So, I am trying to plan out my suspension upgrades for this spring and wanted your input. I want to lower my car and make it handle well for some autocross events and daily driving. I will run a 17x8 wheel on front with a 245/45/17. Then the back will be a 17x9 with a 275/45/17. I really want to get the TCP coil over kit for the front, but I might save that for a future upgrade. I don't want it to take too long before I can drive the car again. Lol. So my question is what springs and shocks to use for the front and rear for a decent handling car? Or is it even worth it to do it this way? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
i would bite the bullet and get a mustang ii conversion. for the rear. you have leaf springs. a coil over ladder bar, or 4 link would be better, and a rear sway bar. If you want to keep the leaf springs, get cal-trace, and subframe connectors. my 2 cents.
Thank you for the advice. It all helps whether it's what I want to hear or not! Lol. I will keep doing research also.
I'd go with the Total Control over the MII suspension anyday, most MII suspensions are nothing more than what they came out with in 1974. Total and other manufacturers have redesigned the front suspension for adjustability, different spring rates, different shocks, and many more things, they also accept better brake packages. A well set up leaf spring car will be more than acceptable in auto cross, ladder bar suspensions, and 4 equal length 4 link rear suspensions are for drag racing. For steering, Unisteer makes a rack & pinion kit for our cars. Sure combined, you'll spend more not going with a MII suspension, but you'll have a much better handling car. If you're worried about engine room, notch the factory shock towers, and you can still use aftermarket front suspension, combined with a small block ( which is all you really need) you'll have a good all around car. Mavericks are small, and light, doesn't take much to make them fast.
Thanks Dave. That's what I was thinking. I will only build a 302 for this one. I'm not looking for a ton of power. I guess my debate was should I just save up for the tcp now, or just get some springs and shocks for now and save the tcp for a winter project a few years down the road. And I don't need an all out performing car, but I would like to hit a few events each year. I know deep down I should just save up this winter and do the TCP coil overs, but I could get a lot of stuff done for the $2400 price tag! Decisions!!!
Do what you can afford, get the car together, and drive it, and enjoy it. Then save, and do a little at a time. There's nothing worse than getting into a car, and one thing leads to another...and its 5 years or so, and your still no where near driving it....ask me how I know.
Haha... That's what exactly what I was thinking Dave. I was just reading through your build thread and it's clear how one thing leads to another! Any advice on the rear springs? What options do we have?
Leafs are limited, unless you want to spend some money. I replaced the factory springs on my green car, with 4 leaf springs from ESPO Springs & Things, and it made a huge difference. I could stand on, and flatten the factory ones off my car when I removed them. The ride difference is like night and day, I like my cars stiff, and not saggy assed. With the KYB shocks, and the Cal Tracks, the car is fun to drive. A panhard bar is the next item on my list, it will keep the rear end from moving side to side. My project car on the other hand...who knows what it's going to end up with..
My stock 74 Grabber springs were so weak, I compressed the rear suspension when I tried to remove the rear wheel lugnuts with a breaker bar. I couldn't believe it!
Probably the best you can do for the rear suspension once the springs are in good shape is KYB Gas-A-Just shocks and a Panhard bar. With a fat tire, make sure the shackles get upgraded too.
Check out some of Bryant's threads. He has performed a number of suspension mods and also does some Autocrossing. You might get a better idea of how much bang for the $$$ some of these suspension mods provide.
first TIRES!!!! 17" tires are very limited in the 2oo tread wear choices. especially the 275s. scca and good guys have a 200 tread wear minimum rule. if you dont care about running in any sort of class then dont worry about it. 18s are where its at for good selections of 200 tw tires. i love the tcp control arms and varishock double adjustable coil overs. they are not necessary and i do feel you can get close to that level of suspension performance out of the stock stuff. on my comet i plan on doing it with stock stuff that is modified. im doing the shelby drop, roller spring perch, boxing the control arms, putting a spherical bearing in the lower control arm bushing and the moog problem solver rubber bushings in the top. for springs i will start with stock cut springs and i was looking at the maier racing spec bilstien shocks. i may get double adjustable shocks depending on costs. im learning a lot about sway bars right now. on my maverick it looks like the 7/8s front is the way to go for its set up. on the rear do not go with ladder bars. they are only good for drag racing. the rear leafs are not that bad. i was thinking of going with a watts link till i read ron suttons rear suspension thread on pro-touring.com. he really makes a strong case for using a pan hard bar. while its not ideal for leaf springs it will work. double adjustable shocks are really helpful in the rear. mavericks have an odd shock end arrangement but varishocks work. you just install them with the body of the shock at the top and the shaft to the spring. the rear swaybar is still an unknown to me. right now im using a 5/8s bar i think (what ever the standard addco one is). i do have the 7/8s custom addco bar but im getting a lot of advice to try running with out a rear sway bar. if you want to fabricate a rear suspension, go with either a 3 link or a torque arm suspension. go to pro-touring.com then to the suspension section in the forum. stickied to the top are 3 threads by ron sutton. a front suspension thread, a rear suspension thread and and whole car suspension thread. these 3 threads are incredibly informative on suspension tuning and set up. he really goes into the benifits and how to design a rear suspension. dont forget about the body of the car. its very flexible. you will want to at least put subframe connectors. then things like strut tower braces, monte carlo bars, a top ranger belly bar all will help a lot. for steering im using a power steering box with out the power assist system. i use a manual center link. i have not raced with it yet. i had the manual steering box in the car last time i raced and its way too slow. im worried that the power steering box wont be fast enough either but wont find out till next autocross. if its not fast enough ill send a box to tom lee power steering to get the ratio change to a 12 to 1 ratio. i also plan on doing the electric steering conversion if the steering force becomes to much. with the manual steering box (20-1 ratio) the steering force is to easy. i expect with the power steering box (15-1) , the steering force to be ok. i dont like the rack and pinion conversions due to they never seem to give enough turn radius. ive drive a few cars with conversions and they all lose a ton of turn radius. a few on this board have claimed that their conversions have not lost much turn radius but im not convinced. i feel that if you have a good steering box that is not worn out, good tie rods and the moog problem solver idler arm, your steering will perform better than any rack and pinion will. this is about every thing i have figured out at this point. i try to post my finding with my adventures with the cars so keep an eye out for my postings or subscribe to my build threads if you are interested. the next autocross im going to is january 24th. i plan on doing testing on the sway bars and get the results of the steering box ratio change.
also back on the tires. i took an autocross school and the very first thing they taught us was tires. tires are all you have connecting you to the ground. if the tire cant stick to the ground and have full contact no suspension will help. every person who checked out my car turned their noses up at my nitto 555s with 300 tw. every body said get 200 tw. lots of debate over falcon vs hankook tires. their seems to a slight preference to hankook but it seem like splitting hairs to my inexperienced ears.