BmacIL's Guard GT Build

[AlbertD]

Yeah, I thought I remembered reading you went with a coilover setup? Would be curious to hear your thoughts compared to what you had before... Eventually when I start going crazy on aero, I'm going to have to go to a better suspension setup to compensate which will bring me to coilovers. I'm sure that thing handles amazing now with the upgrade.

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[Bluemustang]

For anyone reading this, consider this my glowing endorsement of Brian. He understands suspension, chassis and overall vehicle dynamics.

This man singlehandedly restored the confidence in my car again. Without him, I probably wouldn't own this Mustang anymore - I love the car now and have been very happy for a long time. It's my only car. I daily it and take it to the track. With his help it rides and handles amazingly. I'd put it up now, nay even above, the GT350 in terms of handling.

For anybody wanting to fall in love with their car again and make it handle corners and whatever else you throw at it, go to Brian. He's one of those genuine people who wants to help and has a passion for it. We started out with him giving me advice on my build and I came to consider him a personal friend. Great person, great engineer.

Hit him up for suspension and chassis advice on your build - you'll be glad you did.

Thanks Brian!

 

[Biggsy]

I recently changed to Viking crusader front coilovers, rear shocks with pro touring valving for C and R, along with Mike Maier rear ride height adjusters. 300/1200 springs. I've only got a handful of street miles and no events yet, but can confidently say this is the most composed setup I've had on the car. It puts power down extremely well and you can feel the dampers keeping the tires planted to the ground. It's super impressive!

Shout out to @KellTrac for getting me setup. This is amazing!

If anyone is interested in pairing these with your suspension setup, please contact me, and I can get you set!

Wow I was actually looking into going that direction next year if i went coilovers. I remember we talked briefly about it last year as well. What part number crusaders is it? I was looking at B558HF in the back

 

[Biggsy]

The valving you want isn't available on any of the parts stores. Contact me when you are ready and I can set you up

My man! ...I appreciate that. Haven't steered me wrong yet!

 

[Cdnspeed]

I had a feeling you would swap the ridetechs out

 

[shogun32]

With these dampers turned down to 1 on Comp and 2 on Rebound, the ride is plush but not floaty. It responds super quick but very controlled.

sounds like the guy doing piston selection and shim stack arrangement knows what he's doing. Any chance of a dyno graph with labels? I had written Viking off since they seemed solely interested in drag racing and the numerous reports of banging from defective product or improper install.

And I thought a twin-tube shock could never amount to any good... <<< couldn't find 'poke with stick' emoji

 

[Biggsy]

Just placing a comment here as a reminder to you that the world is waiting to hear your feedback after your event

 

[shogun32]

have a machine shop fab you up some brackets. the pic is truncated so I can't tell if it's just a 'pinch' mount (eg. RIdetech) or something else. Sokie used to be lousy with machine shops. A machine shop will also be able to cut slots in the material unless it's been hardened (unlikely) and also provide you with shims of various offsets so you reduce a slot to just 'a hole' for the bolt and you're not relying on fastener comp load to keep the bolt from walking about in it's slot.

Viking's primary clientele has been drag racers running skinnies so I'm not surprised they didn't design for 11" front wheels.

 

[shogun32]

Looks like you could just whack 1/2" or more off and re-drill.

If I had time on my hands I'd machine the bracket from billet AL and use an Acme tap (https://www.mcmaster.com/acme-taps/ probably has a suitable diameter and pitch) and that way you just thread the bracket onto the body and control positioning with a lock ring. What is the diameter of the body? If no relevant tap, then you'd have to CNC the partial threads on a lathe. Then again I guess a pure friction grip with lock rings as backup would be just as well.

IMO Viking should reconsider the mount area being threaded, a slightly sprung sliding fit would be a lot more secure and cheaper to implement.

 

[shogun32]

just buy a suitable square, end-cutting end mill with 4 flutes. McMaster is in your city. If you don't have any friends who have a mill, find new friends.

What's the center-line distance of a more standard shock to the holes vs what you have with the Viking?

I would go have a chat with guys like
https://www.jljmachineservice.com/
https://www.razortoolllc.com/

Also any good speed shop or restoration outfit will have a mill in-house or a close relationship with a fabricator. Please tell me you're not trying to do this free-hand with a glorified drill?

(and yes, those are ACME threads)

 

[kz]

Gif I put together with help of a friend's pictures.

Almost came over to this event (few of our local guys did), went to OVR's one in Columbus on Saturday instead with it being hour less of a drive....

 

[kz]

Yeah but the offset doesn't lend itself to that either. It's like they're designed for huge wheels. That's the only reason to make the offset that large.

Another pic.

Brian - I see that you have endlink attached on the inside of the bar - aren't you getting a contact between endlink and the bar ? I clearly did and there is not way I can fit it on the outside...

 

[Scootsmcgreggor]

Interesting. I've got the J&M plates as well, though I was hoping for more negative range. The plates run out of range before the damper hits the opening in the tower. I guess I'll be slotting my top spindle damper hole as well. Will need thicker wheel spacers then too. If the J&M plates could achieve Vorshlag negative camber range they'd be perfect.

 

[shogun32]

3) puts all the spring load through the plate body and into the strut tower, and NOT into the spherical bearing in the plate. The spherical only has to handle damper loads.

it's a small thing but it differentiates good engineers from 'fast' engineers.

This design choice is also evident in the Steeda coil-over offering.

 

[Scootsmcgreggor]

That is strange. I have my tower hole opened up and I only have about 3 mm clearance to it.

Hmmm maybe the plate is hitting on the underside of the strut hole that gets cut out? I called J&M and they said -2.7 to -2.8* was about the max, which is where I'm at. How much did you get from the plates alone without slotted knuckle mount?

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