Lowering your mustang on a budget - with new parts!

BlackVert · Dec 11, 2009

to the OP, good job on the budget project.

Adam95GT said:
another small note when buying *gabriel guardian shocks/struts (autozone) : $109.71* buy them for a fox mustang... the fronts are shorter and will handle the lowering better (more travel). Just might let a stock style strut last longer

dang, you beat me to this.

one thing i am curious about along the same lines is the springs ... are stock fox springs also shorter than the sn95 versions of them, making them a possible candidate for lowering?

fiveoho · Dec 11, 2009

BlackVert said:
to the OP, good job on the budget project.

dang, you beat me to this.

one thing i am curious about along the same lines is the springs ... are stock fox springs also shorter than the sn95 versions of them, making them a possible candidate for lowering?

thanks buddy

im not for sure about the fox springs. i do know there are many people here knowledgable enough to have that answer. im curious myself.

the sportline part # is the same for fox bodies, sn95s and new edge. i believe eibach claims a 2.0 drop front / 1.8 rear on 94-04 cars. interestingly, eibach claims a 1.7 front / 1.5 rear on the fox cars

Husky44 · Dec 11, 2009

fiveoho said:
thanks buddy

im not for sure about the fox springs. i do know there are many people here knowledgable enough to have that answer. im curious myself.

the sportline part # is the same for fox bodies, sn95s and new edge. i believe eibach claims a 2.0 drop front / 1.8 rear on 94-04 cars. interestingly, eibach claims a 1.7 front / 1.5 rear on the fox cars

I would expect that the spring rate is lower on the stock Fox springs, so you may get a drop by swapping them in. I expect they're dimensionally the same (ie, same un-loaded height).

The reason most aftermarket springs that are the same p/n for all years claim a bigger drop on the SN95s than on the Foxes is the lighter weight of the Fox, which results in less compression of the same spring. The principle should apply in reverse, so that you'd get a lower stance from the stock Fox spring...I don't know what you'd see in actual results.

revhead347 · Dec 11, 2009

They are the same spring height.

Kurt

95BlueStallion · Jan 1, 2010

Did you ever get any pics of the car? Id like to SEE your final stance.

HankyGT · Jan 1, 2010

Good luck with the OEMs on sportlines, not only are they not going to last for more than a year if you are lucky, they are not even going to be close to functioning correctly. Shocks/dampers are designed to work within certain ranges within the travel of the internal cylinder. Working out of those ranges causes irration or air bubbles forming inside and instability. I guess since you are just driving around it won't be 'as bad' but you have just fuxxored the roll center on the car without any sort of correction with dampening, nevermind the bumpsteer issues, rack bushings, and the spindle height without a raised balljoint.

Futhermore generally sportlines have LESS spring rate than the PRO-KIT as while the pro-kit is a drop designed to be used for stock style equipment; when you lower a car the correct way you do not need such excessive springrates to prevent from bottoming out everywhere.

Kudos for putting a cheap parts list out but I would suggest people towards a springset that is geared closer to what will suit the 'budget' enthusiast best. It's not budget anymore when you have to buy stuff twice. My previous owner of my brother's cobra took this approach on sportlines. It was like riding in a crapbox civic bouncing and bottoming out, not weight transfering well...just generally garbage after any decent amount of time.

Car should look very agressive.....it's just going to handle like doodie. Sorry to be the downer.

99FiveOh · Jan 1, 2010

I will drop my car in a couple of weeks for FREE! Full coil cut from the rear and 1 1/4 coil cut from the front. Perfect stance and cost zilch. Did it on my last car and it drove perfect.

Flamesuit on...

HankyGT · Jan 2, 2010

.....and it'll wear tires and bumpsteer just like your last one

stprorolla49 · Jan 2, 2010

HankyGT said:
Good luck with the OEMs on sportlines, not only are they not going to last for more than a year if you are lucky, they are not even going to be close to functioning correctly. Shocks/dampers are designed to work within certain ranges within the travel of the internal cylinder. Working out of those ranges causes irration or air bubbles forming inside and instability. I guess since you are just driving around it won't be 'as bad' but you have just fuxxored the roll center on the car without any sort of correction with dampening, nevermind the bumpsteer issues, rack bushings, and the spindle height without a raised balljoint.

Futhermore generally sportlines have LESS spring rate than the PRO-KIT as while the pro-kit is a drop designed to be used for stock style equipment; when you lower a car the correct way you do not need such excessive springrates to prevent from bottoming out everywhere.

Kudos for putting a cheap parts list out but I would suggest people towards a springset that is geared closer to what will suit the 'budget' enthusiast best. It's not budget anymore when you have to buy stuff twice. My previous owner of my brother's cobra took this approach on sportlines. It was like riding in a crapbox civic bouncing and bottoming out, not weight transfering well...just generally garbage after any decent amount of time.

Car should look very agressive.....it's just going to handle like doodie. Sorry to be the downer.

I would have suggested getting Fox Body specific shocks and struts because the SN95 ones tend to bottom out on large bumps with the Sportlines. I had them in my old '95 with the stock shocks and struts and they were terrible, and bottomed out all the time. Then I switched to Fox Body KYB GR2's and they worked out great. The ride wasn't too rough, the struts never bottomed out, and they didn't cost that much either.

HankyGT · Jan 2, 2010

If you set the car up right it's fine; you just can't half a$$ things.

I've had sportlines on the car for three years now, it's street driven mostly, dragged, and open tracked at Nelson Ledges with AGX's, CE bumpsteer kit, 98-04 control arms with Steeda Xs, BBK CC plates, thick strut and frame ties, and full poly endlinks, rack, swaybar etc.

I've never bottomed out.

That's a neat trick (fox), but it's going to cause a few problems when shimming different brand CC plates and might cause over extension of the piston in some cases. Do it correctly the first time and not worry about it.

fiveoho · Jan 4, 2010

95BlueStallion said:
Did you ever get any pics of the car? Id like to SEE your final stance.

bear with me buddy. its freakin cold here and im too of a much pansy to brave the cold weather for the pics....

ill get em soon tho

fiveoho · Jan 4, 2010

HankyGT said:
Good luck with the OEMs on sportlines, not only are they not going to last for more than a year if you are lucky, they are not even going to be close to functioning correctly. Shocks/dampers are designed to work within certain ranges within the travel of the internal cylinder. Working out of those ranges causes irration or air bubbles forming inside and instability. I guess since you are just driving around it won't be 'as bad' but you have just fuxxored the roll center on the car without any sort of correction with dampening, nevermind the bumpsteer issues, rack bushings, and the spindle height without a raised balljoint.

Futhermore generally sportlines have LESS spring rate than the PRO-KIT as while the pro-kit is a drop designed to be used for stock style equipment; when you lower a car the correct way you do not need such excessive springrates to prevent from bottoming out everywhere.

Kudos for putting a cheap parts list out but I would suggest people towards a springset that is geared closer to what will suit the 'budget' enthusiast best. It's not budget anymore when you have to buy stuff twice. My previous owner of my brother's cobra took this approach on sportlines. It was like riding in a crapbox civic bouncing and bottoming out, not weight transfering well...just generally garbage after any decent amount of time.

Car should look very agressive.....it's just going to handle like doodie. Sorry to be the downer.

lol - wow thanks for all the encouragement.

the techno babble you just spilled means nothing to me. not because i dont understand it, its just not a issue. my 95 rode just fine with this exact same setup for over 4 years. no adverse effects, no problems, no wore out components. didnt handle like 'doodie' and rode great just like my current '00 GT. the car is a cruiser, not a autocrosser. im happy with it and will be for more years to come

HankyGT · Jan 4, 2010

Haha, sorry; as long as you are happy with it.

fiveoho · Jan 4, 2010

HankyGT said:
Haha, sorry; as long as you are happy with it.

yes sir, sure am

fiveoho · Jan 4, 2010

i guess i should have called you to come setup the suspension on this car before i ever started, that way it would have been perfect. could have saved myself alot of money and heartache

i'll never learn...

HankyGT · Jan 4, 2010

I'm assuming that's back at me. Sorry I believe in "do it once do it right".

Accepting mediocraty is one thing. Arguing physics is another. I guess making the suggestion of another spring is just a dick move....just trying to help out others who are going down the same path. I mean really its crazy they sell all these parts for no reason right?

The parts list is nice on a budget but it should list a spring that WORKS CORRECTLY with what's listed.

Perhaps oneday.......

Husky44 · Jan 4, 2010

HankyGT said:
I'm assuming that's back at me. Sorry I believe in "do it once do it right".

Accepting mediocraty is one thing. Arguing physics is another. I guess making the suggestion of another spring is just a dick move....just trying to help out others who are going down the same path. I mean really its crazy they sell all these parts for no reason right?

The parts list is nice on a budget but it should list a spring that WORKS CORRECTLY with what's listed.

Perhaps oneday.......

I don't think anyone's got a problem with yoyu trying to help out others going down the same path. However, you might be a little more effective, and a little less offensive, if you tried using some tact. Let me see if I can help:

Phrases such as:

-"when you lower a car the correct way..." (implying that the OP is doing it theincorrect way--b/c it's not how you would do it)
-"it's just going to handle like doodie." (not the most helpful way to turn a phrase)
"I believe in do it once right" (again, strongly implying that the OP believes in doing it wrong--b/c it's not the way you would do it)
"Accepting mediocrity is one thing..." (That's pretty blatantly just slamming the guy for no reason).

FWIW--I appreciate you wanting to be helpful (or at least your claim to be doing so), but since you seem to dislike most everything about your car, I'm not inclined to put a whole lot of stock in your input; I sure wouldn't want to set my car up that way--I might hate mine then too.

Furthermore: "Sorry to be the downer."--I disagree. I think you enjoyed it immensely.

94gtfreak · Jan 4, 2010

I'd still like to see a couple pix of it?

Anything has got to be better than my 16 yr. old busted ass factory setup.

HankyGT · Jan 4, 2010

My financial frustration with the car has nothing to do with my actual knowledge of the car/vehicles in general nor the actual performance of my vehicle sans some straightline woes brought on by a tired old shortblock with too much crap thrown at it.

Quote me all you want. The last two were in retort. The first two were truthful.

I enjoyed this post.

fiveoho · Jan 4, 2010

HankyGT said:
I'm assuming that's back at me. Sorry I believe in "do it once do it right".

Accepting mediocraty is one thing. Arguing physics is another. I guess making the suggestion of another spring is just a dick move....just trying to help out others who are going down the same path. I mean really its crazy they sell all these parts for no reason right?

The parts list is nice on a budget but it should list a spring that WORKS CORRECTLY with what's listed.

Perhaps oneday.......

you bashed my thread and pretty much everything i said. with that, im going to defend what i stated. the last post i made was just a hit back at you, thinking you could take it well.

im not arguing with physics. and you are not "trying to help out" . you giving a my way or the highway speech. hanky doesn't know all, so why act like it?

the input is appreciated, its a forum. but like stated above, try and have a little tact about it. last time i checked, you never rode in my 95. so i think its fair to say, you have no clue what it rode like, how it handled, or was able to have any knowledge or first hand sight to see what parts were NOT worn out, etc. same thing with my 2000.

as stated several times, its not a track car. there is no need to spend a ton of money on suspension components that are not needed. think about how many people lower their mustang every day doing the same setup i did. you honestly think all those people wear out their suspension, shocks, struts, etc in a years time - no.

the parts i have listed DO WORK CORRECTLY. i never said they were ideal. take the thread for what it is and comment all you want but have a little class when you do it.

Lowering your mustang on a budget - with new parts!

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