Any of you guys run a 160 degree thermostat? ..Does it help that much?..I ran one in my old 92 fox and it helped a little in couple of different ways ..but I was curious as to how it effected the 05's?...Does it through the comp off or does it help once ya get a tune?..Any benifits from this?
Secondly, i'm lookin to buy some lowering springs, struts and shocks and I need some good links to suppliers or links to threads on the matter...Any information is greatly appreciated .

 

I just got the steeda sport springs put on , steeda.com and they're a great improvement. Very high quality and they've struck a really nice balance between ride quality and handling. It's not rough at all but I'd say the spring rate is more like what you'd find on say a BMW. A lot of people have used eibach but I can't speak to them other than I've heard great things about them too.

 

I just installed the Eibach Sportlines and they rock! Not to low... firm ride but not harsh. Room to grow. BMR has some nice underbody products. Eibach, H&R or Steeda for the springs and struts.

 

Eibach is what I have coming. I got their Prokit. I actually like the look of their Sportlines better, but those are a little too low in terms of clearance.

Tokico has some of the nicest shocks and struts I've seen for the mustangs. I plan to buy a set of those once I get the springs in.

 

Nice stance NBK..did you have to change the shocks and struts also? I've pretty much decided on Eibach for springs..but still open to the socks and struts

 

I just changed out the springs and the bumpstops on both the fron and the rear. I took it in for alignment and found that it was just fine as it was, no tinkering necessary.

 

Hi SCstanger,

I just (about 3 hours ago actually), finished installing a set of Tokico D spec struts and rear dampers on my '05 GT. I've been waiting for someone, ANYONE for the last 3 months to release a production set of adjustable gas struts and rear dampers to get the Eibach ProKit springs back under control that I've had for the last 3 months. I was about to go back to the stock springs but I was talking to Eibach and Steeda about struts and dampers and they kept promising me that they would have them "soon" for the last few months. Originally I was waiting for Eibach to come through but they finally admitted that their kit is only going have a conventional fixed valved (non-adjustable), straight oil (not gas charged, IMPORTANT if you want the best performance!), strut and rear damper kit for the Pro/Sprot/Kit System and Plus kits. That means that the Eibach kit was going to suck for true high performance driving. Koni and Bilstien Sport struts and dampers are not going top be out untill '06 at the earliest per their engineers and marketing people so I was getting desperate. Then I talked to Steeda again a fes weeks ago and they said they had finalized the Tokico valving and were goting into production. I called Tokico last week and they said they had a few kits available so I ordered a set from my friends at JBA (talk to Chris for a goo deal!), and picked them up a few days ago. The funny thing I found when I opened the box was that the box was marked "sample" inside. This had me concerned but I called Tokico directly and they said that these were early production units but that they were built to production specs and carefully assembled and triple checked for engineering. So I guss they are OK.

I had a lot of actuall work to do and another photo shoot late yesterday, I got back at 1:30 A.M.. But tonight I managed to find a few hours to install the new toys. I have a faily complete set of tools in the garage along with shop air and air tools but actually anyone can install these in their garage if you can get a spring compressor. It took me 4 hours working alone in the garage on the floor no lift. I did the rears first as that is the end with the worst valving match from the stock Ford dampers for the Eibach ProKit springs I had previously installed. I installed them and test drove them retainging the stock Ford struts, what a huge difference in control! I live near the Pasadena freeway and it's my official test track! This freeway is notorious for crashes because it's tight with only 3 narrow lanes and has lots of sharp turns ,many that are blind. This would not be so bad but for the fact that most of the on ramps and off ramps are literally 10 MPH turns to get on or off! Lot of fun IMO though, I grew up driving this freeway as a testing grounds for suspension, brake and engine improvements I made to my cars and motorcycles. Anyway, after a 10 miutes test drive I came back and installed the front struts and off I went for another test drive. Originally I had the rear dampers set to the recomended 5 turns down from fully stiff. This is WAY too soft for the Eibach ProKit springs, the ride was better than stock but still too soft. So I set the rears to 3 turns out front and rear and this worked better but I think that the rear needs 2 turns out and the front is OK with 3 turns from full hard. I have to try this setting out tomorrw, I'm shot right now.

The combination of the Eibach springs and Tokico sturts and dampers is impressive and the car is very stable now. In hard turns the car is much more predictable. Further testing to be done after I get it aligned tomorrow or the next day.

Hope this helps!