Suspension Upgrades. Front Or Rear 1st?

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

If I'm not building a purpose built racecar and springs, shocks, and sfc's have been done where do I go next?

Mike McNasty

84Ttop · Jul 14, 2014

First would be the rear for me. If you are not racing the car at all, you may want to skip upgrading the front all together.

srtthis · Jul 14, 2014

rear for sure...

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

swap in an IRS. boom! mind blown

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

84Ttop said:
First would be the rear for me. If you are not racing the car at all, you may want to skip upgrading the front all together.

Would I get much benefit if I just do rear lowers and not the uppers? I know this is extreme newb but are rear lower arms mainly for launching and straight-line performance or would an aftermarket set help improve cornering as well?

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

stykthyn said:
swap in an IRS. boom! mind blown

Outta my ballpark bubba.

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

honestly if you are replacing or ugrading your current 8.8 by the time you do gears/axles/control arms with quality parts you are already into the IRS territory. If your goal is to make the car a driver then its the perfect choice.

84Ttop · Jul 14, 2014

90lxwhite said:
Would I get much benefit if I just do rear lowers and not the uppers? I know this is extreme newb but are rear lower arms mainly for launching and straight-line performance or would an aftermarket set help improve cornering as well?

For me upper and lowers go hand in hand. The whole assembly really works together so I don't see any benefit in leaving the uppers and replacing the lowers. The stability in general will be greatly improved by replacing both uppers and lowers. The factory rubber bushings and stamped steel arms just don't cut it imho

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

stykthyn said:
honestly if you are replacing or ugrading your current 8.8 by the time you do gears/axles/control arms with quality parts you are already into the IRS territory. If your goal is to make the car a driver then its the perfect choice.

Whoa whoa slow down Maddog. I have 3.73,s in the stock rearend, that and bolt-on suspension parts is as far as I'm going.

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

84Ttop said:
For me upper and lowers go hand in hand. The whole assembly really works together so I don't see any benefit in leaving the uppers and replacing the lowers. The stability in general will be greatly improved by replacing both uppers and lowers. The factory rubber bushings and stamped steel arms just don't cut it imho

There are so many posts regarding the negative impact of poly bushings on the axel side in uppers in other than drag applications I was thinking that rubber would be a better choice in that area.

84Ttop · Jul 14, 2014

@stykthyn @90lxwhite
@90lxwhite @stykthyn hahaha

90lxwhite said:
There are so many posts regarding the negative impact of poly bushings on the axel side in uppers in other than drag applications I was thinking that rubber would be a better choice in that area.

You have to take into account the millions of mustangs that were produced. Now factor in the lack of higher quality suspension parts in years past. This yielded a lot of very broken mustangs. The problem here is more so suspension bind and less so poly urethane bushings. Suspension bind will literally tear your car apart no matter how much support or bracing you have. I'm by no means the expert when it comes to poly urethane suspension parts but you will want to look towards some of the higher end brands here. You truly get what you pay for here and I'm sure @Sharad can chime in with a knowledgeable recommendation.

rbohm · Jul 14, 2014

84Ttop said:
@stykthyn @90lxwhite
@90lxwhite @stykthyn hahaha

You have to take into account the millions of mustangs that were produced. Now factor in the lack of higher quality suspension parts in years past. This yielded a lot of very broken mustangs. The problem here is more so suspension bind and less so poly urethane bushings. Suspension bind will literally tear your car apart no matter how much support or bracing you have. I'm by no means the expert when it comes to poly urethane suspension parts but you will want to look towards some of the higher end brands here. You truly get what you pay for here and I'm sure @Sharad can chime in with a knowledgeable recommendation.

well said. when upgrading the rear suspension on a fox body, you have to first decide what you ultimate goals for the car are. are you wanting to cut corners, as well as go down the drag strip, or do you want straight line performance to the detriment of all else? if all you are looking for is straight line performance, then it doesnt matter of the suspension binds in corners or not.

on the other hand if you are looking for cornering prowess, you must take into account any possible suspension bind and eliminate it as much as possible. now you can do this in a few ways again depending on the ultimate use of the car. if this is a street car that will see time in autocross, then you want a supple suspension with lots of grip. that generally means stock upper arms and bushings, and aftermarket lower arms with a solid bushing at one end, and a spherical bearing at the other.

of course the ultimate set up, imo, is eliminate the upper arms, install a torque arm and panhard bar, and good aftermarket lower arms. that way you eliminate all suspension bind, you set the pinion angle and lock it in, and you set the side to side location and lock it in as well. with this set up though you do have to eventually upgrade the front suspension, but that can wait until you are ready.

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

90lxwhite said:
Whoa whoa slow down Maddog. I have 3.73,s in the stock rearend, that and bolt-on suspension parts is as far as I'm going.

Then what exactly are you searching for here? Torque arm and panhard bar? What about your setup are you trying to improve.
- sir lose-a-lot

tamadrummer88 · Jul 14, 2014

90lxwhite said:
If I'm not building a purpose built racecar and springs, shocks, and sfc's have been done where do I go next?

Mike McNasty

A good upgrade next would be your face.

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

tamadrummer88 said:
A good upgrade next would be your face.

90lxwhite · Jul 14, 2014

stykthyn said:
Then what exactly are you searching for here? Torque arm and panhard bar? What about your setup are you trying to improve.
- sir lose-a-lot

I'm looking to improve the handling both straight line and cornering. I'm not looking to (can't) spend $5k. I'm trying to build a car that will be on par or close to the performance of a more modern sports car that doesn't have a chuckwagon like ride. No auto x, maybe one or 2 trips to the drags. The current arms have over 300k miles.

tamadrummer88 said:
A good upgrade next would be your face.

Eat my pudding pop Bill

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

Have you done springs yet? When I was having roll issues that was the ticket.

stykthyn · Jul 14, 2014

Have you done springs yet? In my experience you won't find a set up that's good for both but in a mostly street car a stiffer set of lowering springs is where it's at. Follow that with a k member brace to support the subframes and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

tamadrummer88 · Jul 14, 2014

90lxwhite said:
I'm looking to improve the handling both straight line and cornering. I'm not looking to (can't) spend $5k. I'm trying to build a car that will be on par or close to the performance of a more modern sports car that doesn't have a chuckwagon like ride. No auto x, maybe one or 2 trips to the drags. The current arms have over 300k miles.
Eat my pudding pop Bill

I do not want your splendiferous pudding pop.

JD1964 · Jul 14, 2014

Everyone always slams it. Dare to be different and rake it. Leave the rear stock height and lower the front a bit.

Suspension Upgrades. Front Or Rear 1st?

I'm kind of a She-Man

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

the guy doing it does every local racers rear end

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

I'm kind of a She-Man

I'm kind of a She-Man

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

I'm kind of a She-Man

I'm kind of a She-Man

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

Active Member

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

I'm kind of a She-Man

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

Active Member

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

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