ultimate suspension? or turbo...?

[built54]

I picked up a new set of strange 10 way adjustable struts and shocks this weekend for 200 bucks at the all ford nationals in IL, couldn't pass it up. I've been looking at the torque arm, lower control arm, and panhard bar kit from MM. From what I've read, this seems like the best setup for street/strip use which is what I want. I already have full length sfc's. Also, would the MM heavy duty rear sway bar help me out? What's your opinion on removing the front sway bar if I have a stiff rear? I don't want my street performance to suffer to gain a little strip performance, if at all possible.

 

[bwahl602]

Now you have entered the most difficult problem there is... building a multi-purpose car. Its easy to build a race car for strip or track, but its very hard to build one that is good at many things. Especially if you want to keep it street friendly/comfortable

Heres a general rule when performing modifications:

You can have two of the three:
Cheap
Reliable
Performance

You can get cheap performance that isnt reliable, Reliable performance that isnt cheap, and reliable parts that are cheap, but dont perform.

To your question. Removing the front swaybar is fairly easy. Is it an improvement for drag racing? I cant answer that. Removing it will save some weight. However, you may notice its absence during street driving.

It seems like your direction/ what you want from the car is street/strip. Basically you want a streetable car you can drive to the drag strip

As far as the parts you listed.. The MM TQ Arm, PHB and LCA kits is nice. But likely unnecessary at this point. Heres my recommendation for your money:
Buy a set of Lower Control Arms. I like MM suspension parts in general. But there are cheaper parts that will perform well. Id recommend that you get ones with spherical bushings on either end. This will minimize deflection. Hard launches will likely eat up Poly bushings
Get a set of upper control arms that are adjustable. This will allow you to adjust your pinion angle to -3*. Thats a good starting angle for drag racing that shouldnt have an issue on the street
Wheels: get some lightweight wheels for the rear of your car (and front if youd like) Enkei RPF01 wheels are pricey compared to GT500's, but weigh 10lbs a wheel less. 10 lbs of rotational weight savings is equal to 100lbs of curb weight change.
Tires: get some sticky tires that are good for drag racing. There are lots of drag radials out there. Unfortunately, what most people find is that drag radials give you the so-so of both worlds. They work okay for street traction but if you get caught in the rain your in trouble. On the track they work well, but not as good as a dedicated drag tire. Thats why I recommend doing this part right. Even if you just grab some cheap used fr500's for 100/ea, slap some sticky ass tires on there and use them for the strip only. Keep a set of nice wheels for the street with good treadwear rating and acceptable grip

No reason to upgrade the rear swaybar.

Save your money. Things break. And if you get sticky tires you are sure to break some axles soon. Save up for 31 spline axles and a carrier with 31 splines. If you havent installed gears yet, save money on install by doing this all at once. Sticky tires and high RPM launches will make spaghetti out of the factory axles

Setting up a car for drag racing is all about three things: getting off the line fast, reducing weight, and increasing horsepower.

Get the rear suspension parts to get off the line fast. Do a rear seat delete and some other cheap mods to reduce weight. Then concentrate on the driveline. Just consider the effects on street driving for each mod

Lastly, driver experience is everything for getting off the line quick

Bill

 

[95PGTTech]

Removing your front sway bar is a great test of yourself - if you are disciplined enough to notice quickly the difference on the street and drive accordingly (safely), you will want to move on to removing other things to improve track performance. For example, don't ditch the air conditioning first...remove other "liveable" things like the dog bone, etc. before doing something drastic like gutting the car.

I agree with a lot of the above post. Purchase uppers and lowers first. Sperical bushings at both ends on both, and both adjustable. Drag springs for the rear with an air bag at the point you're at. Or cut one coil off well-used V8 springs as per Team Z's recommendation. A set of slicks on 15" wheels. Install them at the track, remove when time to go home. You can usually find a set of slicks on Prostars for around $400-$500 these days used. Then go from there. You will have a bunch to do in just adjusting the pinion angle, adjusting the tire pressure, adjusting the shocks at different tracks and different temperatures to figure out what works for the car, launch rpms, slipping/dumping the clutch, etc. That will easily be enough dial-in stuff to do for a season of track being open.

 

[bwahl602]

Agreed with the above post. One thing on wheels. 18 inch wheels have sort of become the standard for street performance. But 18s are heavy.
Like I said, There are a lot of light weight wheel options out there. Wheel diameter plays a huge part in the weight of the wheel. 15 inch wheels are nice and light but won't fit with your factory rear brakes. You can change to GT rear brakes and not only be able to fit smaller wheels(15 maybe, 16 for sure), but there is a good 10 more lbs in weight savings going to the smaller rotors. Remember that's rotational mass.

Buy your suspension pieces and go race. The street tires your running will be more difficult to get a good bite with, so you probably won't break the stock axles.

 

[built54]

Yeah I understand what your saying. I already have the 31 spline carrier gears and axles sitting in my garage. How stout is my tranny? I have a spec stage 2 clutch

 

[bwahl602]

Tranny will be fine for a while