Ford Mustang Forums banner

12.0 or faster street driven cars read and reply

2K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  Daniel Mitchell 
#1 · (Edited)
12.50 or faster street driven cars read and reply

I have the car listed in the sig, and was wondering what I should use as far as rear control arms. I have completely stock suspension, even quad shocks. The car gets mid to high 1.7's 60's now, but of course, I want more. I will soon be adding the s-trim that has been sitting in my utility room for several months.

I want to know what control arms you guys have, upper and lower, adjustable or not, and what do you recommend for my car?

I want something that is practical as I drive this car everyday and don't want the jerkiness and noise of SSM.

thanks in advance and I'm sure I'll have other ?'s about your commments so please check back and help me out.:rolleyes: ;) :D

Thanks,
Billy
aka...QWIKSLVR
 
#2 ·
Well I ran megabite jr`s on mine with ford HD uppers. Had no problems with them at all. Not very load and the ride was fine.
I did not have the quads on and with the DR`s, best 60ft was a 1.70.

With the new combo I will be going with a fully adjustable set....Wolfe or UPR.
 
#4 ·
I have the Factory Five units, cheap and well made. Some people don't like them because they don't have the sperical bearings in them. Well, I bang the 1320 and the twisties pretty hard out here and have not experienced bind with them. When you put that S-trim on you will face new challenges of traction and control. I have all that is listed in the signature and can still put it sideways on both street tires and slicks. When you do the control arms put some springs in it too. If all you do is drag race I would look at the eibach drag kit. Control arms did a lot for me but it all works together, springs, shocks and control arms.
 
#7 ·
For the time in the sig, I had all stock suspension. I recently bought UPR adjustable upper and lower control arms, which don't seem to be too bad.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Hey Billy,
Get something that allows you to change the Instant Center (IC) so you can set up the launch to your combo. Since you are using a manual tranny you will need to run a lower Percentage of Rise (PR) than an automatic and having the adustable control arms will help set it up correctly.
BTW,I went 1.47's with the stock factory control arms (with the stock rubber bushings) but relocated the IC for my combo.

See my Tech Page for some info on how to set up a suspension and you'll see what I mean..;)

Regards
ks:)
 
#9 ·
out of 276 views only this many replies. :confused: I know more of you have suspension stuff done.

Heck even if you don't run faster than 12's let me know what is on your car and how you like it for street driving and at the track.;)

come on guys, my friend keeps pestering me to put on my southsides this week, but I really don't like the noise and characteristics of his.:eek:

Billy
 
#10 ·
Step 1: Trash the SSMs, they're garbage for street driving.

Step 2: Tell your friend to STFU.

I run the factory 5 lowers with FMS HD uppers and went 1.60 60ft on a poorly prepped track.

But, my UPR rear end kit should be in the mail as we speak, so expect some 1.30-1.40 60fts next year :)
 
#11 ·
black88gt, how much did you give for the UPR kit, what all does it have with it, and where did you order it? I have been looking at some of their stuff and I like it.

thanks

Billy
 
#13 ·
all stock save for 5300c springs, tockiko's, and 17 cobra wheels. the 275/40/17 made the car totally different on the street, but i can still blaze them at will....only diff is they hook after a little while, and before it was just dangerous!
nitrous traction? lol
with over 500+ ftlbs of torque at the rear wheels thats not going to happen, and i wish some others would reply to this dayumed thread to give me some ideas! this is gettin old, a honda could leave me at a light if i am not totally careful.....and i refuse to roll around on my tires with 14 psi in them......

so, bttt it goes!
 
#14 ·
Like most people (probably) I'm not made of money. So I haven't upgraded my suspension yet. The car came with Saleen Lower control arms and I installed the Motorsport B springs. The control arms are basically boxed arms with urethane bushings. I don't think they change the pinion angle or anything to help optimize launch, but I could be wrong. My car has gone a best of 1.70's (60ft times) on stock setup with 26X8 slicks and 1.56 (60 ft) on current setup using 26x11.50's et streets. The car spins quite a bit off the line though even on the 1.56 pass. I think the suspension work would really help my car bite better. For reference, my buddies mustang was running 11.70's cutting consistent 1.6's. He was using stock suspension and lakewood traction bars. We installed Mega bite jr lower control arms and motorsport uppers and the Eibach drag kit (springs and air bags). We also installed 70/30's and 50/50's at that time. The car didn't hook any better. He says the car probably didn't the suspension mods until he got in the high 10's. Those traction bars work! Either way to answer your question IMHO, get the mega bite jrs. They work and are streetable. They have the urethane bushings and are built very well. Good luck.:D
 
#15 ·
Put the southsides on, they kick-ass! Just keep them greased and they won't make that much noise... I run an AOD and I cut 1.60 60ft times. They are more of a straight line arm, wouldn't reccomend doing donuts with them. If you've got them put em on, If you don't like them buy something differen't. You never know you might like them. Different strokes for different folks.....

Jeremy
 
#16 ·
I'm another of the 1.5 60" on stock suspension. Just removed the front sway bar and drilled the front struts other than that bone stock. I have went 1.51 60".

Mypersonal opinion and it might not be a good one is that. Mayb the reason I'm not spinning is that the old ass rubber bushings in the rear are taking up alot of shock instead of a solid bushing hitting the tire hard? I'm sure if I could hook with solid bushing control arms I should pick up but there is that chance that it would hit to hard and spin?

My 1.51 was with a C4 (3800stall) from idle on a 250shot.
 
G
#17 ·
On my last car (RIP Capri) I cut 1.49 60fts with completely stock '79 4cyl front springs and struts. The rear had stock uppers with SSM lowers and stock 5.0 springs. This was with 3.55 gears and a 5000 stall C-4. I say if you dont mind the noise go with the SSM's they hook hard. Otherwise I like the arms from Maximum Motorsports or Steeda.

Dave
 
#18 ·
ok, one more question. If I decide to put the SSM on do they have to be welded? If I don't like them on my car, how hard would it be to take them off? What would it mess up if they have to be cut off? Could I put something else right back on or would I have to modify my axle tubes where they were welded/cut?

thanks,Billy
 
#20 ·
Have you considered the new Lakewood lowers? I keep hearing good things about those as they change the IC like the SSM's but have poly bushings.
 
#21 ·
Cutting the southsides off after welding is a PITA. Took me about 2 hours with a die grinder. I felt like killing myself after.
 
#22 ·
I was running Factory Five uppers and lowers for a while, until they failed....Had to get new lowers due to their laziness..I went with HP Megabyte Jr's and they seem to have helped a little. I was pulling 1.62's with both, but the HPM's seem to help me go a little straighter. 306, N/A 12.31 @ 108, streetable and reliable!....
 
#24 ·
lift bars are evil. They will catch your car on fire and give you brain cancer. don't use them...


With a manual tranny and lift bars they tend to hit really hard, if you're running a 26" tire you might have problems with not enough sidewall...

they also rip your torque boxes...

regardless I had good results with the lakewood "traction action" lift bars... my short times were int he 1.65's

for the new combo I feel lift bars will be too violent so I am going with a stadard location heavy duty LCA/UCA combo, adjustible upper...
 
#26 ·
Steeda Aluminum uppers and lowers, very happy with them, nice and quiet and light.. car is a '95 GT weighing about 3600 lbs - 1.52 60' time. That was with eibach pro kit lowering springs. Now i've added a wolfe bar in the back and it went 1.46 60'.
Dan
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top