and Steeda X2 ball joints (with the spacers installed) lowered my car 1.31 inches in the front and .89 inches in the rear, and resulted in a stance that is .27 inches lower in the front.

While the rear drop seems small, I'm relatively sure that the old stock springs were somehow sagging. When I did this install, the rear was actually sitting lower than the front; it didn't use to be that way. I suspect the Bullitt springs actually lower the rear about 1.2 inches. But what is important is the end-result fender gap and stance, and this info should be valid.

I am very satisfied with the handling and ride quality. While there is still some amount of body roll, it is non-existent compared to the way it used to be. The car is way more nimble and responsive than it was stock. While I have never pushed my car to or over the edge, I can tell that it is much, much better around the curves. I am way more confident in its abilities now. The car is definitely stiffer than it was stock, but not necessarily in a bad way. While I do feel more bumps in the road, the car doesn't bounce and move all over everywhere when I go over larger bumps. All in all, I like it better than I did when it was stock.

Also, I wrapped the springs in a few layers of electrical tape instead of using the isolators. I cannot tell one bit of difference from stock.

Finally, I initially put everything back together WITHOUT the spacers included in the Steeda X2 ball joint kit. The front end was SLAMMED. I didn't take a measurement, but it was AT LEAST an inch lower in the front than the back. IMO, it looked pretty dumb. I put the spacers back in and it looks PERFECT to me. Just a little note for anyone wondering.



OK, enough talking, time for some pictures! I need to give credit to my buddy Jordan from school, and to big Joe from BIG & Little Photography. Both took some awesome photos, but some of Joe's were absolutely amazing!

Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

And my favorite of the night:
Courtesy Joe with BIG & Little Photography

WOW, that took a long time to write up. Well, it's the first Friday night after classes are over, so I'm out for the night. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures!

Thanks for the compliments and kind words guys! It really does look and handle like an entirely different car. It is SO much more fun to drive around now. When the next one of those "What mods should I do to my car first" threads pops up, I know what I'm recommending from now on! I seriously can't believe I've had the car for 5 years without lowering it.

midnightdriver said:

Love the stance, though about a Bullitt spring kit for my car when I do the subframes. What is the difference in spring rate if anyone knows compared to stock. I am looking at H&R race springs or Bullitt springs.

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The Bullitt suspension kit is a GREAT budget lowering kit. $500 out the door is hard to beat. 1994-04 Mustang Bullitt Ford Racing Suspension Kit M-5400-A at LRS - Same Day Shipping!

Stock front rate is 450, to the Bullitt's 600; and the stock rear rate is 200 to the Bullitt's 250. Or at least that's what I read somewhere else.

BurningRubber said:

Big difference, it looks awesome! Nice pictures as well, the car looks spotless.

How bad of a job were the tie-rod ends, and what specifically was a PITA about the balljoints? This is all stuff I have on my to-do list.

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The tie rod ends were VERY easy. I could probably do both of them, from driving the car in the shop to backing it out, in an hour. Requires no special tools or anything either.

Actually pressing the old ball joints out and pressing the new ones in was pretty easy. You just have to have a ball joint press, which you can rent for free.

What was hard was getting the knuckle off of the tapered shaft of the ball joint. My dad and I beat on it, pryed on it, cussed a little bit, hit it some more, gave up on it, drank a beer, came back an hour later, and repeated the above procedure. After a LOT of repeated multi-thousand-pounds-of-force hammer blows, it finally let go and popped off. YES! Now to the other side!

I guess you could have heated it up with a torch, but my dad said that he didn't think the heat would help with a tapered shaft. It was the force of a hammer blow that would break it lose. And, he said that he thought the heat from a torch would probably mess up the seals on the wheel bearings, and that he wouldn't heat it up unless I was planning on replacing the bearings at the same time (which I wasn't).

It's not that bad, but I would definitely be prepared to get frustrated with it. And you'll probably need a friend, so that one of you can pry upwards on it, while the other delivers hammers blows with enough force to take down the Brooklyn Bridge.

RedDaemon said:

sorry off topic but i gotta ask:

how do you like your Canon 7D?

EDIT: i guess thats not your camera :\

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Yea, it's Joe's camera. As far as I know, he loves it. He is actually a campus minister here at State, but does some professional photography on the side. Here's his website. BIG & little Photography I have seen him take some AMAZING pictures with that camera.

98COBRA281 said:

looks good man!

i was looking at the front tire pic, and i think a 99+ brake caliper swap would look sweet behind the rim! you get better stopping power and loose 16lbs off the nose!

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I actually thought about doing that WAY back when, before I did anything else to my car. Is there a write up, or something along those lines, showing exactly what to do? And I believe you, but how does going from 1 piston to 2 piston calipers shave weight? Seems counter-intuitive to me.

screamin gt said:

Nice, your car looks great. I'm not a big fan of the 94-98 style but every now and then I see one like this and its very impressive. good job with the write up too

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Thanks man! To be honest, I've never liked the 94-98 style much either. I've always, and still do, like the 99-04 a good amount better. However, every now and then I'll see a 94-98 that looks amazing, and I can see where they have the ability to look really dang good. I like to think that my car has now taken a big step in that direction. I was at the track yesterday, and I got several comments on how good the car/stance looks, and I've never gotten that before.

03_TrueBlue_GT said:

Man that thing is nice, not too low and not to high for my taste! I didnt think the Bullitt springs would really make that big a difference too. I cant wait to lower mine, thats my goal for this summer. Btw can I add your pics to my computer for the background pic??

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Thanks man! That's what I was going for: low enough to look good, but not so low that the ride quality really suffered or that I scraped over every speed bump. I got EXACTLY what I was looking for, and I couldn't be happier!

You're more than welcome to use these pictures, although I can hardly imagine how you think my car is worthy of that status, haha.

98COBRA281 said:

the stock 98 caliper's are heavy cast iron, the 99+ are made by a company called PBR and are made from aluminum, the weight difference if huge when your holding both in your hands

here a write up it pretty much just a bolt on, all you need to do is grind a few millimeters off the spindles
Ford Mustang: Mustang Tech: Brakes: Low Budget PBR brake upgrade

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Ah, makes sense.

I have done some looking around, but can't find the answer: Do I need the 99-04 brackets as well? Or use my same ones? And also, are the pads any different?

Ugh, while I was reading some old threads about doing the PBR upgrade, I stumbled on one about doing a budget Cobra break upgrade using reman 96-98 calipers. IF I have to have new pads and mounting brackets for the PBR upgrade, the only price difference (assuming I get remanufactured calipers, either PBR or Cobra) is the new rotors, which is only about $75.

Now, I can already lock up my brakes with the stock setup, and I don't have ABS, and I don't currently track the car, so I probably wouldn't notice a difference in performance. Oh, but the looks of the big 13 inch rotor behind the wheel...

Dark04GT said:

Looks great with the suspension upgrades. I can't wait to get started on some more suspension stuff myself.

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Thanks man!