RICVA05

For the people who have installed the BMR lower control arms with the relocation brackets how do you set them up so your rear axle is in the proper location and even on both sides any help would be greatly appreciated.

Meangreen1200

Follow the directions. You only do one side at a time so the other bracket will hold the axle in place while you swap the other.

traffic142

I agree do one side at a time. I put my rear axel on jack stands and did the work. That kept the load on the suspension and make torquing easier. I only had to use an alignment punch to line up the holes on the rear.

Helpfull hint: Use a floor jack to push the rear LCA into position, use plenty of lube and it will pop in. Better than beating it to death.

kss3valve

At ride height you need to figure out the instant center of the car. A good rule of thumb for the S-197 is the lower control arm should be almost level/straight. The instant center is where the imaginary line of the lower arms and the upper arms meet towards the front of the car. A laser level is useful for this. That is how you choose which hole to use for the LCA/UCA mounting brackets. The instant center needs to be about 5" off of the ground and right about at the gearbox crossmember.

Once you have chosen the right holes, center the wheel in the wheelhouse on the drivers side. Then measure from the center of the forward bolt for the Driver side LCA to the center of the rearward bolt. Jot the measurement down and repeat it on the passenger side. If you want to get exact, level the car on jackstands. Place the jackstands under the axle in the rear and the frame in the front to simulate ride height and level the car as best as possible front to rear. Take two more jackstands and place them paralell to the rear bumper and string fishing line across the span. Take two known points from the left rear and right rear, usually the LCA body brackets, and square the fishing line. BE EXACT. Then measure off of the left and right side of the axle using symetrical points and make your adjustment from there.

spyder7724

great explaination kiss. shortening the IC will help the tires hit harder and give less front end rise. my best 60's so far came with a really short IC( don't ask how i did it cause it was a lot of work and absolutely not streetable) but with a few other changes like shocks and different springs i've come within .03 of my best 60' so far. thelonger the IC is the more rear squat and front end rise you will have. this sometimes slows the e.t.'s due to not moving the car forward first but up first. nice thing is you have the option of adjustability now so take advantage of it when your at the track. take notes and debrief after every run so you will know how the changes affected the car. i love playing with suspension stuff it's like free e.t.

kss3valve

Right on man... On drag cars, the instant center is everything. I have gone 1.33 in my '05 on ET Drags. All with BMR complete suspension. Man I gotta give it to Ford, this car really hooks.

spyder7724

we shorten my IC to about 18"....but i should have lowered it about 3" also to get the stock eliminator effect. i've since returned it to a more street friendly location since it sucked on the road with basically two 18" ladder bars. i can't wait to try out the new gears and crank in some timing with the methanol injection. i believe i can run low 12's now just not sure how low. man the front end snaps up when the struts are set on 1. it's awsome and should be great with my m/t's and loose converter. hang 'em high.

kss3valve

Just remember bro.... when you got em hung high you are wasting time. I got a 1.33 with a 4.7 pinion. The wheels get maybe an inch off of the ground and it holds that level for about 30ft. its perfect

spyder7724

yeah when i had that 1.72 the rear tires hit hard and the car moved forward as it rose. it only rose the whole up about 2" during the launch. i kept looking at the video and couldn't see hardly any front end rise. i actually think this car will work better allowing the front to rise a little to help bring the rpms up quicker. it's just a theory but i'll try it to see how it works. with the short IC it kind of felt lazy at the hit of the launch even though my converter stalls 3800-4000 it just didn't feel right almost like it was trying too hard to move too quickly. the struts and new springs should help out with that but i've changed it back to a longer IC anyway so now the sucker rises quick. trial and error. i'm actually okay if it jumps the front up quick. i'm running the mod motor class in NMRA and with an auto it's hard getting good reaction times on a protree. if it hops the front tires out of the beams quick thats great for me.

kss3valve

I am getting about a foot of front end travel with my combination. Can you run a two step in NMRA Mod? Sorry, I am not familiar with their rules. I have a 3800 stall in mine using a c-4. Trying to footbrake a .400 sucks, that is why i wired in a two step. Leaving on the two step dropped us down from 1.472 to a 35. Big Difference.

By the way, its great to see somebody else in here that understands suspension.