 Don't forget to add high-quality...  Don't forget to add high-quality grease to the Zerk fittings on both the upper and lower A-arms. A standard grease gun will suffice. |
 Griggs sends the coilovers...  Griggs sends the coilovers with Koni shocks. For this application, the Griggs crew sent 750-pound front springs because they thought I would be permanently using a softer compound tire. Had they known, they would have sent a softer set of springs to allow for a more comfortable ride up front. But R-compound tires are in my future, so I'll keep the setup I have. |
 The front is finally coming...  The front is finally coming together. After mounting the upper A-arms, we slide the coilover up the middle and bolt it down. At this point, the coilovers are not set to their desired height. We'll wait to adjust them once the entire car is finished. |
 Shawn Fowler reinstalls the...  Shawn Fowler reinstalls the stock spindles. One thing to note for '95-earlier Mustangs, you will need to upgrade to '96-later spindles. |
When it comes to the rear suspension, the word of the day is "modify." There are few parts to the Watts link setup, but there is definitely more work involved, mostly in massaging parts into place. From the get-go, Griggs suggests cutting part of the plastic gas tank cover and also cutting into the spare tire housing to make room for the Watts link frame, which is a well-engineered piece in itself, but it becomes quickly evident that it fits in one spot and one spot only. I didn't really want to cut into my spare tire housing, so we "modified" it with hammers. We removed the differential cover and replaced it with the new cover. One end of the torque arm mounts here, and when we mounted the other end, the rubber bushing I mentioned before was a tad thick, so Greg "modified" them with a knife. From everything I've experienced so far with this car, the one constant is that there are never any guarantees. Bruce Griggs has spent a good portion of his life engineering suspensions to work with different vehicles, but no matter how many Mustangs you work on, the next one will probably be a little different. I asked him about the bushing issue, and he could only speculate that my driveshaft clearance was off probably due to the upgraded transmission not being shimmed in the stock location.
Earlier, while Greg was "modifying," Shawn removed the rear lower control arms and rear shocks, making room for the new control arms and rear coilovers. Once those were mounted, Greg attached the links from the frame to the bell crank mounted on the diff cover. The bell crank came mounted to the cover at the second-from-the-top spot. Typically, this is the position where Griggs recommends starting on any track-driven car. Later, when I get to the track, if I need to I should be able to move up the Watts link to loosen the car during corner exit (increase oversteer), or down to tighten the car (increase understeer).
The guys buttoned up the last few nuts and bolts on the rear, set the coilovers to a lowered yet reasonable ride height, and adjusted the tie rods to allow for a small bit of toe-in, where the wheels are pointed slightly inward toward each other. This setting is for street use; hard tight cornering like autocross may require toe-out settings. Then they lowered the car off the racks and let me take it for a spin.
The difference was immediate. When I steered the car, it turned without hesitation. It also felt like the entire car was moving together rather than forces of gravity and inertia pulling it different directions. Those are the pluses. I also noticed it's much louder in the cabin than before. The exhaust is louder because of the cut tailpipes, but I also hear more of the road. It's almost deafening at first. Shawn says it's the torque arm that is transmitting all that noise down the center of the car. The torque arm is also helping put what was once displaced power back to the wheels where it belongs, so a little more noise is worthwhile.