Rear Coil-Over Conversion: has anyone done this???
 

My 06 vert is in for much work these next few weeks. The polished KB supercharger is being installed on Monday. I have also bit the bullet and have decided to have Kevin at Hot Rod Chassis do a chrome moly 6-point NHRA legal rollbar, and tig/mig weld the rollbar in to the car. I will have one of the first 05-06 verts I know of with a legal rollbar. If you want to run fast at the track in a vert - you have no choice.
Kevin has suggested changing the rear coils springs and shock setup to a coil-over setup. he thinks that moving the mounting point forward of the current springs (which sit straight over the axles) giving the rear suspension a rear and downward angle will give it better launches. He will have to use a 15" coil-over and he will fabricate a mounting bracket to extend the mounting point of the shock downward.
So has anyone done a set of rear coil-overs yet???

http://home.comcast.net/~it.works/evil.jpg

RE: Rear Coil-Over Conversion: has anyone done this???
 

Hi ghostpony,

Don't install Micky Mouse coilovers at the rear of your S197, get suspension components that are PROVEN to work for your application. I'm sorry to have to inform you that your mechanic has no idea of how suspensions work. Do NOT let him hack up your car!

For a drag strip car look into the simple stuff to improve you 60' times and get traction on the line without wheel hop. These suspension mods will have you leaving hard and straight on drag tires OR street tires without wheel hop. OBviously drag tires will cut your 60' times down quite a bit over street tires. For a stock S197 GT chassis you will want to install Tokico D-Spec adjustable low pressue gas struts and rear dampers, Steeda G-Trac brace, Steeda adjustable Panhard bar with poly bushings, BMR weld-in LCA relocation brackets, Steeda or BMR fixed length tubular LCA's with poly bushings, Steeda or BMR adjustable UCA with poly bushing. Set the Tokico struts to 5-6 turns out from full hard, set the Tokico rear dampers to 2-3 turns out from full hard, with stock GT rear springs drop the LCA's to the first hole down from the stock location unless you can relocate them for the drive home. Using the adjustable UCA set your axle's pinion angle about 3 or 4 degrees nose down with the car on the ground, this adjustment is a LOT more accurately set and a whole lot easier to do on a drive on lift. There are people running low 12's on STOCK motors NO spray using this suspension setup and DR's. With a blower you will go high 11's.

Choose wisely, it's faster and cheaper in the long run.


Cheers

RE: Rear Coil-Over Conversion: has anyone done this???
 

i'm with F1 on this. with a good set of LCA's an adjustable UCA (LCA relocation brackets depending on your combo) along withg some drag specific struts and shocks you will have no problem hooking your car and seeing great 60' times to boot. if you want an adjustable spring perch for the rear go with ground control and then choose your desired spring rate to match. i went with 175# in the rear and the fronts are 200#. i have strange eng. rear shocks and stock front struts with a GC coilover kit right now. true coilover shocks on the rear of an 05-06 will decrease your tire clearance by an inch or more. that is why GC doesn't offer them for the 05-up stangs.
my best 60' so far 1.721 and thats N/A with an auto. i have a set of strange front struts being fabbed up for the front with granatelli coilovers and will use a 175# spring for this combo. i have no experience with the tokico d-specs but i did talk to the tech dept there last week and we came to the conclusion they were not valved correctly for my combo even with all the adjustments they allow. i cannot stress the importance of a phone call to the technical depts of the manufacturers to get the right stuff the first time around. the d-specs work very well on clutch cars but since my car is being built for a specific class and i'm running an auto(also staying N/A) they just were a little slow(stiff) for my car.
please do some research and call some other chassis companies(CHI or che? & BMR) that have experience with the 05-up mustangs before he takes a torch to your car. it could save you lots of $$$ in the long run.