MM Coil Over Kit

[Ellik]

can someone give me some pointers on the MM Coil Over kit. Im looking at the complete front and rear kit through Lethal. Im looking at redoing .... well, doing for the first time... my suspension. right now its completely stock and I was looking at spending roughly $800 anyway on H&R springs and new bilsteins. Why not spend a little extra and go coil-over? I hear people rave about it all the time, but I know next to nothing about them.

Is this something that I can isntall myself? I read through the instructions quick and it didnt really seem all that more complicated that simple spring/strut swap.

How much adjustability is there in ride height? Like I said, Im stock right now, looking only for 1-1/5" drop. Can I slam the car like 3" if I wanted to for a show or something with Coil-overs?

How often do you need to get this seup re-aligned? How many shops can/will do an alignment for you? If you take that setup to a shop, how many of them will look at you cross-eyed and not know what the hell your talking about?

Is an STB really necessary with this setup with the extra load on the strut towers?

What else should I be thinking about before doing this?

 

[anothersvtguy]

call

Call the guys at Maximum Motorsports. VERY cool guys who know their products, they will be happy to answer your questions.

 

[notchstang92]

strut tower brace has always been debated. when using coilovers you now put the front end weight on the strut towers and off the k member. I have one and wouldn't take it off, but others just have Caster/camber plates and they work fine. Coilovers aren't hard to do and will make night/day differences in the car. Look into stangsuspension.com for pricing also, I find they are usually the best out there for pricing.

Calling Maximum first is best that way you get your answers before you order. They will give you the answers on the spot so you can order what is best for you.

 

[Ellik]

anyone have pics of their car with a coil-over setup?

 

[masalacobra]

I do but I can't access my pictures here from work. . . I'll try to upload them when I get home tonight.

 

[SlowSVT]

I have the MM coilovers on my car. I had big concerns with hanging all the weight of the car on the shock towers something that it was not designed to do. There was an interesting post on Corner Carvers regarding this topic. There are some pretty smart guys on there and the debate went on for some time regarding the merits of coilovers on the SN95 chassis. Lots of back and forth and slide rule calculations. Sifting through all the discussion I came to the conclusion that it was OK to use them (one guy stated his wife managed to punch a hole in one of the shock towers after jumping a curve which is something only a woman can do so I don't think you will have a problem with that).

A strut tower brace can help on lateral loads and triangulates the fender aprons but will do nothing to carry the vertical static and dynamic loads. The fender aprons are made from very thin sheet metal with some large holes that will act as stress risers. Seeing this gave me the willies so I reinforced my fendor aprons with chromoly sheet to deal with the added stress imposed by coilovers. Go here:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/SlowSVT/SlowSVTsCobraweldphotoFrontWheelWel.jpg

This is not for everyone and none but the brave should apply.

Another thing people don't realize is that the weight of the engine and transmission rests on the cross member and is not carried by the chassis. Once you convert to coilovers the chassis will be burdend by that mass as well. Your aluminum block and lack of supercharger bulk (about 250 lbs less) won't make it so bad.

The rear suspension is a little better able to carry the weight and should not be as much of a concerned.

I'm not telling you shouldn't do it? There are many cars running around with the coilovers and the owners had nothing bad to say about them. I've got MM stuff all over my car and have been very impressed with the design and quality of their suspension components. Make sure you get their 4 bolt CC plates to spread the load out better on the shock towers. Your car will have more road noise being transmitted directly to the chassis.

You will need to have your strut and shock bodies machined with a groove for the spirol lok rings for the spring perches. MAKE SURE YOU INSTALL THEM WITH THE BEVEL INSTALLED PER THE INSTRUCTIONS (that is what holds the springs to the tubes and is holding up the car). After you install them spray paint over the rings and grooves to make sure they don't rust which may cause them to fail over time.

MM supplies Hypercoils and I would call them for recommendation on what rates to get for the type of driving you will be doing and how you want the ride to be. I told them I wanted the same firmness at the stock Terminator springs since they are pretty firm from the factory.

Any shop can align your suspension so that won't be a problem. Setting each spring height I hear can be a bit of a challenge. Be careful on how much you lower your car. Overdoing that can do a lot of damage to your under carriage. Something I've seen and it's not pretty. Plus you can screw up the front suspension geometry unless you go to drop spindles or extended ball joints.

The install is pretty straight forward though and not as bad as I make it sound. Make sure you rent a good coil spring compressor to get the stockers out. Some guys don't use one and just unhitch the shocks and struts and lower the control arms with a floor jack but I don't think it's worth the risk of getting injured.

Hope that helps

man I should get paid to write this stuff :nonono:

 

[Ellik]

thanks for the info. Not sure I have the balls to start welding plates to my car. Definately good things to ponder though.

this setup is on a Terminator, correct? are you able to run a STB with the blower setup? Im planning on a KB setup, or Termy motor swap down the road and was wondering if that would be an issue.

 

[SlowSVT]

yea, I don't think you wanna go down the road I did. Not saying it not good but it is a lot of work. If I lived in an area where it is damp and rains a lot I would not do this. In Los Angeles rust is almost non-existent.

Companies do make STB but they only fit over the Eaton blower (I would go with MM STB if I could). I have a Whipple AX140 and no one makes one to fit over that plus I got a spacer under it which compounds the problem. When I am done I will see if I can fabricate one to fit but I won't loose any sleep if it won't