Best Foxbody handling upgrades?

[KnoxMSP]

I'm thinking about getting a foxbody and was wondering what is the best suspension setup for handling on one?

Not really looking to drag race at all. More auto-x, road race set up.

Thanks

[TonyBolton]

Take it to the crusher and use it as the worlds biggest paper weight.

[Timebomb]

Call me crazy, but I'd probably just make things easy on myself and rock the protege? I'm pretty sure turning a foxbody into a road racer would be a costly life long project.

[KnoxMSP]

Call me crazy, but I'd probably just make things easy on myself and rock the protege? I'm pretty sure turning a foxbody into a road racer would be a costly life long project.

The Protege is fun and all, but I'm basically done with mods, and I'm not forging the motor till it blows (with all my precautionary mods, I hope that'll be a while, knock on wood). Only thing left to do is dyno tune the EMS for methanol.

So I have a little extra cash laying around and just want a toy I guess. I was thinking about another sportbike, but they're dangerous and I have my little one now.

I am basically at the limits of the Protege with speed vs. money spent. I could spend a thousand for 30whp, or a thousand for coil-overs, but I don't want to really put anymore cash into it.

[Ken03KBGTvert]

See if you can get a C-5 chassis under it. Those are unbeatable!!!!!!!!!!!!


How much money you want to spend on it? Does it need to be a soft street criuser at the same time as a corner carver?

[96tangcobra]

foxs actually respond really well with basic handling goodies.Lowering springs,shocks and larger sway bars. Probably wanna go ahead and upgrade the bushings in it while your at it.Then the only thing holding you back is tires.only drawback to a fox is the weight distribution sucks

[TonyBolton]

Actually the only thing holding you back is the shitty rear suspension....all of it, and the mild-shittyness of the front suspension which is corrected a little easier and less costly.

[Ken03KBGTvert]

Are they better or worse than new Mustangs...talking about weight dist?

[96tangcobra]

Worse IMO.And Ive have a few. I dont know what the actual ratio is but I know the fox is quite a bit shorter overall and Im quite positive most of its off the rear off the car.

[KnoxMSP]

How much money you want to spend on it? Does it need to be a soft street criuser at the same time as a corner carver?

Just corner carver. I'd probably remove the backseat.

I don't want to spend that much really, looking to do something cheap and fun. I mean I have a bunch of money saved, but don't want to spend that much. Maybe 2.5-3 thousand for the car, and a few thousand between now and winter.

[TonyBolton]

Just corner carver. I'd probably remove the backseat.

I don't want to spend that much really, looking to do something cheap and fun. I mean I have a bunch of money saved, but don't want to spend that much. Maybe 2.5-3 thousand for the car, and a few thousand between now and winter.

I know it's about twice your budget, but i'd LOVE to pick up that 95 white/tan top GT in the F/S section. It looks clean, sounds mean, and already has the "power" part taken care of. Just needs some turn fast goodies.

http://www.streetcarforums.com/showthread.php?t=111094

It's hard to beat a convertable for FUN....I already miss ours. :(

[96tangcobra]

If thats all your gonna use it for,Id find stripped down car or a 4cyl to convert. dont screw up a good fox by hacking it all to shit.That way you'll be able to build it how you want.stripped int. and all...

[KnoxMSP]

I know it's about twice your budget, but i'd LOVE to pick up that 95 white/tan top GT in the F/S section. It looks clean, sounds mean, and already has the "power" part taken care of. Just needs some turn fast goodies.

http://www.streetcarforums.com/showthread.php?t=111094

It's hard to beat a convertable for FUN....I already miss ours. :(

I know! That car is gorgeous. Real good mileage for the year too.

[BugEyedAWD]

Take it to the crusher and use it as the worlds biggest paper weight.

I was about to say the same thing. except i was going to say the following.

"the best way to HANDLE a fox body, is to burn it."

[tnturbo]

The best way to get a good handling Fox body is to spend more money upfront and buy one someone else has already went down the money hole with.

www.maximummotorsports.com or
www.griggsracing.com are your best sources. The rear suspension while pretty good for drag racing isn't good for taking turns, too much bind from the control arm setup. You can go in stages. The rear is much worse off than the front. The front suffers from a lack of camber and has a bad camber curve, get caster camber plates and super stiff springs or switch to coilovers. Coilovers for a Mustang front end are not that expensive really and the relocation of the spring changes the motion ratio letting you run much softer spring rates.

If you get real serious with the car Griggs and MM K-members move wheels forward to help weight distribution and also allow you to move motor back and down.

Seriously though you can buy a car already built for a lot less than doing it from scratch unless you are into the joy of doing it your way. But basically there are just slight variations on the same recipe.

If you want to have more thorough discussion about wheel rates, anti-dive, anti-squat, plan view layouts, offset vs centered linkages, skew angles, front and rear roll center heights, etc we can hash that out as well but that seems a little out of character for this board.

Really with a Mustang there is no need to do all that much thinking, just call one of the companies listed above and give them your credit card numbers.

I'm assuming you were asking a serious question and hoping for some serious answers. As expected you get a lot of people hating on Mustangs and turning. There are several successful road racing classes that use Mustangs (and Camaros) as the platform for a reason.

What EXACTLY are you wanting to do, road course events, autocross, fun on the Dragon, cruiser, everything requires compromise at some level.

[96tangcobra]

All the haters of the fox are ricers at heart..

[clockman]

:nod:

[venomnous99]

See if you can get a C-5 chassis under it. Those are unbeatable!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best idea I've heard yet...

[thrdeye]

Drop the 5.0 in a Miata.

[Z06Fix]

MM grip box.

http://i29.tinypic.com/rqybz9.jpg


MM Strut Tower Brace
MM K-Member
MM Front Control Arms w/ urethane bushings
MM Front Coil-Over Conversion Kit
MM Adjustable Tie-Rod Ends
MM Standard Torque-arm
MM K-Member Brace
Solid steering shaft
MM Full Length Subframe Connectors
MM Aluminum rack bushings
MM Panhard Bar with Aluminum rod
MM Adjustable Rear Swaybar
MM Caster/Camber Plates*
MM Rear Lower Control Arms without spring perch or swaybar mount
Hypercoil Coil-Over Springs
MM Rear Coil-Over Conversion Kit
Bilstein HD struts & shocks
Urethane swaybar bushings
Urethane swaybar endlinks

[not cbring]

That's a lot of money to be able to say, "Not bad for a 20 year old Mustang."

...kinda reminds me of the Civic drag racers. ;)

[KnoxMSP]

I'll just get a bike and smoke everyone's collective asses... ;)

I really dunno what to do. :(