Suspension parts going in ..... what else

my05gt · Nov 28, 2007

I have a stock 96 Cobra. The car handles like crap. My ex 95 Cobra could take a certain set of curves near the house at 60 and feel rock solid whereas the 96 feels like the rear end wants to find the ditch at 45. I am using the sale of the 95 and the poor handling as an excuse to upgrade. This car is mainly for roads, but would very occasionally see the strip or track. Ride quality is important.

This is what I have going in so far:

Kenny Brown SFCs
Kenny Brown Jacking Rails
Kenny Brown Extreme Matrix Brace
Eibach Pro Kit
Energy suspension rear poly bushing kit
Energy suspension spring isolators
Maximum Motorsports K-Member brace
Maximum Motorsports CC plates
KYB axle dampers

I still need to choose shocks and struts. I have been trying to research KYB AGXs and Tokico HP (blue). I have read nothing bad about the Tokicos, but people seem mixed on the KYBs. Cost is important or I would get the D-specs.

I have 2 questions:

1. What would you recommend for the shocks and struts?

2. What else would you consider changing?

LaserSVT · Nov 28, 2007

Eibach makes a great matched kit with struts/shocks and springs nice setup and its under $700. If you dont mind spending the coin go to MM and get the Bilstiens with MM Bilstien matched springs should run about $900. Also to really plant the rear use a set of Maximum Motorsports lower control arms and a panhard bar and you will be blown away how the car handles, brings it to C-5 Corvette levels handeling wise

EPIK · Nov 29, 2007

LaserSVT said:
Eibach makes a great matched kit with struts/shocks and springs nice setup and its under $700. If you dont mind spending the coin go to MM and get the Bilstiens with MM Bilstien matched springs should run about $900. Also to really plant the rear use a set of Maximum Motorsports lower control arms and a panhard bar and you will be blown away how the car handles, brings it to C-5 Corvette levels handeling wise

+1 on the MM panhard bar, bilsteins, & lower control arms. They also make excellent coilover kits that dramatically tighten up our sloppy mustang suspension. A bumpsteer kit helps alot too. I run the same setup, & for a solid axle mustang, my car handles like its on rails. I was on a cruise on some backroad twisties with a bunch of mustangs & vettes & was doing some spirited driving right behind a C5 z06. When we stopped a few miles down the road ,the driver of the z06 couldnt beleive he had a Mustang riding his a$$ & taking the twisties just as good as his expensive sportscar....

Here are a couple of pics of my suspension setup...These were taken when I still had the stock exhaust & subframe connectors...rear coilovers & torque arm should be going in shortly (was supposed to go in a long time ago, but things came up)....

Front coilovers installed....

These helped out alot too....Steeda bumpsteer kit/ X2 balljoints/ poly swaybar endlinks...

installed, b4 I did the front coilovers....

CobraRed_96_GT · Nov 29, 2007

Lookin good Dustin!

EPIK · Nov 29, 2007

CobraRed_96_GT said:
Lookin good Dustin!

Thanks Chris...I just cant wait to get my suspension finalized. Ive had the torque arm & rear coilovers sitting in a box for months now because I was waiting on a buddy to do the install but he kept BS'in. Im just gonna end up having a local shop handle the install, but its an expensive job (5-7 hours labor time)....It should definately be worth it though after....

I wanna do the K member & A arms too, but its about time that i make the mach faster now....

bakos24 · Nov 29, 2007

Your bottom side sure is purty dustin .

On a side note. Did anybody see this yet.

Click_Here

What are you guys thought on it. Do you think it will do a decent job or just extra junk?

tomustang · Nov 29, 2007

bakos24 said:
Your bottom side sure is purty dustin .

On a side note. Did anybody see this yet.

Click_Here

What are you guys thought on it. Do you think it will do a decent job or just extra junk?

That looks like an axle housing support brace, it should target the axle tubes since they're not welded

tomustang · Nov 29, 2007

my05gt said:
Kenny Brown SFCs
Kenny Brown Jacking Rails
Kenny Brown Extreme Matrix Brace

I wouldn't go nuts adding so many pieces on, you might be better off getting a Full Length Subframe Connector. Should think about it.

my05gt said:
Energy suspension rear poly bushing kit

Worst thing you can do is ad all poly in the rear, for now keep the UCA's stock and look into some LCA's that have poly front (chassis) spherical rear (axle) connections

my05gt said:
Energy suspension spring isolators

Worthless

my05gt said:
2. What else would you consider changing?

Change out the Rear swaybar with a 98 Cobra one, The 96 should be hollow, and it could possibly be broken since they are prone to do that at the bolt holes.

EPIK · Nov 29, 2007

tomustang said:
I wouldn't go nuts adding so many pieces on, you might be better off getting a Full Length Subframe Connector. Should think about it.

Worst thing you can do is ad all poly in the rear, for now keep the UCA's stock and look into some LCA's that have poly front (chassis) spherical rear (axle) connections

Worthless

Change out the Rear swaybar with a 98 Cobra one, The 96 should be hollow, and it could possibly be broken since they are prone to do that at the bolt holes.

Good advice.... My old 97 Cobra felt like crap when I got it @88k miles. The rear sway bar was gone so it probably broke at one time....I replaced it with the steeda Cobra replacement that u see in the pic on my Mach....

my05gt · Nov 29, 2007

tomustang said:
I wouldn't go nuts adding so many pieces on, you might be better off getting a Full Length Subframe Connector. Should think about it..

I purchased the Kenny Brown stuff about 20 months ago for the 95, but never got around to installing it. Are you saying you would not use it and just put in the full length subframe connectors?

tomustang said:
Worst thing you can do is ad all poly in the rear, for now keep the UCA's stock and look into some LCA's that have poly front (chassis) spherical rear (axle) connections.

I probably misread somewhere but I thought that just one end of the UCAs needed to have flex, so I had planned on installing brand new stock rubber bushings in the dog ears of the differential. Are you saying that the LCAs have the same binding issue?

tomustang said:
(spring isolators) Worthless.

I just assumed that these were part of upgrading the springs. what are the advantages disadvantages of the isolators?

tomustang said:
Change out the Rear swaybar with a 98 Cobra one, The 96 should be hollow, and it could possibly be broken since they are prone to do that at the bolt holes.

It does not appear that mine is in danger of breaking yet, but I will start looking around for a 98 or good aftermarket one.

No one has addressed shocks struts yet ...... anyone?

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

LaserSVT · Nov 29, 2007

In the first reply I said get eaither the matched Eibach Combo ($630) but since you already have the Pro springs you can get the dampners for $420. Or the Bilstiens are excellent as well. A good economy shock would be the Blue Tokicos, but for $80 more you can get the Eibachs. And spring isolators are usually included with the kits to help have the right height set on the springs, also keeps the springs from making metal on metal noises. And finnaly the KB subframes are good but the MM full length are alot better IMO. You have another 14" of support and you have the seat braces. Finnaly dont change the bushings on the UCA because harder bushings do cause bind. If the bushings in them are shot, replace the whole arm with Steedas or the BBK's. Unfortunatly I dont think MM makes UCA's because they say 86 it and go the torque arm route

my05gt · Nov 29, 2007

LaserSVT said:
In the first reply I said get eaither the matched Eibach Combo ($630) but since you already have the Pro springs you can get the dampners for $420. Or the Bilstiens are excellent as well. A good economy shock would be the Blue Tokicos, but for $80 more you can get the Eibachs. And spring isolators are usually included with the kits to help have the right height set on the springs, also keeps the springs from making metal on metal noises. And finnaly the KB subframes are good but the MM full length are alot better IMO. You have another 14" of support and you have the seat braces. Finnaly dont change the bushings on the UCA because harder bushings do cause bind. If the bushings in them are shot, replace the whole arm with Steedas or the BBK's. Unfortunatly I dont think MM makes UCA's because they say 86 it and go the torque arm route

Thank you .... and in the future I will try to read more thoroughly ...... it has been a long week with little sleep.

BurningRubber · Nov 29, 2007

Dont feel bad, I bet your rear springs dont look like this...

my05gt · Nov 29, 2007

BurningRubber said:
Dont feel bad, I bet your rear springs dont look like this...

As a matter of fact ...... not exactly, but close. What causes that?

tomustang · Nov 30, 2007

my05gt said:
I purchased the Kenny Brown stuff about 20 months ago for the 95, but never got around to installing it. Are you saying you would not use it and just put in the full length subframe connectors?

Since you have them already go put them in, they're a good kit, the subs aren't full length since it's meant to utilize the kenny brown roll cage to tie the rear up more, it's a good kit, but you have to do alot of welding,

my05gt said:
I probably misread somewhere but I thought that just one end of the UCAs needed to have flex, so I had planned on installing brand new stock rubber bushings in the dog ears of the differential. Are you saying that the LCAs have the same binding issue?

The whole design of the UCA is boogered since the UCA's have to travel in to many directions, it is better to just leave the stock rubber bushing design in there or advance to a 3-Link like a Torque Arm or Tri-Link system, which would be alot more work to the suspension

my05gt said:
I just assumed that these were part of upgrading the springs. what are the advantages disadvantages of the isolators?

Ride height, that's about it

my05gt said:
It does not appear that mine is in danger of breaking yet, but I will start looking around for a 98 or good aftermarket one.

It's always good to check if the car is broke or not, all you have to do is unbolt it and check the holes for cracks

my05gt said:
No one has addressed shocks struts yet ...... anyone?

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

Since you choose the Pro Kit there are too many dampers out there to suggest, KYB's are a great replacement from stock (and when I bought them they had a lifetime warrenty on them) and so are HP's, you couldn't go wrong with either, but you can get a better design like bilstein or koni for alot more, and it would be alot than a HP or KYB set

tomustang · Nov 30, 2007

my05gt said:
As a matter of fact ...... not exactly, but close. What causes that?

That is what happens when you heat up a spring in order to "chop" a bit of it off, never use heat to cut a spring coil off, the last owner did it and he found out when he removed it from his car

my05gt · Nov 30, 2007

tomustang said:
That is what happens when you heat up a spring in order to "chop" a bit of it off, never use heat to cut a spring coil off, the last owner did it and he found out when he removed it from his car

I hope that is not the case with mine ...... although I did buy it used. I will know soon enough. The Kenny Brown stuff goes in tomorrow. While it is up, I will check out the rear swaybar and try to get a pic of the springs.

tomustang · Nov 30, 2007

my05gt said:
I hope that is not the case with mine ...... although I did buy it used. I will know soon enough. The Kenny Brown stuff goes in tomorrow. While it is up, I will check out the rear swaybar and try to get a pic of the springs.

Since the KB stuff is going in, check to see if there's any cracks where the LCA's connect on the chassis end, which would be the torque box area

SVT32VDOHC · Dec 3, 2007

Before you upgrade to expensive parts....step back and look at what it is you want. A new 96 Cobra handled awesome, so your stock parts have worn out. I just went through this with my 96 Cobra. My front sturts were shot. I replaced them with 2004 Mach 1 struts (made by Tokico) bought new at dealership. They were 197 for the pair. I replaced the inner and outer tie rods...(MOOGS). I bought a new steering shaft (Blue Oval Industries factory replacement) and I bought the bearing the shaft goes through in the firewall. After this, I got an alignment, and balanced all tires. All my slopping steering and pulling any way it wanted over bumps...GONE. I spent very little money, and have factory replacement parts.

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