did the shelby drop on the weekend...I had a little help and the use of a hoist so it didnt take long at all.

fitted roller spring perches, replaced the front rotors and pads with some slotteds and TRW pads. ripped off the rear sway bar. Greased everything and checked all the ball joints etc. checked the rear brakes. drank beer and discussed the next mods. All up about 4 1/2 hours.

wheel alignment is being done as i type.

initial impressions on the drive home (pre wheel alignment) was that i've made some significant gains in handling.

 

Well worth the time. Careful not to go back to factory specs. But you know that already. You will see a big change.

 

.....

 

come on .... pics :-)

 

no pics kalli...camera crapped out[:@].

But I was sitting 1.5" low at the front and about 3/4" low at the rear. I didnt want to go any lower in the front so I fitted some 1" spring insulators. The result...exactly 1.5" low at the front still.

I plan to do new front springs as the ones i have are very stiff. The rear is also too stiff but I can feel it working much better already without the sway bar.

Nextup I am going to fit some 1" lowering blocks (billet steel not alum)on the rear and some del-alum or urethane bushes. New Spax adjustable shocks all round. I want to experiment with ride height adjustments from a weight transfer perspective rather than appearance.

I'll try it like that for a while and see what else i need to change.

in the end, I am planning for about 500lb fronts and 160lb rear springs with 5 leaf front half and 3 leaf rears tied in with Maier Racing's panhard bar. You can stick the rear sway bar where the sun doesnt shine

I have done a lot of homework on this as Scott Heath can attest. I am going for the best handling i can achieve with stockstyle parts(that is, not going to coilovers etc). I want a firm ride thats not ridiculously stiff and I've learnt from experience that too firm all round detracts from handling unless your roads are perfect.

 

Question, since you are fresh off an alignment. What specs should we follow? I am redoing the steering and want to set the alignment correctly.

 

Hey urb, I can't tell you exactly as we drive on the wrong side of the road so our settings will be different for caster and camber. pm Daze or wait till he posts

I used 1/8" toe in, R camber - 1/2, left camber - 3/4", caster 1.5". Caster would be more if power steer.

BTW, I saw your post about fitting sways etc...you should have a look at Maier. The 5/3 leaf thing will work for drag racing and the panhard will do a better job than a sway on the handling. Shipping kills it a little for me...gotta save up. But i'm guessing it wouldnt be more than a coupla hundred difference for you and my bet is massively better result.

 

why did you remove your rear sway bar?

 

i am running 5 leaf reverse eye springs. there are guys here who can better explain what is going on in technical terms but in my "seat of the pants" terms this is what was happening.

the sway connects the diff to the rear frame rails, so its acting as a sort of spring anyway. the ride was really stiff and the car would lose traction over bumps in a straight line. Not tyre frying just a little slip under acceleration.

on cornering, the sway is trying to stop the body roll to the outside. So when you turn in to a corner the steering reaction is quicker and felt more positive to inputs on the steering wheel.

But, on hard cornering, the body weight was winning out and my car was unloading the inside wheel kinda like a dog lifting its leg. This came on pretty sudden and i was always quick to get off it as the next stepwas a sudden let go of the tail (snap oversteer).

I think a rear sway would not be a bad patch for stock(ish) rear springs and mild cornering. But for hard cornering on already stiff springs, it was a scary proposition.

the improvement Ive noticed so far is that it doesnt hop on the bumps like it did. I havent had a chance to really belt some corners yet but i'll keep you posted.

I'm expecting that lowering the rear will further improve it by lowering the COG and also putting more weight to the rear. If thats not enough its time to pull a smaller leaf out of the springs. If i get the ride and handling right but start to experience wheel hop off the line then its traction bars (bandaid) or the 5 leaf front half method (fix).

my understanding is the panhard rod does a better job of keeping the diff in line with the body without the spring effect. I'm hoping Scott or Daze or Norm will pipe up with a better laymans explanation.

 

haha...wow, that was a longer reply than i was expecting. it makes sense though. i have both front and rear sway bars and ive noticed what you are talking about with the bumps and stuff but have never pushed it hard enough to get that "snap oversteer" you mentioned. im going to re-do my suspension this summer so we'll see, i might have to mess around with that a little