Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

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Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

January 16, 2005, 01:31:08 PM

I have a set of centerline wheels that I ordered in a custom backspacing (17*7 4.5 backspace) and I just finally got tires on them the other day but when i tried them on my car it wasent what I wanted

they stuck out just a little bit, not alot but enough to bother me! So what I want to know is how much shorter is a mustang A arm? Could I use them to move the front tire in the fender well a little more? And would it change where the spring sits(for ride height reasons)?

Also while I was working in the front I noticed that I was badly in need of new front brakes and my calipers are stuck, I figured that this would be a good time to upgrade. Im thinking of the 13" front brake conversion, Ive read about the 11" conversion,,, is the 13" any bigger of a problem? And will my cougar struts still fit?

And finally Ive changed my mind on the springs again :shoothead Im thinking that Roush v6 drop springs might be better for me, it says they drop the front 1 3/4 inches and I forget the rear but it was alot less of a drop. I measured my fender gap with the new wheels and i have a long way to go! With a 17" rim and a 235/45 tire I need to drop my front end 3 1/2 - 4 inches!! So if anyone has anymore ideas on how I should go about doing that please let me know! And how much will a sway bar drop my car (if at all) I need to make a spacer to get it to clear my oil pan. :disappoin

Help me get through my suspention issues please! Aimee

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #1 – January 16, 2005, 02:27:19 PM

dont think a sway bars gonna physically drop the car at all.

the 13" pbr/cobra conversion is great but usually pricy and requires a 5 lug conversion if you havnt done that allready.(i have heared about 13" rotors made up with a 4 lug pattern but never looked into it) the 11" mustang/turbo coupe setup should be easy and relitivally cheep to obtain for the 4 lug setup. you can use mark 7 callipers on those too. they have a bigger surface area for braking.

as far as shorter arms and different springs...your going to change travel, possibly some ride quality and streetablity. i ask the experts about scrub radius and steering axis inclination. with shorter arms and such a wide offset there might be some issues there. again...just something too look into.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #2 – January 16, 2005, 03:18:25 PM

Cougar A-arm is 13.75" Fox body mustang is 13" SN-95 Mustang has the same size A-arm as our cars (same exact dimensions, however somehow has a different part #

). Doing this swap would change your steering geometry. Would probably be remedied by a set of camber/caster plates.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #3 – January 16, 2005, 06:16:54 PM

Ive looked into the 13" conversion (4 lug) in mustangs unlimited, its a little pricy. I still have 10" drums in the rear so I want lots of stopy power in the front

I know I could do 11" brakes cheeper but I want to start out with everything new sos I can paint it all nice and perty, plus Im so prissy. :p So the 13" kit should work out just fine?

I knew the A-arms were shorter on a mustang, I just didnt know how much. So there like 3/4 of an inch shorter then? I dont know if this matters but I have a mustang steering rack already. I already planed on getting a set of caster/camber plates cuz I figured it would need it and I think the wheel can still move back without clearance issues. Does anyone have mustang arms on there car? I would like to make sure that the springs would still sit in the same place on the arm cuz I dont need my car to sit any higher! I just bought new struts too so I dont want to have to return them. Thanks!
Aimee

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #4 – January 16, 2005, 06:24:46 PM

83 -86 TBird/Cougar = Fox Mustang
87 -88 TBird/Cougar = SN95 Mustang (3/4 longer)

http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/controlarms.html

I don't know what year your car is. But if it's an 83-86 your out of luck. i was wanting to do the same thing.

EDIT: i bought the ones from FRPP. fit great. ^_^

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #5 – January 17, 2005, 02:26:12 AM

I saw a late model Cobra on a wrecker this weekend and I'm sure it was heading towards one of the mustang salvage places, if you want to convert to 5 lug in the process, I'll see if I can find it before the spindles, hubs, rotors, and calipers are stripped off of it for ya, They'll go quick though

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #6 – January 17, 2005, 06:22:35 PM

That explanes why the rims stick out on my car! I have an 87 cougar and when I was ordering my rims I used the backspacing from the rims that were on my 86 :mad: Oh well.
So if I used the A-arms from an older mustang/cougar it would work to move my rims back but the springs would be moved back too and have a shallower spring cup,,,wouldnt that make my car sit higher? :(

Thanx foxford but its actually cheeper for me to buy the 4 lug brake kit than it would be to order new rims and tires for the 5 lug.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #7 – January 17, 2005, 11:16:18 PM

this is true, the cheapest I can get 17" SN95 wheels is $300 a set

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #8 – January 18, 2005, 01:04:49 PM

In mustangs unlimited it says that they have a 13" 4 lug brake kit ,,is that a typo? cuz I cant find it on there website. If anyone knows where eles I can find a 4 lug 13" brake kit let me know. thanx

So does anyone know if the different spring location on the shorter a-arms will make a difference in how high the car will sit? If not thats okay Ill just go to the s yard and try them both on.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #9 – January 18, 2005, 04:27:04 PM

I believe Brembo or Baer sells one. I'll look around for yah. Have you checked MM, Steeda and the like???

This site should help you find what you are looking for. good luck. ^_^

Also looking at the pic of the two arms side by side, it would appear that it may raise your ride height slighty. but i can't say for sure. *shrugs* sorry.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #10 – January 18, 2005, 06:16:59 PM

I don't see how moving the spring in 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch would have any noticable effect on ride height, it would probably just mess up camber and provide worse handling

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #11 – January 18, 2005, 07:15:55 PM

moving the spring in wont effect camber at all, moving the spidle inward and not having it aligned is what will cause the issues

if you change the arms, lower it and whatnot, get some camber/caster plates, especially since your car has lots of different parts and whatnot, that should help you adjust the alignment in extreme cases

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #12 – January 19, 2005, 12:02:21 PM

Quote from: Paul Flockhart

Cougar A-arm is 13.75" Fox body mustang is 13" SN-95 Mustang has the same size A-arm as our cars (same exact dimensions, however somehow has a different part # ).

They have different part numbers because Ford sells them as complete units (bushings and balljoints included) The SN-95 Control arms have a different balljoint than a T-Bird (it's threaded section is longer)

Quote from: TrickFlow347

In mustangs unlimited it says that they have a 13" 4 lug brake kit ,,is that a typo? cuz I cant find it on there website. If anyone knows where eles I can find a 4 lug 13" brake kit let me know. thanx

So does anyone know if the different spring location on the shorter a-arms will make a difference in how high the car will sit? If not thats okay Ill just go to the s yard and try them both on.

BAER makes such a kit in 4 lug.

The spring pocket location between a Mustang vs T-Bird control arm is no different last time I compared (years ago) The extra length is towards the ball joint area after the spring pocket.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #13 – January 20, 2005, 10:33:40 AM

Thanks, I think Ill try to lower the car first and see if the tires stick out too much before I put on the shorter a-arms.
I mostly have been looking in magazines for the brake parts, I hate ordering on line.

Re: Front suspention/brake & wheel questions

Reply #14 – January 22, 2005, 12:54:22 AM

This might help. When I put on my knock off Cobra R's the front wheels were inline with the fenders (stuck out further than stock location). To remedy this I installed the mustang lower control arms, maximum motorsport caster/camber plates, and suspension techniques lowering springs. It sat exactly how I wanted it to. The wheel tucked absolutly perfctly into the wheel wells. The c/c plates took care of the alignment and I have had zero problems. Here's a couple pictures to illustrate. The first one is the before and the next two are the after. I just need some wider front tires now.