Maine-iac

I am installing a whole bunch of suspension mods this weekend. They are:
-Saleen N2 Racecraft lowering springs, struts, shocks & front sway bar
-GT500 shock mounts
-Stallion UCA, LCA's, & Adustable panhard bar
-FRPP jounce bumpers
-Eiback camber bolts (only if needed)

I have all the parts needed to completely assemble the new front strut/springs without disassembling the stock ones - will make life easier for sure. I have a couple of questions regarding this installation:

-Should the rubber isolator sleeve on the bottom of the front spring be positioned all the way to the end of the bottom coil to prevent metal-metal contact with the spring seat on the strut? The springs came with sleeves positioned a full coil up from the bottom. I also have a set of the factory isolator sleeves - I may just put those on below the ones that came on the springs.

-How do you torque the strut top nut? The shaft just spins.
Do you torque the strut top nut against the pressure of the spring?? What if you compress the spring too far before torquing? Not clear at all on how to do this or where the correct top nut position should be. I'm using new nuts and red loctite here as well.

-What is the proper orientation of the rear springs? I know the tighter coils go on top - what I'm asking is the orientation of the bottom coil end of the spring - how should the springs be rotated/positioned on the seat? Is there a left/right rear spring or are they the same?

-How do you torque the top nut on the rear shocks? The shaft just spins.

I am a huge believer in doing it right, once. I don't take shortcuts. I have impact tools, but will not use them on the strut or shock shafts. No matter who tells you what - it is not a good idea and should never be done. Yeah - I know many people do and have never had a problem, etc., etc. It's a personal comfort/judgement call - I just will not do it - particularly where there is a torque spec involved. As an engineer I understand the significance of torque specs, why they are there, and the potential consequences of not following them. So - I know many of you have done this the correct way many times - please share you knowledge! Much appreciated!

tx_zstang

The bottom of the springs should have those plastic sleeves to keep'em quiet. Rear spring location of the end is however you get them in.

To tighten the top nuts I used a deep-offset box-end wrench for the front nuts, then a smaller wrench to hold the center stud to keep it from turning. The rear nut can be accessed using a regular box end wrench.
You have to hold the center stud with another wrench to keep them from turning; but also follow manufacturer's directions, if any.

tsidewayz

Didn't see any LCA relocation brackets on your list of mods. They are a pretty good idea since you are lowering your Stang.

audioAl

I agree, brackets when lowering. I had a shop do my Koni sports & J&M cc plates also DSS 1-piece shaft, Bassani & BMR lca's & adj. panhard. Seems like a few people are upgrading their suspension around the Holiday's!

dusman59

Rear springs installed with the lower pig tale parallel with the axle housing.

Maine-iac

Okay - the front is done - wasn't too bad. Plan to do the rear tomorrow. Used a 21mm crows foot to torque the strut center nut. Worked perfectly. But... BIG ISSUE! I just put the car down on the tires and the ride height DID NOT CHANGE AT ALL!! Sitting at 28.5" to the top of the fender well - just like before. Everything was installed properly and carefully. Strut most notches facing out, springs indexed all the way into the strut seat and top rubber isolator. I have not driven the car due to other stuff apart on it - but the suspension feels good when I push on the strut tower. What gives?!?!? Will the front end come down when the rear springs and shocks are installed? I'd be happy with 1" which is what most say the race raft will give you. I spoke with Saleen a couple days ago and they said it could lower as much as 1.5" and will settle for up to a year. Straight from a Saleen engineer. Images below show stock vs Saleen and installed strut. THOUGHTS??

Norm Peterson

When you first put the car back down on the ground, the suspension is not at its true static ride height. This is due to the fact that the tires do not move in true vertical fashion but in arcs, so the tires are actually holding the car up a little. You'll have to roll or drive the car at least a few feet so that the car weight will force the tires out to their new static position (and camber) and let the car drop toward its new ride height. There may or may not be any "settling" of the springs over the next couple of weeks of driving that would drop your ride height a little further.


Norm

audioAl

Interesting, I set my camber to 1.2 neg. and want to go to 1.5 neg. the car seems to have lowered on to the wheels a little more on the stock springs. What camber do you run Norm?

Norm Peterson

About -2°.

But my car seems to be something of an outlier (in a good direction for me), being at -1.7° when I swapped the OE shocks & struts out for the yellows at around 15,000 miles.


Just for grins, I datalogged a few laps through this little test loop I have, without trying any harder than I would just driving along it to go somewhere (absent other traffic, which you can see from the lat-g traces happened two or three times).




Norm

Maine-iac

Here yah - but this is a mild drop on a daily driver - zero track time - so I opted not to install them. Not worth it for this application.