SteveW
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- Jun 3, 2015
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- Columbia Gorge area
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- 2015 Mustang GT PP
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Thought I'd start a thread in this section for discussion about trying these components for autocross/trackdays. I run my car in CAMC and am coming from Roush V3 double adjustable shocks and struts. I have settled on 550 lb-in front springs and Steeda DR rear springs with -3.5+ deg camber up front and -2.2 or so rear camber with the Roush setup so looking to replicate that with the Vikings.
The Vikings I bought are Crusaders with the AP valving. I initially ran with just rear shocks on the car at the last event of the season last fall and felt that was a huge improvement over the Roush V3s. Way more low-speed rebound control so, I ordered front struts as well. It took weeks and weeks to get the struts in and it has taken weeks and weeks more for me to get them installed to a point where I'm ready to roll with them. I've been out of town pretty much non-stop during the week so have had very little time to work on my car.
The Crusader 3010AP has a T-bar type upper mount and small bumpstop so, it just bolts right on. It is kind of noisy driving around at slow speeds and makes a squishy sound. I don't care about the noise.
The front struts should have the disclaimer of "some assembly required". I requested they be shipped with 550-lb springs and they sent me 8" long ones with the thought that maybe that spring wouldn't be loose at full droop but no way without a very high ride height. I ordered 7" Hyperco springs and a Hyperco helper with coupler to try.
The Hyperco coupler does not fit over the shock body and even the short end of it it is too long to fully compress the helper before bottoming out against the upper perch. I abandoned that part for an Eibach Spacer250, which fits over and between everything nicely.
The 7" long 550-lb spring was too long to get the car low enough and still fit the sway bar end link mount in a good spot so I ordered a 6" long spring.
The J&M Viking camber plate in the pic above would work fine for someone who doesn't want to open up the strut tower hole and only needs around -2ish degrees of camber. It appears to be designed to fit the Viking strut shaft within an unmodified strut tower opening. This isn't going to work for me as I want way over -3 deg camber so, I looked into how can I make my existing Vorshlag camber plates work.
Some notes about dimensions:
- uses 2.5" race springs
- does not come with bumpstops
- strut shaft is 7/8" so look for bumpstops that fit over that. I modified OEM ones to fit inside 2.5" springs (slimmed the wide part at the top)
- strut upper mounting shaft is 5/8" and pretty long.
- knuckle bracket is offset ~3/4" compared to OEM style struts which ss great for tire clearance but really mucks up the ability to use adjustable sway bars and interferes with brake lines depending on where the end-link mount is installed.
- fully threaded shock body, even with the knuckle bracket so stuff can be moved around as needed.
I was able to fit the Vorshlag camber plate on the strut using the Viking upper spring perch and a 5/8 ID x 3/4 OD stainless sleeve I found on Amazon plus some spacers from the Viking and J&M installation kits.
I opened up the strut hole and can get all the cambers now...
I have not set final ride height nor aligned the car yet. I haven't even tried my 11" or 11.5" wheels in there but don't think there will be any clearance issues with wheels due to the large offset of the strut-to-knuckle now. The 6" spring and helper combo will keep all that above the top of the tire, too so should have plenty of options to make wide wheels fit.
I am concerned about the sway bar and how to hook up endlinks without interference. Right now I have the strut end link mount forward and back from OEM with the endlink connected on the inside of the sway bar so that I can use the outer two holes of my Steeda fsb.
I lowered the shock an inch through the knuckle bracket and pulled up the upper end of the shaft all the way through the camber plate using spacers on the top side of the camber plate to allow the upper nut to tighten up fully. This maximizes compression travel for my ride height and minimizes droop that I don't need hopefully within the limits of how the suspension moves from lock-to-lock. Basically, was looking for enough compression travel without the shock hitting suspension control arms when turning left and right.
Stay tuned and/or post your experiences.
The Vikings I bought are Crusaders with the AP valving. I initially ran with just rear shocks on the car at the last event of the season last fall and felt that was a huge improvement over the Roush V3s. Way more low-speed rebound control so, I ordered front struts as well. It took weeks and weeks to get the struts in and it has taken weeks and weeks more for me to get them installed to a point where I'm ready to roll with them. I've been out of town pretty much non-stop during the week so have had very little time to work on my car.
The Crusader 3010AP has a T-bar type upper mount and small bumpstop so, it just bolts right on. It is kind of noisy driving around at slow speeds and makes a squishy sound. I don't care about the noise.
The front struts should have the disclaimer of "some assembly required". I requested they be shipped with 550-lb springs and they sent me 8" long ones with the thought that maybe that spring wouldn't be loose at full droop but no way without a very high ride height. I ordered 7" Hyperco springs and a Hyperco helper with coupler to try.
The Hyperco coupler does not fit over the shock body and even the short end of it it is too long to fully compress the helper before bottoming out against the upper perch. I abandoned that part for an Eibach Spacer250, which fits over and between everything nicely.
The 7" long 550-lb spring was too long to get the car low enough and still fit the sway bar end link mount in a good spot so I ordered a 6" long spring.
The J&M Viking camber plate in the pic above would work fine for someone who doesn't want to open up the strut tower hole and only needs around -2ish degrees of camber. It appears to be designed to fit the Viking strut shaft within an unmodified strut tower opening. This isn't going to work for me as I want way over -3 deg camber so, I looked into how can I make my existing Vorshlag camber plates work.
Some notes about dimensions:
- uses 2.5" race springs
- does not come with bumpstops
- strut shaft is 7/8" so look for bumpstops that fit over that. I modified OEM ones to fit inside 2.5" springs (slimmed the wide part at the top)
- strut upper mounting shaft is 5/8" and pretty long.
- knuckle bracket is offset ~3/4" compared to OEM style struts which ss great for tire clearance but really mucks up the ability to use adjustable sway bars and interferes with brake lines depending on where the end-link mount is installed.
- fully threaded shock body, even with the knuckle bracket so stuff can be moved around as needed.
I was able to fit the Vorshlag camber plate on the strut using the Viking upper spring perch and a 5/8 ID x 3/4 OD stainless sleeve I found on Amazon plus some spacers from the Viking and J&M installation kits.
I opened up the strut hole and can get all the cambers now...
I have not set final ride height nor aligned the car yet. I haven't even tried my 11" or 11.5" wheels in there but don't think there will be any clearance issues with wheels due to the large offset of the strut-to-knuckle now. The 6" spring and helper combo will keep all that above the top of the tire, too so should have plenty of options to make wide wheels fit.
I am concerned about the sway bar and how to hook up endlinks without interference. Right now I have the strut end link mount forward and back from OEM with the endlink connected on the inside of the sway bar so that I can use the outer two holes of my Steeda fsb.
I lowered the shock an inch through the knuckle bracket and pulled up the upper end of the shaft all the way through the camber plate using spacers on the top side of the camber plate to allow the upper nut to tighten up fully. This maximizes compression travel for my ride height and minimizes droop that I don't need hopefully within the limits of how the suspension moves from lock-to-lock. Basically, was looking for enough compression travel without the shock hitting suspension control arms when turning left and right.
Stay tuned and/or post your experiences.
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