We were working on the "soft springs - big bar" method when I gave up giving all of my hard earned money to our sleezy race track promoter back in 2004. This method was working REALLY well on pavement using 10 inch Hoosier slicks and a 4 inch ride height by the way
to make clear, my pic is passenger side. yes i was going with this template. ill fabricate one to put on when drilling the holes. this will eliminate the error of incorrect angle moving, right?? so doing the 1/8" backward movement is completely incorrect?? how much caster will i have with only the 1" drop using the template?? (including the anti-dive angle)
It sounds to me like you only need new coil springs and a good quality pair of gas shocks. When I replaced my coil springs and added kinda cheap KYB gas shocks it made a heck of a difference it ride and handling. Best $135 I ever spent. Might want to consider replacing the leaf springs and rear shocks also. This will set you back another $250 but well worth the money.
I feel the 1/8 back is the correct way of thinking as it only moves your new mounting holes lower but keeps them on the same plane (arc of the spindle will remain the same) but I never did the drop on a Maverick so I would suggest checking with others that have done it to be sure. You are not trying to change your initial caster or camber settings, by doing this drop, only to quicken the recovery of lost camber, while cornering, by having your top A frame angled back more. You will still need to get your car realigned after doing this swap so they can get you back to spec if it changed slightly because of the swap.
Ideally, it would be nice to upgrade your suspension in stages, this way you have a chance to see how every change(s) affects the handling of your vehicle.......things like tires, sway bars, shocks and front end alignment are the quickest and you maybe happy just these mods. Regarding the cost factor and worth of rollerized spring perches, these where probably the greatest improvement I personally noticed, hard to explain in details, but the response in how the suspension acted was incredible! Anything you can do to reduce friction just makes the suspension perform like it was suppose to do, quicker response/recovery when coming out of corners etc... When I first did suspension upgrades I went with poly bushings to replace all the OEM rubber, that definitely tightened things up, but when I upgraded to roller bearings, again unbelievable! Also, install those Camber Eccentric Eliminator kits to your lower control arms, there is a member who manufactures/sells them here and on eBay along with others...... Anyways, I put in my "2 cents" worth, good luck, be safe and have fun! here is another site you might want to check out www.rrs-online.com
Agreed There was times we would throw a bunch of changes at our stock car, all at one time, which caused us not to be able to figure out which one of those changes was the one change that screwed it up even more - we stopped doing that
although the shelby drop is considered the cheapest and most efficient modification. at least i would prepare the car for the drop, ie remove or modify the reinforcement plates and drill the holes so the drop can be done.
Here is something you might all find useful, this was taken right out of the "bible" that we all used back in the late 60's and 70's from the Boss 302 Chassis Modification guide........ "After modifying the suspension, it should be tuned on the track. Basically tuning the suspension involves balancing the front and rear springs and stabilizer bars to obtain a neutral handling vehicle. If the front end pushes or plows: Reduce front spring rate Reduce front bar size Increase rear spring rate Increase rear bar size If the vehicle oversteers and causes the rear end to break loose: Increase front spring rate Increase front bar size Reduce rear spring rate Reduce rear bar size Spring rates should be selected so that the car does not bounce, pitch or bottom out on the course. With the car on its wheels and loaded, the stabilizer bars should be connected without preload." While this was from guide for racing, this still holds true for street use and at least gives you something to start with...........
i agree, as well it was my plan to do bit by bit to see where i get and with what i will be happy. the car is gonna change that much with all the changes (suspension, brakes, engine, steering, rear end, transmission, reinforcments...) that i first have do drive and adjust it to see if its good enough or if i will need more. and because money is not infinite i will start with drop, sway bar and shocks and then see how to go on and improve if needed. also i probably will make different (higer and softer) setup as long im in mexico and change to make it lower and more sporty when i go back to te really good swiss roads to make it a real road racer. the same ill do with the rear end, at the moment ill stay with the leafes i have an put in new shocks, rear swaybar and maybe a panhard bar, and when the car is back on the road and i see how my ride height is and how it handles i will ad new leafs or change to a complete new rear suspension. but these are quite expensive, so they have to be really needed and worth the money and work. but as i know me there will be a constant upgrading going on when i like the car and im sure its what i want spending my money on...
yes, i want to do the drop to get the positive (and free) improvement in cornering. so ill see how to cut and adapt the reinforcing plate to make space without weakening the shocktower... but the question is still: 1/8" back or not?!?!?!
maaaan, sorry i didnt see the difference until now!! but now i got it why its different: the 65-66 mustang has 3 3/4" between the holes and the 67-70 has 4 3/4". i dont have my maverick close, can someone please confirm that it has the 4 3/4" distance?!?! but i only got it now because i made quickly a drawing to order a template... if anyone wants to use it, i can send .pdf, .dxf, .igs or .stp if you want.
I just checked my upper arms, yes the 4 3/4" distance is correct. FYI, if you decide to drop more than 1", you may want to look into installing a Negative Wedge Camber Corrector kit to avoid upper ball joint binding/breakage. For just 1" you should be OK. did you check out OpenTrackers site? here is another link for more info regarding difference roller spring perches make, you can also check out their info regarding 1" drop........better safe than sorry. http://opentrackerracingproducts.com/faq/
thanks for the info. ill produce the template then. what are the improvements of a drop of more than 1"? i heard that when i go with the neg wedge kit ill have to lower 1 5/8" to get to the same hight of the 1" drop again. so what is the improvement then? only the better angle in the ball joint? i was thinking on producing my own wedge to put in to help the ball joint with the shelby drop... the track roller spring perches sound good, i think i ll go with that as well (my budget limit is getting pushed further again and again and again... )
