Mach 1 UPR and Strange settings on a 03 Mach

[Ford Mach 1]

Hello, new here and need advice . Monday I am having UPR upper/lower control arms, UPR rear coil over kit (springs are 150) and the Strange 10 way adj. shocks installed,as well as a set of BF Goodrich drag radials (Thread 2, not "snaky" one), 275 40R 17. Car is lightly modded with CAI, Bama Race Tune and 4:10 gears. My question is on the coilovers nut and the Strange settings, what is a good baseline setting? Car will be going to Pony Wars and not sure where to start for initial run. Car will be driven to the track and driven home. What would be considered a good time slip? This is second time to the track, first got a best of 14.28 @ 103.14 mph and 60 foot of 2.4 ( this was on street gforce tires with 20 pounds of air, started day with a 17.28 @ 100.61 ( 60ft of 3.36- yea, embarrasing!! ) Thanks for any inputs and sorry if talked about before, I am a newbie!! Oh, being new to drag radials and the size difference, what air pressure is a good baseline for street, and if different, for track? I am used to going by the door sticker but have a feeling this won't work for these. Thanks again for any help on this!!!

 

[Rick 91GT]

First Id try to set the car back to the same ride height with the coil overs installed, have them set the pinion angle to -3 degrees down. Id start at 5 on the shocks, if they are too soft you'll transfer weight to quick if it hooks, if they are too hard you'll shock the tires and unload them which will create wheel spin.

The Drag Radials like a little more air then a bias ply slick so try 20psi, and see how they act, just lightly haze them at the track, no long smoky burn out. What RPM do you launch at?

As far as track times its a low 13 sec car stock, 12s are possible with what you have. Bone stock they will go 13.5 easy all day long with a good driver

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Man thanks for response, did install today and waiting a couple of days to settle. I am glad you mentioned height since I was looking for a slight rake. We did set shocks on 5, plan on just a 2nd gear rolling burn, I was launching with street tires at about 5000-5500 rpms, but was spinning in 1,2 and 3 and with the 4:10 gears was in the rev limiter before I knew what was happening so any advice on launch rpm would be great, just started the track thing after watching for 20 years!! My times on street tires and my mods (which isn't much motor wise) and all I could get was a 14.28, so I would love to see a 13. whatever !! Thanks again and await your input. Oh forgot one thing, leave sway bar off or put back on. Car is mainly street with occasional track, drive maybe 100 per month once to work. Tried hooking up to UPR arms and it looked weird and seemed, at least to my eye, to be lower, should I leave it off? Consequences??

 

[Rick 91GT]

Try lowering the launch rpm to get the car to leave, then steadily push the gas peddle to WOT, getting the car to leave will greatly help those ET's. Did you check the pinion angle? A little rake may help but with out knowing the Instant Center point of the car you are only guessing... Here's a neat little program if you want to do more investigating http://performancetrends.com/4link.htm

Leave rear sway bar on, pull front for a little more transfer but it should be on for better street manners. Make sure you are putting the sway bar on with the correct side up or it will sit much lower. may not even go on...

 

[Sharad]

You definitely want to use the rear sway bar. It'll help keep the car level-ish on the launch.

I ran 275/40-17 Mickey Thompson drag radials on 17x10 rims and they liked to be anywhere from 13-15 psi, so you'll want to experiment there.

One thing that is critical to launching on DRs, especially low profile DRs is not to spin them. Once they start spinning, it's almost impossible to recover. Chances are, you'll be able to launch anywhere form 3000-5000rpms IF YOU SLIP THE CLUTCH. It takes a lot of finesse. I'm usually able to teach people how to do it within a handful of passes. It just takes practice to get the technique down.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Thanks Sharad ( my parents live in Lehigh Acres), I am going back to the shop today to bring the sway bar back, car is sitting there since they wanted it to level off first. It is a good shop but they are set in there ways and I am always having to override them, they build dedicated strip cars with no street use. 3000-5000 rpms, got it, I was launching with my foot to the floor!! Also, should I keep my foot buried and not let off on the shift(another shop talk, not lifting throttle on shift)? Man I wish I knew about discount, I may go with the K-member kit, just not sure what it would do with coilovers up front as well. Convince me and I am sold. Thanks!!! I am researching the "slipping the clutch", I live in country with 0 neighbors for miles and have a nice practice area once I get off dirt roads!!

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Well, back from shop and I am pissed!!! On the passenger side when you are driving, any little bump there is a lot banging noise, very noticeable, it sounds metal on metal. The shop have been trying to track this down for 3 days!! First they thought rear wheel bearings, said there was some play, new bearings not that. The coil overs look like they are sitting right in the cone and everything is tight, right now all my matting is out of the trunk and you can hear it. All I can see is on the driver's side where the metal wheel well is notched out, there is a slight space with the top cone, on the passenger side, the cone is tight against this notch, though I see no rubbing wear. Called Ralph at UPR, (garage guy Jason called, think that was name), anyway UPR says the Strange shocks have a problem with having noise problems since valving is metal to metal. Anyone else run into this issue? To me the sound is more solid than a bad shock sound, more of the kind of sound when the car is bottoming out, but this is any little bump. Very sad since it seems whenever I try and do something to Mach, seem to leave with a different noise or problem I didn't have. Shocks are set on 5 and I reduced air pressure to 32 psi since the shop had 40 psi in them. Please any ideas on what it could be, what to check and should I try a different shock? My mechanic said he would buy them at cost if it winds up being that. Any input is needed since I plan on going to the track Feb. 9. Thank you very much for any responses Oh, they still say leave rear sway bar off until we come back from track, and they want to disconnect the front on track day. I just have a better feeling on the street with sway bar, is it just my imagination? Anything over 60 mph car seems to be drifting all over the place, mechanic says I need to get used to the wider tire tracking on the road, is this true as well? Didn't realize such a big difference in the combo I went with. Please comment on this as well!!

 

[Sharad]

If you were launching with the throttle to the floor, that explains why it's spinning so much. You could get away with that on 28x10.5 slicks, but it takes A LOT of finesse to hook a stick car on drag radials. Especially low profile drag radials.

A tubular k-member will lighten the front end and help transfer weight better. (also gives you a lot more room around the engine to work)

It's VERY hard to diagnose a suspension noise over the internet. Let's start with which springs you used? 10-125? Could you post a picture of the coilovers installed?

Again, I feel very strongly that you need to run less than 20psi in the tires and you need to run the rear sway bar at all times.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

I

am going back to the shop in a moment, springs are 10-150 ( there was a guy there selling a set of 10-130 new QA1 for $50.00), when I get back I will post pictures since I took a bunch from start to finish. One thing I noticed last night in the trunk on the passenger side you have the three lines coming off the fuel filler and they go thru a collar down into the gas tank. I can grab them and move them and make a metal to metal sound so checking that. Did notice as well on the noise side of the car, the two top coils under the cone cap are hitting each other, surprised there is no type of rubber between the coil and the top cone. Last observation is the wheel well where it is notched and you can see the top cone, on the drivers side there is space between the two but on passenger side it is tight aganist cone, though can't see any rubbing. I will get my sway bar put on, for some reason they are fighting me on this. When you say run less than 20 psi of air, is this for the track only or all the time? I will be driving 100 miles to the track and will have an air compressor. I suck on computers but will try to download a photo or two. Thank you so much for your help!!!

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Hope I am doing this r

ight, posted 4 pictures total, my computer skills suck!!

 

[Rick 91GT]

Not sure why they are fighting you on the sway bar, that car NEEDS the sway bar put back on. 20psi at the track... It looks like you may need a little stiffer rear spring, you currently are all the way down on the adjustment sleeve. The Stranges will be louder then a stock set-up due to the construction, but they should be clunking around, if so they are set way to soft and cant control the spring....I think a stiffer spring would help on the street, or maybe a little taller spring.

I see upper and lower control arms (are the uppers adjustable, they appear NOT to be), you need to verify or ask what they set the pinion angle to. This should be done at ride height with some weight in the drivers seat to simulate real world conditions.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

They still would not put the rear sway bar on, just cannot convince them, they want to put on when we get back. I just can't fight this anymore with them, set shocks on 3 and 15 psi and on street hooked real good launching at 2800 rpms. Concerning the clunking, the bushings are shot in the Dampner thingy and it was banging on the rear pumpkin. I removed it and didn't notice any vibrations so I ordered one and will replace when I get back with the sway bar. Right now the car is sitting at the same height as before install. I think I will have to find another shop to really get it set right with pinion angle. They also want to remove the front sway bar at the track. The springs are 150, your thinking stiffer or am I going backwards? Are you saying the collar should be threaded up more than what it is? I wish there was somew

here I could read a height adjustment from the ground to top of tire for a ballpark starting point. Thanks for the reply, I am not expecting miracles, sucks that 3 guys are overriding me on the sway bar, I am just tired of fighting the point. Thanks again!!!

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Oh, uppers are not adjustable!!, and that picture was first install, once it sat for 2 days, we adjusted height back to ride height so it is threaded a lot further up on the collar now.

 

[Sharad]

Two cents:

I wouldn't put that weight back on.

Regarding the tire pressure. I ran 15psi in my 275/40-17s for basically their entire life on my car. Never took it to the track on those tires. But I tried everywhere from 13-18psi and 15 seemed to work best. (on my 17x10s)

Regarding the sway bar debate. With all due respect, I think you might need to find a new shop. Running a rear swaybar is common knowledge. I'm shocked that they're fighting you on it.

About the clanking noise, is it gone now with the weight removed? One thing that occurred to me is that I've heard of people wrapping their shocks in something like electrical tape to eliminate the metal to metal contact between the sleeves and the shocks. A friend of mine tried that with his stock shocks and UPR coilovers and it worked.

If you'd like, I can PM you my cell number and we could discuss this over the phone.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Thanks, went to the shop and picked up my sway bar to put on here. They are still saying that they never see it hooked back up with aftermarket control arms. It is so bad they said if they hooked it back up they wouldn't disconnect the front at the track!! They believe with the rear hooked up it would be useless to unhook the front. One of the guys has owned and raced a lot of different Mustangs, the only difference being he always has some serious horsepower. The collars have the o-rings lined inside, I am going to PM my number to you, would be easier and thanks again!! Oh, yes the clanking went away, now I think I hear the metal to metal valving in the Strange shock, thinking of swapping to QA 1.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Yes it is still clanking. I am so depressed I don't even want to drive the car. It is constant and ANY little bump, you hear a LOUD bang like the whole rear of the car is bottoming out, I just want to take all this stuff off and go back to stock. So sad

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Ok, installed the rear sway bar. Night and day difference, car drives nice. Reduced air to 20 psi and set the shocks to 6, then 7. Awesome. Rides so much better and the shocks still make noisy but much better and will only bang on a decent bump in the road (more like a hole!!) Still may change to a adj. gas shock. On the coil overs, collar is threaded up about 3 inches from the bottom with a 10-150, wondering if I need a 12 and what a 130 would do or am I going the wrong way? 95% street and 5% track. Love to hear some inputs, especially with noisy shocks that seem to get better if you run them firm.

 

[Rick 91GT]

You don't need that rear sway bar...lol Without a anti roll bar on the rear the rear sway bar is very important, at least from my point of view, not sure why they were fighting you on this especially on a street car. Un hooking the front at the track will allow a little more lift and travel out of the front end which could be a good thing. I use a lot of 125-150lb springs in the rear on a true coil over set-up, but that is a entire different ball game. I have some sets of springs at the shop I can send them to you if you want to try them out, if they work we can make a deal. They are brand new QA1, same as you current have....let me see what I have. A rear spring will be very similar on a street or strip set-up, its up front that will really change things. (street will be stiffer up front, track will be lighter depending on the weight)

Another great resource would be to call Jeremy at UPR and see what he recommends, he has a lot of knowledge and could discuss your spring needs. The Strange shocks should be fine, I actually like them as I have found the QA1's to need a little tweaking to get them to work properly. I send them out to Nakke Motorsports and have them rebuilt and properly valved, I haven't bought any recently but in the past I FEEL the QA at QA1 was a little lacking as we found different fluid levels in the struts and shocks.

 

[Noobz347]

Thanks, went to the shop and picked up my sway bar to put on here. They are still saying that they never see it hooked back up with aftermarket control arms. It is so bad they said if they hooked it back up they wouldn't disconnect the front at the track!! They believe with the rear hooked up it would be useless to unhook the front. One of the guys has owned and raced a lot of different Mustangs, the only difference being he always has some serious horsepower. The collars have the o-rings lined inside, I am going to PM my number to you, would be easier and thanks again!! Oh, yes the clanking went away, now I think I hear the metal to metal valving in the Strange shock, thinking of swapping to QA 1.

None of this makes any sense. I'm no suspension genius but even I can smell bullchit when I'm standing in a pile of it. Find another shop. If those dudes are saying anything near what you've typed here, then they're idiots. I don't believe for a second that anyone that would tell you these things, has raced anything outside of their x-box.

 

[Ford Mach 1]

Thanks Rick, I think I have the true coilover setup, it is the UPR coilover kit in the rear only, haven't done anything to the front. Noobz, no BS, everything I have posted is what has been done and said. I put the rear sway bar on myself after picking up from the shop, I guess they are set in there way. They are both racing a Chevy Truck and a Fox body, just from my reading here, I just blew them off. I will be at Pony Wars Saturday, will post me results, thanks a bunch guys!!!!