You should buy it Frank! Then you can tease us with a pic here and there, as you install it all. I will wait patiently for the critique of the components and the install. As well as the driving impressions... I agree,the price seems reasonable. The components seem to be good quality. I would entertain this set up for my sprint down the road...Some day...Maybe...If I ever finish the other project car.
Looks like all the other universal triangulated four links. I would love to know where the uppers mount, at that length they look like they will go right past the frame rails.
Correct me if I'm wrong because I've never messed with 4 link, but don't you need to convert to coilovers and a panhard bar? That would require some serious frame modifications.
I considered a setup like that but there were too many unknowns as in where do uppers mount & what kind of geometry I would be looking for because once its welded in there is no adjustment so I went with triple adjustable ladder bars that I fabbed myself. & I really wanted something tunable because I do race it on occasion.
There are a bunch of cars that used that ser up. They all used coil springs with separate shock mounts. You could do that with this kit but coil overs would be easier and take up less space.
What are you going to do with the car that would potentially get the canted 4 link (aka triangulated)? Here is my thoughts, for what they're worth. On a dedicated drag car, that kit is going to require some welding. Well, I do weld from time to time and given the amount of welding that would need to be done (and prep for welding...which is the hardest part in my opinion) to get the forward brackets onto the frame could be spent welding up new frame rails for a backhalf. Keep in mind I'm talking about a dedicated drag car. I can't justify having to do 3/4 of the work of a backhalf to save a couple hours worth of cutting the floor out and installing the tubs, traditional parallel 4 link, and then new flooring. It's not all that hard to do that stuff. BUT...some dont' want to go through that, and that is totally respectable. But in order to get it all installed properly such that it's safe and fun, it's still going to take some fab work. Additionally, are the factory rear frame rails "beefy" enough to take those forward brackets and not rip out of the frame? When I backhalfed mine, I was absolutely astonished how cheesy the factory frame rails were. While "better" than a fox body Mustang, they were still real thin. Most of the structural strength of the Maverick body is in the floor pan assembly and rocker boxes. The frames aren't really required to hold the car together, but they do aid in a crash and to hold the rear diff and engine/transmission assembly. Now on the Raptor setup I see several issues. The bars use urethane bushings, so there's not much "give", which will affect handling and ride quality. It'll also affect it at the drag strip. There is no sway bar either, so that'll affect all 3 applications as well. The bracket thickness is 5mm. That is .196", barely over 3/16". There's a TON of forces being applied to the brackets and in several planes, so IMO, that material is too thin for what they're asked to do. On a Maverick/Comet, where are you going to mount the coil overs? There's no crossmember that will hold the weight of the entire car, so it looks to me like you'd have to put that in too with this kit. IOW cut a hole in each frame rail, slide a crossmember through, then 4 welds, then weld the tabs on. Lots of work. Same work for a dedicated parallel 4 link and likely the same work as a torque arm. The Fox body cars (Mustang, fairmont, zephyr, etc) all used a version of the triangulated 4 link. I think they called it the "quadralink" as I recall. They were pretty good for the time (came out in '77 as '78 models) but they have downfalls, one of which is a phenomenon called snap overtseer. Many fox body guys call them "quadra-bind"...because the system in it's factory configuration "binds" with suspension movement, and if the car is driven in a spirited fashion, in a turn or curve, if it becomes upset just the right way, it will suddenly go into oversteer (rear end gets loose, comes around, throws it into the ditch, off the hill, etc) and with little warning for the average driver. Yes it takes good tires and a thought-out set of dampers and springs to find that point, but it happens. Mine does it and I've learned to take it easy on the streets because of it. It never goes to the track. Another problem with the fox body triangulated 4 link is the intersect point-or instant center. It's just in a weird location. Doesn't really work great for a drag car, doesn't really work well for a road race car, and doesn't do great for a street car. But it does a little of each. Very similar to what I have seen of aftermarket triangulated 4 links. And there's not much adjustment either other than being able to move the housing side-to-side and changing pinion angle. I look at the aftermarket triangulated 4 links as a "touring" type suspension. Not quite a dedicated drag race setup, but not quite a road race setup either. Rides decent yet performs better than most leaf sprung cars, but not as good as a torque arm or parallel 4 link. But as I've already mentioned, it's wise to consider where the brackets will be going and how they're going to be mounted. I've seen some real junk and some of that junk was just tabs welded onto the floor pan with no real reinforcement, and it's ok for something with street tires that will never get enough traction to worry about it but put something more sticky on it, and it's entirely possible to rip them right out of the floor-which is what I saw. Just be careful with aftermarket stuff. As I age, I try to find more efficient ways of doing things. If I had another Maverick (and I wish I did...anyone want to trade for a 93 Fox body with a 2.3 turbo SVO engine?), I'd certainly entertain leaving the leaf springs under it if it was a street car.
