After I got my S197 I found that the mustangforums.com had more useful information for my new Mustang. That being said here is what I think is some good information on lowering that I am coping from that site.
I've driven a fully equipped FRPP "handling pack" car and the ride was a little harsh but the spring and bar rates were very good. The FRPP kit while of excellent quality is largely made up of Eibach's Pro-Kit springs and anti-roll bars with Multi-Matic tuned struts and dampers. The FRPP kit is not really any cheaper than buying the best suspension parts separately through the internet and the MM spec'd dampers are a little too stiff for the kit spring rates and are not adjustable (hmmm, these are the same issues as stock!). You will get a much better suspension by making up your own "kit" cherry picking the best suspension components.
Here are my staged suggestions for a road course, NOT drag oriented suspension:
Stage One
High performance street, better than 98% of drivers out there even on stock 17"x8" wheels and stock Pirelli PZero Nero A/S tires. This is a much better core suspension than the FRPP "handling pack" kit and offers much better ride and performance through the Tokico adjustable struts and rear dampers. The adjustable rear Panhard bar, HD PB brace and G-Trac (front lower control arm tie bar), are also key elements supporting the improved spring and damper rates. At this level anti-roll bars are NOT going to help you as much as the Tokico D-Spec adjustable struts and rear dampers will. With the increased spring rate and much reduced body roll the stock tire's grip level will be fun to drive on and have a great deal of tossability and near stock ride and NVH levels. As mentioned above, very few people will be able to drive an S197 GT with this suspension installed better than the chassis can deliver and you will not have to deal with the compromised ride and noise of a car that has larger anti-roll bars and non-adjustable dampeners. The percived speed and flat cornering feel of a car with large anti-roll bars is very good until you realize how much of a compromise they are on bumpy roads and in bumpy turns. I prefer to optimize the suspension and maximize the grip of the stock tires until you reach the point where they are holding you back more than the suspension components and geometry. Anti-roll bars are a crutch for poorly setup street cars. The core suspension should be designed well enough to not need larger anti-roll bars on a street car.
Eibach Pro-Kit sport springs, best progressive rate street springs on the market
OR if you need to retain more ground clearance
Steeda's regular catalog sport springs, good ground clearance but softer than optimum
Eibach or H&R camber adjustment bolt kit, required for best tire wear
Tokico D-Spec low pressure gas adjustable struts and dampers, simply the BEST production struts/dampers available
Steeda adjustable Panhard bar, poly bushings both ends, improved handling and feel in both steady state and left/right transitions
Steeda heavy duty Panhard bar brace, keeps your chassis from flexing and eventually failing near PB pick-up point
Steeda G-Trac brace for front control arms, ties front control arms/K-member together, better feel and control arm location
Alignment, use -1 to -2 degrees camber and 1/16 toe out, makes the car steer/feel right after messing up nice factory settings
Stage Two
Refined handling finesse with geometry corrections/optimizations, better suspension tuneability, for the last 2% of drivers. Much more refined handling levels and greater driver confidence in hard turns. Improved handling feel and better grip from the stock tires because of optimised suspension geometry. Some very slight increase in road noises though due to stiffer bushings but still a very nice ride and minimal noise increases over a fully stock S197 GT chassis.
Steeda front control arm relocation kit, resolves roll height issues from lowering, increases front roll resistance
Steeda control arm bushing insert kit, improved steering/handing feel, no extra NHV w/red bushing, black bushing is race only
Steeda adjustable street anti-roll bar end links, allows adjustment for zero pre-load, restores correct angles
Steeda anti-roll bar support braces, effectively increases anti-roll bar rate by providing better mount stability
BMR weld-in lower control arm relocation brackets, adjust/corrects IC for launch grip, improves corner grip on exit on lowered cars
Steeda or BMR fixed tubular LCA's w/poly bushings, eliminate wheel hop on high traction launch, much improved cornering precision
Steeda or BMR adjustable UCA w/poly bushings, allows adjustment of pinion angle, eliminates wheel hop on high traction launches
Stage Three
True amateur competition level suspension but still streetable, quite a bit noisier and can be very harsh on rough surfaces especially if you start adding solid rod ends or heim joints to the suspension components already installed. This is great fun for autocross, track days, HPDE etc. With larger high grip tires unless you install straight rate competition springs you may at this point want to install larger anti-roll bars even though though they will not improve your car's actual grip. But if you can better balance the car's grip with an adjustable anti-roll bar up front you can potentially go faster and lower your times by utilizing more of the available grip the larger tires can generate.
18"x9" or 18"x10" light weight alloy wheels, helps suspension work better, more responsive
Dry performance tires, 255/45/18 or 274/40x18, more grip, balanced handling use same size F&R unless can balance w/anti-roll bars
Steeda adjustable front anti-roll bar, increased roll resistance, adjustability of anti-roll rate for handling balance and track conditions
Steeda billet anti-roll bar mount, increases anti-roll bar responsiveness with better location and no bracket flex
Steeda largest rear anti-roll bar w/billet ends, increased roll resistanace balances front anti-roll bar better than smaller Steeda bar
Also consider adjustable solid rod ends for front anti-roll bar end-links, LCA's and Panhard bar but the noise levels will go through the roof as will handling responsiveness. Choose wisely, this may or may not be an expensive mistake for many people who drive this car daily.
This was written by F1Fan. A few posts later he was asked about himself and he replied with this:
No shop, just my garage these days. I've been working on high performance German sports and race car suspensions for over 30 years. I like suspension design and development work and the S197 was the first Mustang I had to have since my '66 2+2. I wanted it for the massively improved S197 chassis and the modular 3-valve engine's potential to make horse power. The retro looks sold it to my wife. Of course I work on my own car, doesn't everyone?
Link to the post
fd
I've driven a fully equipped FRPP "handling pack" car and the ride was a little harsh but the spring and bar rates were very good. The FRPP kit while of excellent quality is largely made up of Eibach's Pro-Kit springs and anti-roll bars with Multi-Matic tuned struts and dampers. The FRPP kit is not really any cheaper than buying the best suspension parts separately through the internet and the MM spec'd dampers are a little too stiff for the kit spring rates and are not adjustable (hmmm, these are the same issues as stock!). You will get a much better suspension by making up your own "kit" cherry picking the best suspension components.
Here are my staged suggestions for a road course, NOT drag oriented suspension:
Stage One
High performance street, better than 98% of drivers out there even on stock 17"x8" wheels and stock Pirelli PZero Nero A/S tires. This is a much better core suspension than the FRPP "handling pack" kit and offers much better ride and performance through the Tokico adjustable struts and rear dampers. The adjustable rear Panhard bar, HD PB brace and G-Trac (front lower control arm tie bar), are also key elements supporting the improved spring and damper rates. At this level anti-roll bars are NOT going to help you as much as the Tokico D-Spec adjustable struts and rear dampers will. With the increased spring rate and much reduced body roll the stock tire's grip level will be fun to drive on and have a great deal of tossability and near stock ride and NVH levels. As mentioned above, very few people will be able to drive an S197 GT with this suspension installed better than the chassis can deliver and you will not have to deal with the compromised ride and noise of a car that has larger anti-roll bars and non-adjustable dampeners. The percived speed and flat cornering feel of a car with large anti-roll bars is very good until you realize how much of a compromise they are on bumpy roads and in bumpy turns. I prefer to optimize the suspension and maximize the grip of the stock tires until you reach the point where they are holding you back more than the suspension components and geometry. Anti-roll bars are a crutch for poorly setup street cars. The core suspension should be designed well enough to not need larger anti-roll bars on a street car.
Eibach Pro-Kit sport springs, best progressive rate street springs on the market
OR if you need to retain more ground clearance
Steeda's regular catalog sport springs, good ground clearance but softer than optimum
Eibach or H&R camber adjustment bolt kit, required for best tire wear
Tokico D-Spec low pressure gas adjustable struts and dampers, simply the BEST production struts/dampers available
Steeda adjustable Panhard bar, poly bushings both ends, improved handling and feel in both steady state and left/right transitions
Steeda heavy duty Panhard bar brace, keeps your chassis from flexing and eventually failing near PB pick-up point
Steeda G-Trac brace for front control arms, ties front control arms/K-member together, better feel and control arm location
Alignment, use -1 to -2 degrees camber and 1/16 toe out, makes the car steer/feel right after messing up nice factory settings
Stage Two
Refined handling finesse with geometry corrections/optimizations, better suspension tuneability, for the last 2% of drivers. Much more refined handling levels and greater driver confidence in hard turns. Improved handling feel and better grip from the stock tires because of optimised suspension geometry. Some very slight increase in road noises though due to stiffer bushings but still a very nice ride and minimal noise increases over a fully stock S197 GT chassis.
Steeda front control arm relocation kit, resolves roll height issues from lowering, increases front roll resistance
Steeda control arm bushing insert kit, improved steering/handing feel, no extra NHV w/red bushing, black bushing is race only
Steeda adjustable street anti-roll bar end links, allows adjustment for zero pre-load, restores correct angles
Steeda anti-roll bar support braces, effectively increases anti-roll bar rate by providing better mount stability
BMR weld-in lower control arm relocation brackets, adjust/corrects IC for launch grip, improves corner grip on exit on lowered cars
Steeda or BMR fixed tubular LCA's w/poly bushings, eliminate wheel hop on high traction launch, much improved cornering precision
Steeda or BMR adjustable UCA w/poly bushings, allows adjustment of pinion angle, eliminates wheel hop on high traction launches
Stage Three
True amateur competition level suspension but still streetable, quite a bit noisier and can be very harsh on rough surfaces especially if you start adding solid rod ends or heim joints to the suspension components already installed. This is great fun for autocross, track days, HPDE etc. With larger high grip tires unless you install straight rate competition springs you may at this point want to install larger anti-roll bars even though though they will not improve your car's actual grip. But if you can better balance the car's grip with an adjustable anti-roll bar up front you can potentially go faster and lower your times by utilizing more of the available grip the larger tires can generate.
18"x9" or 18"x10" light weight alloy wheels, helps suspension work better, more responsive
Dry performance tires, 255/45/18 or 274/40x18, more grip, balanced handling use same size F&R unless can balance w/anti-roll bars
Steeda adjustable front anti-roll bar, increased roll resistance, adjustability of anti-roll rate for handling balance and track conditions
Steeda billet anti-roll bar mount, increases anti-roll bar responsiveness with better location and no bracket flex
Steeda largest rear anti-roll bar w/billet ends, increased roll resistanace balances front anti-roll bar better than smaller Steeda bar
Also consider adjustable solid rod ends for front anti-roll bar end-links, LCA's and Panhard bar but the noise levels will go through the roof as will handling responsiveness. Choose wisely, this may or may not be an expensive mistake for many people who drive this car daily.
This was written by F1Fan. A few posts later he was asked about himself and he replied with this:
No shop, just my garage these days. I've been working on high performance German sports and race car suspensions for over 30 years. I like suspension design and development work and the S197 was the first Mustang I had to have since my '66 2+2. I wanted it for the massively improved S197 chassis and the modular 3-valve engine's potential to make horse power. The retro looks sold it to my wife. Of course I work on my own car, doesn't everyone?
Link to the post
fd
