I have an 86 GT hardtop. The ultimate goal for the car is a street/strip car that will only see sunny dry days in summer. Mods are: cobra intake, roller rockers, u/d pulleys, o/r x pipe and magnaflow cat-back, shorty headers and 3.73 gears. will be getting better heads too (vic jr or AFRs, something like that).

I'm still running the stock suspension. I plan on bigger tires (275s, bigger if i can fit em) and have taken the quads off to accomodate them, but haven't done anything else. What do you guys recommend if i don't want to be burning and chirping my tires but really want to get the power to the pavement?

I've read a lot, and the more i read about the options the more confused i am: traction bars, adjustable front and rear coil-overs, subframe connectors, etc etc. Can someone tell me "here's the 3 things you need to do" and why? Please I don't want to hear "get subframes" from one guy, "get traction bar" from another with no explanation as that doesn't help me decide. It seems to me from everything i've read that there's probably 2 or 3 things i need that will work together as a package. seems to me also that the choices are entirely dependent on my intended use of the car, which in my case would be a pleasure-use only in the summer-time vehicle. It will never be a daily driver, will never see wet road conditions (dry traction only) and will occasionally go to the strip for fun as opposed to serious competition. so whaddo i need?

any suggestions greatly appreciated. thx all

 

PS: forgot to add: i'm not too concerned about compromising handling for the street. I don't expect the car to corner like mario andretti's ride, and am willing to compromise a bit of handling in exchange for better straight-line performance/grab/hookup.

 

I hate seeing those sagging rears on mustangs. Mine is an 88 lx with next to no engine mods. The following worked really well for me. I installed HPM juniors , Theses are good because they provide shims for the spring mount points. This allows you to adjust your angle on driveshaft. I also went to a stiffer spring and shocks. Full subframes. Aluminum driveshaft and then had torque boxes welded up. Sounds like alot of small stuff but my theory is "" make sure it plants before you install a new powerplant". My 60 ft time best is 1.81 (no engine mods).

Steve

 

thx for response steve. what are HPM juniors? and what do you recommend in terms of stiffer springs and shocks; i've heard 90/10 up front and 50/50 in the back, is this what you're talking about?

 

You don't want stiffer springs and shocks, as this will take away from the weight transfer to the rear (hence, planting the tires).
You need subframe connectors to tie the front and rear subframes together to keep the car from twisting and making it more stable.
You can benefit from removing your front sway bar as that will allow the front tires to 'droop' when you launch, making weight transfer easier. The weight loss helps too.
Look into 4 cyl rear springs and a set of 70/30 struts up front and 50/50 shocks out back to help in the weight transfer. The rear springs are weaker and allow the car to squat easier, thereby putting more weight and traction on the rear tires.
Beyond this, I would install a set of southside traction bars/lower control arms. These are offset by hanging the control arms in the rear lower, allowing the 'torquing' action of the rear axle to more easily 'push' the car upwards.... again helping weight transfer and planting the rear tires. You don't want the typical old school traction bars which have some slack and slap the torque boxes when the rear axle torques.
Weight loss helps dramatically too. Moving the battery to the trunk helps weight transfer. Losing weight up front helps too, look into a tubular K member and even coil overs with tubular control arms if you want to go a little more in depth.
SS

 

This link is a very good teaching tool and should answer some of your questions as to why we need what we need to get the traction. It does talk about late model but our cars have relatively the same underneath.

http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm

Good luck with your mods.

 

you just need sub-frame connectors to tie the front and rear sub-frames together to keep the car from twisting and making it more stable.