What's your suspension mods?

[SHOZ123]

I'm not sure about that on the Gen 3. I think you can drop a lot more than 1/2" but I had rubbing issues on the fender.

 

[slowshow]

Haha, I have no problem getting springs... But uh, I CAN'T FIND ANY!!! Haha, I'm just going to experiment.

And if the rear keeps sagging, I gues sall I have to worry about is keep lowering the front. That actually makes it a little easier on me, haha!

Another road bump... wheels in this bolt pattern are, well rare and, very unappealing to the eyes.

 

[zak]

The pinch bolts will slide through an alignment tab. The tab can easily be removed and lower or raise the strut in the knuckle, it offers almost no structural support. Especially works well in the rear to raise the back end due to the normal POS Ford SAS.

Paul, I have to disagree here. What if the pinch bolt became loose or breaks inside the female threaded portion of the knuckle.? And then the car hits a *** hole, driving the strut straight into the ABS sensor ring and potnetially locking the wheel up, at speed. That tab is there to prevent disasters from happening.

That said, I have dremeled out one of my front struts to allow a little less than a quarter inch lowering, for the purposes of chaning the left/right weight distribution and balancing camber side to side. Most of the tab is still inact and will perform its function of retaining a loose strut.

zak

 

[SHOZ123]

I have three different sets of good wheels. One set brand new and never installed. Pacer something or other. The Enkei Wheel Or52 on the car now are great looking IMHO. Also have some rims with track tires that don't look too bad. A bit flashy with fake Allen heads to simulate a two piece rim. Most of the Volvo Borbets look good but are heavy.

 

[SHOZ123]

Paul, I have to disagree here. What if the pinch bolt became loose or breaks inside the female threaded portion of the knuckle.? And then the car hits a *** hole, driving the strut straight into the ABS sensor ring and potnetially locking the wheel up, at speed. That tab is there to prevent disasters from happening.

That said, I have dremeled out one of my front struts to allow a little less than a quarter inch lowering, for the purposes of chaning the left/right weight distribution and balancing camber wside to side. Most of the tab is still inact and will perform its function of retaining a loose strut pinch bolt.

zak

That tab would not support the weight of the car. It will fold like paper if it is the only thing supporting that corner. The strut body also widens to prevent too much drop into the knuckle too.

 

[slowshow]

I need something with a lip. Before I realized the funkified bolt pattern, I was going with a staggered look to give it rwd appearance. Small lip in front, with larger lip and wider rubber in rear. The last time I bought rims for my car was 17x9 and 18x10 for my fox body black chrome FR500.

Thought I saw somewhere that Cobra R's had been put on a GenIII. I had always wondered why there were not better looking aftermarket wheels on the GenIII's that I saw. Funky bolt patern is my answer!

 

[zak]

That tab would not support the weight of the car. It will fold like paper if it is the only thing supporting that corner. The strut body also widens to prevent too much drop into the knuckle too.

Most, not all Tauri struts get wider, but your point is well taken.

The tab is eigth inch steel, has a lengthy weld line where it meets the strut (reduces overturning moment under load) and is held in near perfect single lap shear by the knuckle "pinch" edges. If I get a chance latter I will run a simple shear stress calc using mild steel, I think you will be pretty surprised at just how much compressive load can be carried.

zak

 

[SHOZ123]

Wide tires in the back for a FWD car....... :swing:

 

[slowshow]

Is the smiley face swinging guy good or bad?

 

[frosho]

Is the smiley face swinging guy good or bad?

Translation: Lame.

 

[SHOZ123]

Wider tires on the back than the front of a FWD car is Mustang rice.

 

[slowshow]

Haha, I get it.

 

[slowshow]

Yes, I agree. Any off the shelf rim and tire package will look tacky. But that's not what I had in mind. Originally, it was a forged wheel on bagged suspension to give it a rwd look that I thought a car like this should have been rwd to begin with. Then I thought of a rwd drive conversion when I found out it did not have a 4.6 mod motor like I thought it did. Then I thought of 4.6 supercharged motor and Tremec 6 speed rwd conversion. Then I thought it would really need staggered set up because it was really rwd...





Then, I woke up........

 

[1995mtxsho]

Not Cobras, 17"x7" SVT Thunderbird wheels, normally silver these are powdercoated Silver Vien.

 

[slowshow]

Um, can I have those?!

 

[slowshow]

Oh, pulled the SARC fuse tonight. Didn't realize that affected power steering, too. Ride was ok, but hard to concentrate on anything but the steering wheel being so dang stiff, like I dropped a belt or something. So, yeah, the 20a **** went back in!

 

[SHOZ123]

You can disconnect the strut electrical connectors under the front fenderwell covers to disable them and leave the PS functional. This also will prolong the life of worn out SARC struts.

 

[slowshow]

Ah, good tip. I will try that today before I hit the road. Will that also diable the rear, or do you have to pull a connector at the rear, too?

 

[SHOZ123]

Unless you have a '96 there probably isn't any in the rear.

 

[sandrew]

IIRC 97 and some 98s had a single sensor in the rear.

If you leave the fuse out long enough you get used to the stiffer steering. Personally I prefer it that way. When I plug it back in the PS feels waaaaay overboosted.