So it took an extra month or two to finally get my suspension all installed, but its all done now. This is definitely how the Shelby should have come from the factory! Here's what went into her the other day.
-Whiteline adjustable upper and lower control arms
-Whiteline relocation brackets
-RTR upper control arm bracket (Whitelines was out of stock)
-Eibach pro-kit springs
-Fay's 2 watts link from Shelby, in a matching blue!
I'll post some pics shortly of the install, but everything went in pretty easy and straight forward.
When I put the upper arm in, I shortened it up about 3/8th of an inch. This gave me a whisker more room for the up coming watts link, and gave me some extra negative pinion angle that I was going to lose from lowering the car. The lower arms I matched to the exact same length, knowing they are easier to adjust than the upper, and helping me keep a pinion angle that should be pretty close. After the watt's link went in, I had just enough wiggle room around the upper cooler line that's on the diff, which seemed to be a big problem area with these cars. The bottom of the diff doesn't interfere with much, so I could keep the lower arms at the same length as stock.
The Watts link was an interesting install in itself too. Now that its complete, it makes sense on how its supposed to be done, and how it needs to be adjusted. The instructions from Shelby leave a bit to be desired, and seem to be more applicable to a non Shelby car if I was to guess. The instructions want you to install the brace first, then put the adjustable arms on after the axle brackets are in. Then measure the angles to make sure they are correct, then pull the arms back off and adjust them to the same length. We actually started off by measuring the arms to the correct length to begin with, and saved us that whole step. The amount of room you have to work with, removing the arms is something you want to avoid. We had both the brackets angled up a little too high, and after a test drive, one side was hitting the exhaust, and we had to rotate both of them down and re-measure our angles again.
After that, it was good to go! No noise, no banging or anything. And man what a difference! A huge confidence improver that's for sure! The rear end steers the car much less now too, which was one of the main things I wanted to change about it. The lower control arm angle is much more favorable too. The body lifts a bit in the rear now under hard acceleration in 1st and 2nd, which is helping plant the rear better. It will still turn a tire if you hammer the throttle around 3k rpms, but not nearly as violently, or as long, as its really digging in and pushing the car much better. The springs helped settle the car some too. Not nearly as much nose movement as before, and you can really feel the change in forward acceleration.
Overall I'm very very happy with everything. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to lock down the rear more, and to help plant the power more reliably.
-Whiteline adjustable upper and lower control arms
-Whiteline relocation brackets
-RTR upper control arm bracket (Whitelines was out of stock)
-Eibach pro-kit springs
-Fay's 2 watts link from Shelby, in a matching blue!
I'll post some pics shortly of the install, but everything went in pretty easy and straight forward.
When I put the upper arm in, I shortened it up about 3/8th of an inch. This gave me a whisker more room for the up coming watts link, and gave me some extra negative pinion angle that I was going to lose from lowering the car. The lower arms I matched to the exact same length, knowing they are easier to adjust than the upper, and helping me keep a pinion angle that should be pretty close. After the watt's link went in, I had just enough wiggle room around the upper cooler line that's on the diff, which seemed to be a big problem area with these cars. The bottom of the diff doesn't interfere with much, so I could keep the lower arms at the same length as stock.
The Watts link was an interesting install in itself too. Now that its complete, it makes sense on how its supposed to be done, and how it needs to be adjusted. The instructions from Shelby leave a bit to be desired, and seem to be more applicable to a non Shelby car if I was to guess. The instructions want you to install the brace first, then put the adjustable arms on after the axle brackets are in. Then measure the angles to make sure they are correct, then pull the arms back off and adjust them to the same length. We actually started off by measuring the arms to the correct length to begin with, and saved us that whole step. The amount of room you have to work with, removing the arms is something you want to avoid. We had both the brackets angled up a little too high, and after a test drive, one side was hitting the exhaust, and we had to rotate both of them down and re-measure our angles again.
After that, it was good to go! No noise, no banging or anything. And man what a difference! A huge confidence improver that's for sure! The rear end steers the car much less now too, which was one of the main things I wanted to change about it. The lower control arm angle is much more favorable too. The body lifts a bit in the rear now under hard acceleration in 1st and 2nd, which is helping plant the rear better. It will still turn a tire if you hammer the throttle around 3k rpms, but not nearly as violently, or as long, as its really digging in and pushing the car much better. The springs helped settle the car some too. Not nearly as much nose movement as before, and you can really feel the change in forward acceleration.
Overall I'm very very happy with everything. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to lock down the rear more, and to help plant the power more reliably.
