Lowering your mustang on a budget - with new parts!

stprorolla49 · Jan 31, 2010

OK, here's my opinion. Its definitely unnecessary to get the X2's for the added drop. While it may be another road to get there, it sounds like its not worth the money at this point in time. On my old car, like I said I had Sportlines and I ran them with no isos at all in the front, and only one of the iso's in back (can't remember which one). Regardless, the cheapest and easiest way is to remove the front iso's for sure. I promise you that you will be satisfied with the added .5" or so. Here is a pic for reference for you:

Another point that I have made before that I will say again is that at some point you will reach the point where your 94-04 specific struts will bottom out on their travel up front. That said, if you have that issue, just get some Fox-specific struts for the front. I ran KYB GR2's and they were cheap and rode great. I think they were maybe $50 or $60 each. Just some food for thought man, good luck!

HankyGT · Jan 31, 2010

^^ Your strut 'bottoming out' is completely affected by the design and shim height of your CC plate. Although it's a 'trick' to run a a strut designed for a different application; it is a bandaid and should not be nessesary.

Yank the iso's; make sure you set up your CC plates correctly...call it a day

fiveoho · Jan 31, 2010

stprorolla49 said:
OK, here's my opinion. Its definitely unnecessary to get the X2's for the added drop. While it may be another road to get there, it sounds like its not worth the money at this point in time. On my old car, like I said I had Sportlines and I ran them with no isos at all in the front, and only one of the iso's in back (can't remember which one). Regardless, the cheapest and easiest way is to remove the front iso's for sure. I promise you that you will be satisfied with the added .5" or so. Here is a pic for reference for you:

Another point that I have made before that I will say again is that at some point you will reach the point where your 94-04 specific struts will bottom out on their travel up front. That said, if you have that issue, just get some Fox-specific struts for the front. I ran KYB GR2's and they were cheap and rode great. I think they were maybe $50 or $60 each. Just some food for thought man, good luck!

car looks really nice. good stance to it. you and hanky are both right about the shocks/struts. i know the oem replacements are not the best for longevity but they do work. i knew before buying them that they would wear out faster with a lowered car but i know ill get my moneys worth with them also.

thanks for the pic. did your car sit noticeably higher b4 you took them out?

fiveoho · Jan 31, 2010

HankyGT said:
Yank the iso's; make sure you set up your CC plates correctly...call it a day

i think im gonna try this, hopefully within the next week or two (whenever access to the lift comes avail). this may be the simple solution im looking for. i think i will tape the pigtails b4 reinstalling the springs.

fingers crossed.

95BlueStallion · Jan 31, 2010

I wonder how long electrical tape would last honestly. Its so soft that I would assume it would rub right through. And if you tape the piss out of the spring, you might as well put the isolator back in ya know? I dont think the tape would hurt anything, just wondering if it would help at all either.

fiveoho · Jan 31, 2010

95BlueStallion said:
I wonder how long electrical tape would last honestly. Its so soft that I would assume it would rub right through. And if you tape the piss out of the spring, you might as well put the isolator back in ya know? I dont think the tape would hurt anything, just wondering if it would help at all either.

im honestly wondering the same thing. i can say i have searched a ton of threads and alot of guys have done it and reported good results . in fact, a few specifically said theirs squeaked until they took the springs back out and taped them. like you said, i cant get crazy wrapping them or i will add to much thickness.

wont know till i try i guess

95BlueStallion · Jan 31, 2010

Well give it hell and post more pics!

fiveoho · Jan 31, 2010

95BlueStallion said:
Well give it hell and post more pics!

10 4

one guy posted how he sprayed some rubber coating inside the spring cup. dunno if id wanna try that or not

stprorolla49 · Jan 31, 2010

HankyGT said:
^^ Your strut 'bottoming out' is completely affected by the design and shim height of your CC plate. Although it's a 'trick' to run a a strut designed for a different application; it is a bandaid and should not be nessesary.

Yank the iso's; make sure you set up your CC plates correctly...call it a day

While I do agree to an extent, I did have my c/c plates shimmed to the point where the piston of the strut was as expanded as far as possible through the top of the c/c plate without hitting the inside of the hood, and it still bottomed out on large bumps. Again, not starting an argument because I do agree that it is all about the shim height of the c/c plate, but when you can't shim anymore, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just stating to the OP that if he has this issue and he can't adjust it anymore through the c/c plate that Fox struts are an option. It just gave me piece of mind that god forbid I hit a big bump I wouldn't need to cringe when the strut compressed

fiveoho · Feb 16, 2010

These came in today. hated to do it but maybe this will solve my front fender gap problem.

fiveoho · Feb 16, 2010

HankyGT said:
make sure you set up your CC plates correctly...call it a day

i thought of something. this may or may not be relevant. after everything was installed when we lowered the car, we took it out for a test drive. immediately we noticed a horribly loud metallic thud noise that was constant. brought the car back to the shop and noticed the strut was moving vertically thru the CC plates. the kit was suppose to come with spacers ( pretty sure on that) but didnt. we rounded up a spacer for each side and that stopped the noise and slack. could that spacer(s) we added cause the front end to sit higher?

HankyGT · Feb 16, 2010

It very well could be depending on where the spacers sat, bumpstops etc. Check with your instructions on your CC plates and make sure they are not fox style aswell. I still fail to believe it's the springs causing a ridehight issue.

fiveoho · Feb 17, 2010

i double checked. the cc plates i ordered were 94-04 specific. the spacers could be the problem you think? w/o them it clanks like a mofo.

im open to all suggestions but im hesitant to think its anything other than the springs. i had the same cc plates, the same springs, same isolators, basically the same shocks/struts ( 01 takes-offs ) on my 95 and it sat a heck of alot better than the car i have now. however, it did have a little lopsidedness to it in the rear. and i have noticed this on my silver car ( in different parking lots - same stance ) that the rear is noticeable lower on one side than the other

HankyGT · Feb 17, 2010

Let me dig a little bit for you if I can find some CC plate instructions and the like and go over them. Could be the 4.6s just plain sit different with the same springs, just strikes me odd.

fiveoho · Feb 17, 2010

well i appreciate you doing that. i still have not got a chance to check the front bumpstops.

just browsing around....MM kit (MMCC9994) supplies bumpstops with their cc plates. also, according to their pdf install instructions spacer placement looks very important.

"For cars at stock ride height:

• Install 2 long spacers and 1 short spacer below the
spherical bearing. Install 1 short spacer above the
spherical bearing. There should be a total of 4 spacers
per side."

"For lowered cars:

• If using any of the Tokico 3026 series of struts, use
the spacer guideline above for vehicles at stock ride
height. Failure to do so will severely limit droop travel
and may contribute to unsafe driving conditions.
• For all other struts, install 1 short spacer below the
spherical bearing. Install 2 long and 1 short spacer
above the spherical bearing. There should be a total of
4 spacers per side."

perhaps the washer was suppose to be installed below the bearing of the cc plate rather than above? if memory serves me right, it was above.

dumb question here but how would i tell if the car is riding on the front bumpstops if they are covered by the dust boot?

edit : washer = spacer

fiveoho · Feb 17, 2010

i think these are the instructions for the cc plates per UPR

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst...stang-94-Caster-Camber-Plate-Installation.pdf

It shows a large spacer below the plate, then a small one above it. actually if im reading it right, more than one above it. i remember installing a spacer on each side above the plate (after we drove it). and i believe the installer said there were spacers that he installed below. supposedly, the kit shorted us spacers so used our own spacers. maybe the ones we used were to thick? too thin?

would it make any difference if that spacer was installed under the plate rather than above? or vice versa. how would that change the ride height? or would it?

94gtfreak · Feb 17, 2010

It might help a lil bit if you could post up a pic or two or your CC plates.

HankyGT · Feb 17, 2010

After reading what you have given and dug around myself:

Yes, if it is too long on the bottom, it is going to limit the downward travel of the shock to where it's not compressing. The extra long under the plate is acting like a bumpstop more or less. The difference in travel if the car was loose should have been shimmed only above the spherical bearing, with the shortest shim available underneath.

Take the CC plates apart, put the shortest shim it came with under the main bearing and you can use whatever you want to make up the space above. That should fix it.

fiveoho · Feb 17, 2010

94gtfreak said:
It might help a lil bit if you could post up a pic or two or your CC plates.

im in the process of moving and the car is my garage at my new location. next time i am there, ill try and remember to snap a pic. visuals help.

fiveoho · Feb 17, 2010

HankyGT said:
After reading what you have given and dug around myself:

Yes, if it is too long on the bottom, it is going to limit the downward travel of the shock to where it's not compressing. The extra long under the plate is acting like a bumpstop more or less. The difference in travel if the car was loose should have been shimmed only above the spherical bearing, with the shortest shim available underneath.

Take the CC plates apart, put the shortest shim it came with under the main bearing and you can use whatever you want to make up the space above. That should fix it.

i remember the final shimming we did was above the bearing. the kit didnt include enough spacers but maybe, like you said, the long spacer that was put under the bearing should have gone on top. refering to the install instructions tho, it says long spacer under bearing.

hell i dunno. my head hurts from trying to figure out what the problem is. best thing to do is get the car back in the shop when possible and go back over everything. just will annoy me to no end until i figure it out.

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