Base GT350 Struts installed on GT

[Niz55]

Not going to track my car, wanted the Sportlines for the drop only. Plus i love how the Sportlines handle

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[BmacIL]

Just confirmed that, if you want, you can use two of the driver's side rear springs and the front springs from the GT350. The top spring seat for the rears is different shape, so you'll want that too. I priced it all out to be around $260 for the springs and seats.

The biggest advantage to these for someone like me is you get rates that are in line with or above a lot of what's available for handling, but with very little drop (3/8"-1/2"). I also had it confirmed that the rear roll center migration is significant when you drop the rear in the 1" range or more, and your roll axis gets a lot flatter and makes the car feel more lazy/understeer tending. The car stock or with very small drop has a raked roll axis. You can mostly counter that with tire, spring or rear bar, but it'll essentially be fighting the roll center drop.

Now I see a reason why BMR kept their rear drops at 1/2" and no more ;), [MENTION=9985]BMR Tech[/MENTION]

 

[mbeale68]

Does anyone know if GT350R springs would also fit a GT?

Also how do the swaybar diameters on GT350s/GT350Rs compare with a GT PP?

 

[Old 5 Oh]

OP offers some good reasons to get your suspension setup from a single vendor so the pieces work together. These are multi-dimensional engineering problems, and throwing random parts at the car doesn't always lead to an optimal solution.

 

[mbeale68]

OP offers some good reasons to get your suspension setup from a single vendor so the pieces work together. These are multi-dimensional engineering problems, and throwing random parts at the car doesn't always lead to an optimal solution.

This is pretty much the reason for my questions. Ford invested a lot of time and money developing the GT350 and GT350R. The spring rates, ride heights, and swaybar stiffnesses were undoubtably selected after many different combinations we tried. With a set of well matched struts and shocks GT350 or GT350R springs and swaybars could be the basis for a really good handing GT.

I'm sure some aftermarket tuners invest a lot of time in optimizing their setups. In particular, I would expect that the tuners that specialize in one model of car tend to spend more time tuning than those that supply parts to many different brands and models.

My brother did some consulting work for a aftermarket spring supplier that supplies to all brands of cars. That supplier pretty much just designed their springs to be 1 inch lower and 10% stiffer than stock. Other than that they basically just test fit the parts to ensure that there were no fitment issues and that the wheel alignment wasn't thrown too far off. Very little work was done evaluating the handle of the car at its limits.

 

[BMR Tech]

Now I see a reason why BMR kept their rear drops at 1/2" and no more ;), @BMR Tech

Oh... I thought we were suppose to make progressive springs for ride comfort that drop the rear an inch or more for that cool stance.

I am working on a new set of springs to pair with GT350 Front and PP Rear Monos. You could say, I am on a mission.

 

[BmacIL]

Oh... I thought we were suppose to make progressive springs for ride comfort that drop the rear an inch or more for that cool stance.

I am working on a new set of springs to pair with GT350 Front and PP Rear Monos. You could say, I am on a mission.

You just have to keep making more stuff I want, don't you??

Pretty please can we have a minimum drop version? The stance and daily usability of the 7/8" drop in front is perfect.

 

[Captdistraction]

Oh... I thought we were suppose to make progressive springs for ride comfort that drop the rear an inch or more for that cool stance.

I am working on a new set of springs to pair with GT350 Front and PP Rear Monos. You could say, I am on a mission.

 

[Doctor Fishtail]

I am in the process of installing base gt350 shocks and struts on my 2016 gt with Sportline springs. they bolt up perfectly fine. The front struts on the base 350 is mono tube and has a longer shaft. Also, the base 350 struts do not have the big dent on the strut body like the gt models. So running 350 struts with factory gt wheels you might rub on the strut housing. I am running 12mm spacers and Mrr 350 wheels without any rubbing issue and plenty of space.

Will see how the shocks and struts perform with the sportlines once completely installed.
The front 350 struts are identical to ford racing struts. Compression and rebound are also 99% same as the FRPP struts but the FRPP struts are twin tube.

Also, bump stops that came with the gt350 struts are same as the FRPP bump stops. Same part number.

Trying things out before I spend 3k+ on coilovers.

The Steeda struts and shocks are nice but they will not work well with sportlines. The car felt very lazy under load compression and it was uncontrollable because of the softer compression. Sportlines are more aggressive and also progressive rate. If you have linear springs Steeda shocks and struts would work well. Sportlines rely on more compression from shocks and struts that Steeda does not offer unless you are running linear springs.







Steeda on the left, gt350 in the middle, PP on the right




Gt350 installed with sportlines on my gt

And I thought that I had suspension issues. :lol: Pretty cool.

 

[Niz55]

You can also use the rear base gt350 shocks but it will require a custom bracket. Shouldn't be hard to make one at all.

 

[Niz55]

Nevemind. The bottom of the shock is not going to fit in the control arm.

 

[BMR Tech]

Nevemind. The bottom of the shock is not going to fit in the control arm.

Will the GT350 shocks atleast fit atop the LCA mount? I saw your comparison, and was thinking maybe a new upper shock mount that mounts higher could help with the travel.

 

[BmacIL]

Will the GT350 shocks atleast fit atop the LCA mount? I saw your comparison, and was thinking maybe a new upper shock mount that mounts higher could help with the travel.

It's the lower mounts that are the problem. The shaft is larger and the bolt spacing at the arm is wider. You'd need to grab GT350 control arms to use them.

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1362420&postcount=26

 

[BMR Tech]

Yeah I saw that.

But I think that once you fix that issue, if you were to "make them work" you would then fight the shock body issue. Looks like the shock would bottom out if they were not mounted "down in" the LCA.

I may dig deeper into this.

 

[Performance nut]

It's the lower mounts that are the problem. The shaft is larger and the bolt spacing at the arm is wider. You'd need to grab GT350 control arms to use them.

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1362420&postcount=26

I'm just curious why you would go to such extents... not to disrespect, more to understand the goal and the expected outcome.

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