What was Ford thinking when they put together the rear suspension?

Pokageek

Active Member
Jun 10, 2005
2,767
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46
MA, USA
Even with my cars currently mismatched intake putting out barely over 400 HP, the car feels loose, wobbly, twisting and squirmy in the rear end. I can see spinning wheels but I have never had a car where suspension twists so much that the power feels like it is going all over the place EXCEPT to the wheels. Every now and then it somehow plants it and takes flight but for the first time I can see where this needs ALOT of upgrading.

In my o the Z28 I had put a lot more to the ground. I don't know exactly why but it did...alot better than this car.

Its funny, you think you are done spending $$ by upgrading the power and then learn a quick lesson about the rest of the car and things you didn't know or consider b4 that also need to be ugraded.

:shrug: Did anyone own one of those old muscle era cars? I am willing to bet they put more down to the pavement than these stangs..meaning, the grip on this car is so bad in so many areas, I am wondering if the old muscle cars were better grip in straight line acceleration than ours. :shrug:
 
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I had a '70 Challenger and it didn't really put the power down, but that can be attributed to regular radial street tires and big block torque. With a good tire it would've hooked and went, but the old Mopars had leaf springs, so not much room for the rear end to be all over the place. The leafs actually do pretty good for straight line acceleration until your setup gets really stout, then things can start to be a handful.

Probably the biggest problem with the stock setup is the upper control arms trying to do 2 jobs and not really doing either that good. A panhard bar OR watts link and torque arm OR EvM trilink seperates them allowing things to work as they should have. You can start off by getting some good shocks/springs or coilovers, good LCAs and new UCA bushings for the housing side and UCAs (avoid poly bushings for these, they only make the problem of bind with the stock setup worse). The UCA bushings and uppers that MM sells are the best to use until you can eliminate the UCAs through the use of either a torque arm or trilink setup. If you decide to change the UCA bushings, get the MM bushing tool....it will save you lots of frustration. Also before ANY of that, get some good subframe connectors if you haven't. MM and Griggs are the only ones I'd consider, but that's just me.
 
Subs won't feel like much if everything else is aging and out of whack.

When I upgraded my rear suspension, it was night and day. I couldn't believe how many little noises went away too!

I did the rear in two steps:

1. New MM RLCAs and FFRP UCAs. Also put new bushings in the diff, as perscribed by MM.

2. New swaybars (front and rear). New MM panhard bar.


If you've still got stock stuff, you're in for a real treat with even the basic stuff.

Depending on the $$$ you want to throw at the suspension, you can upgrade all the stock stuff and add a PHB. If you go with a torque arm, the expense is somewhat more, but the benefits are there too.

Good luck.
 
Ive owned 2 2nd gen f bodies..not big on power stock but they share the same chassis/rear suspension as the early camaros. I had decent power from sbc's...and the power felt like it was hiting the pavement and when I burned out it didnt feel like the rear end was taking a beatin...my gt feels like its taking a beatin everytime i burnout..my car is a aode and my camaros were th350 cars. The stang feels more stable in turns and on bumpy roads but the leaf sprung cars felt stronger in a straightline sprint


ooh on a sidenote..my stang feels "built tougher" than my b16 crx and that has hasport halfshafts...my stang is a lot slower though :( but torque feels great and fwd burnouts suck
 
CN, what did yo uge tfor a rear sway bar? I could not find anything larger than the stock cobra 25mm and have heard others say it made no difference.

I asked MM about the swaybars and which ones they recommended with their Road & Track kit and they stated they really like the Eibach kit.

I couldn't be happier with the setup. The only issue I have of any kind is the tight fitment of the Bassani tailpipes around the PHB parts. Some header wrap fixed the problem so far (to remove any metal to metal contact).
 
I would rather you start with a MM PHB and TQ arm. You will see a tremendous difference in rear grip. The system can be optimized later with proper springs and new LCA's but getting rid of the rear uppers is the best improvement you can make.

Our stock triangulated 4 link system is badly setup, thats not to say that all triangulated 4 links are bad...just ours.:D