Oval2Bowtie80

I bought the car about 6 months ago planning on making a quarter mile car and that's it, since then I've really fell in love with it and can't believe how well it handles. I have owned fords mainly mustangs for racing most of my life and the Gms I've had were G body's. I just put on SS rims and tires factory spec and I've noticed even though it's a huge improvement from the 16s the car now feels like it needs tightened up if you know what I mean. There is just alot of body flex going on that od like to get rid of, Any suggestions? If really be thankful.

bw_hunter

Injuneer

What works well for the quarter mile does not necessarily produce the best street handling, and visa-versa. Sort of need to set priorities. For example, beefy sway bars front and rear control body roll in the corners, but they can reduce weight transfer on a hard drag strip launch. Best setup for a quarter mile, assuming decent HP, is no front sway bar (or disconnect one end link at the track) and a "drag" style rear bar like the Wolfe or the one from Spohn.

Lowering the chassis helps with cornering, but can produce negative results in the quarter mile. Shock selection will also depend on priorities.

I would say, in general, you can't go wrong with sub-frame connectors, upgraded rear lower control arms, rear LCA relocation brackets, upgraded panhard rod, upgraded torque arm, replacing stock rubber bushings with poly (or rod ends). But even the panhard bar could be replaced with a Watts link for road handling, and the typical replacement torque arm could be replaced with the one from Global West for road coures.

Just need to decide - ultimate quarter mile 60-ft, quickest through the twisties, or some compromise solution to accommodate a little bit of both, but not the "ultimate" in either.

Oval2Bowtie80

I appreciate the advice. I think I will just deal with the loss of traction at the Drag strip and gain some in corners.

BTC

Sam Strano's springs & Koni Sport shocks are good improvements for road/street handling. A lot of people also upgrade their sway bars, and Sam offers a flavor of those as well. There are also coil over options that might be better still, but also more expensive. I think UMI has a coil over set up, and I've also heard people talk about RideTech. I've heard a Watts link is a fairly dramatic improvement over the stock panhard bar configuration, and perhaps even moreso if the car is lowered. I haven't checked pricing, but I think sway bars and a Watts link might be my next two upgrades, unless you count wheels and tires.

I just took a look at Sam Strano's site and a Watts link doesn't come cheap.

Oval2Bowtie80

Thank you you guys are a big help. I spent so many years playing around with fox body fords and refused to drive camaros then I found this one and couldn't turn it down for the price and mileage. Honestly I used to think they couldn't take a corner to save their life so I was amazed to find out that a 96 z is about 10 years ahead of every mustang since 92.

squarehead

I totally agree with you on this. I had always liked Mustangs (still do) but then I followed a Grassroots Motorsports Fox body autocross prep article and found that the factory multi-link suspension on the mustang was lame. I noticed that all the mustangs that were fast in our local NASA events were running the Griggs racing torque arm conversion kit that ,for a significant amount of money, essentially turned them into Camaros!

DrewHMS97SS

#troll
Camaro > Mustang

I appreciate all cars now, where that wouldn't have been the case in my younger years. My main complaint about Mustangs in the 4th gen era was overwhelming lack of horsepower in comparison between the cars. Aesthetically, I liked the exterior of both cars, but preferred the cockpit feel of the fbody versus the cramped sedan feel of the Mustang.

Today I think: Power/Performance > All

Gtpguy

Konis/springs/sways/ls1 front brakes = completely different car.

Oval2Bowtie80

I agree, i lost interest in mustangs as soon as they brought out the 4.6. I bought a 96 cobra back in 2004 I think and immediately took it out to find someone to race, well the first car was a 2001 prelude that I thought I would destroy on the open road. Let's just say I sold the car a week later. I beat him in a rolling start but not by much.