Street/Strip Suspension
 

Im looking for a sort of "street/strip /drag" suspension. I don't want anything too crazy. I was already going to go with UPR control arms and drag springs. Is there a good shock/struts made that are good for drag racing? Im used to fox bodies which appears has a slightly different recipe. Any input in what would work best for a weekend warrior that wouldn't sacrifice the ride quality too much would be great.

Im not sure if I have to be specific, but the car is a 2008 Mustang GT 5-speed. It has a 4.10 gear and a JLT intake with a Brenspeed 93 octane tune. It has a shorty header (not like they make a difference) and the rest of the exhaust is stock (bought it that way, previous owner prob removed the rest of it before trading it in). I recently bought a Mickey Thompson ET Street for the car, so it hooks, but doesnt exactly dead hook just yet.

Thanks!

So from what I have found, there are the QA1's, Strange's, Koni's and Tokico D-Specs. I am sort of leaning towards the Stranges, but I cant really find too much info on what is all required. Will I need caster/camber plates? Are there different parts for with and without a sway bar? I'm going to end up keeping the sway bar on, as I want to keep as much as possible stock, just in case. The only info that is out there seems to be from vendors, which always say their product is the best and are generally vague. Any info would be great, thanks!

Hook-up with Sam Strano in the handling section or Google him and call his shop. He can fine tune you into buying just what you need for exactly what you want the car to do.

Need them? No. But if you have the ability to adjust camber you can tweak the alignment settings for best strip performance. My best guess for that would be zero camber and just a tiny bit of toe-in, measured with the nose of the car slightly raised as it would be on a run. I don't know how much that's worth as far as the clocks are concerned.


You might be interested in the UMI endlinks, as the bolts are a whole lot easier to get properly torqued than the OE endlink bolts are. That would let you remove one endlink with much less difficulty, which de-activates the bar. Or you could try leaving them both connected and preloading the bar to add corner weight to the right rear.


What else had the previous owner done? LCAs? Relo brackets?


Norm

Here is what I have learned with my car and the drag strip:

Tires, Tires, Tires, sounds like you have this under control, I went with Mickey Thompson ET Street II's to fit my 18' rims, they helped get .7 off my 1/4 time, got 60' to low 1.9's, next year I am going with taller and wider because I know it will reduce my 60' times even more.

Had some wheel hop issues that LCA's didn't completely fix, added the UCA this year and wheel hop is a thing of the past. I tried Relo brackets this year as well, they were so harsh at the top end of the track I removed them, can't say if they helped with my 60' times because I also installed SubFrame Connectors at the same time, thinking the car was too stiff for my tires to handle but that is only speculation on my part.

Some of the other S197 Mustang guys at my local track are getting much better 60' times than me, typically have 17' Mickey's or M&H Racemasters, LCA's, UCA, and that is it.

Norm, you have me interested in the UMI endlinks now, I like the idea of being able to "de-activate" the bar, would this allow the front end to come up more or quicker?

The left front may come up a little quicker.

But there's something else going on. When you lose front roll stiffness, the car will roll more in response to the engine torque reaction, and this roll tends to plant the RR a little better all the way up to where you'd pull both front tires.

Think of this as being the flip side to the really huge rear antiroll bars that some people install, except in your case you're throwing away front stiffness rather than adding to the rear.


Norm

Most of the serious racers have no front sway bar and the extreme roll bar.

I have tried to unhook the front sway bar and race, but with the mix of bias ply and radials it makes it too squirly.

The front end does travel alot more when it is unhooked and you can visibly feel and see it at the track.

I have GT500 springs that have had a little less than an inch cut off them in the rear and eibach pros in the front. Tokico D Specs get adjusted when they are needed and it sure does make the car plant. I launch off of a 2 step from 3k -4k depending on the track and weather. I make 565 rwhp and get high 1.5x 60'. Stock tranny and RST clutch. Stock UCA, steeda LCAs with BMR relocates (welded) and a detroit locker.

I really like the adjustability of the D specs. I didn't think I could tell when I adjust them but I sure can.

I would like to put coil overs in the back, QA1 drag shocks all around and Cobra Springs all around.