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 o doubt about it. The 4x4-like stance our
project Gumby '00 GT came with from the
factory had to go. In place of the stock springs, project Gumby received a set of Roush Stage 2 Springs on all 4 corners, supplied by Stage3Motorsports.com. Installing a set of shorter springs will not only enhance the look of your Mustang, but greatly improve it's handling and cornering abilities. This install is a very simple procedure, and can easily be done in the driveway in half a day using basic hand tools and a spring compressor.
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| 1 After securely placing the car on jackstands (do not use ramps for the spring install!), begin on the front by removing the brake calipers and removing the ABS lines from the retaining clip. |
| 2 Next, preload the suspension with a jack placed under the A-arm. Then disconnect the sway bar end links from the sway bar on both driver and passenger sides. |
| 3 Move to under the hood and un-bolt the caster/camber plates, which simply requires removing one bolt and the two nuts from the strut studs. Make sure to mark the position of the plates prior to this for proper re-installation. |
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| 4 Once the caster/camber plates have been removed, begin to slowly lower the suspension using the jack. It is important to do this step slowly and cautiously to help prevent any damage or injury from a loaded spring popping out. |
| 5 After you have dropped the A-arm as far as it will go, the spring may still be retaining some energy. Use a spring compressor to compress the spring enough to pull it out. We DO NOT recommend using a pry bar of any sort for this step as there may still be enough energy stored in the spring to cause serious injury. Better safe than sorry. |
| 6 With the spring removed, now is a good time to clean up any rust that may reside on the A-arm. |
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| 7 Now that the stock front springs are out, you can get a comparison for how much shorter the Roush Stage 2 springs are, not to mention that blue finish looks damn good! |
| 8 Be sure to transfer the stock spring isolators to the new springs. |
| 9 The new springs, because of the difference in height, will fit easily into the A-arm, but be sure to align them in the same orientation as the stock ones. Use a jack to raise the A-arm, being sure to keep the strut in-line with the holes in the body to make sure the strut studs don't bind. Now re-install the caster/camber plates, re-aligning them with the marks you made previously. |
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| 10 After the caster/camber plates have been reinstalled, go ahead and reconnect the sway bar endlinks. We used the goodentight method, which works, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to check up on the torque specs required. |
| Now just reconnect the brake calipers and place the ABS lines back in their retaining clips, and you're done with the front end! |
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| 11 Now move to the rear springs, start be jacking the car up and placing jackstands on the frame (do not place them on the axle since you will need to drop this some). After the car is up, secure the jack under the axle to preload the suspension. Start by removing the quad-shocks located on both ends. You can take out just the center bolt to do this, however, that one was stuck pretty well, and was quicker/easier to just remove the other two on the bracket. |
| 12 Next, remove the shocks from the lower mounting point. With those out of the way, you can slowly begin to lower the axle using the jack until the load has been released from the springs. Be careful to watch the brake lines so they don't become over-extended. |
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| 13 After the spring energy has been released, carefully remove the rear springs. This may require a bit of force the detach the springs from the lower cups where the pig-tail wraps around. This was the only time we used a pry-method to remove the springs, simply because there was not enough room to fit the spring compressors in there (trust us, we tried). |
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| 14 Transfer the upper spring isolators from the stock springs to the new springs, and seat the springs in their locations. Be sure the pig-tails of both springs point towards the driver side. Again, these springs will fit with relative ease because they're shorter.
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| 15 With both springs seated, begin to lift the axle with the jack, keeping an eye on both springs to make sure they seat properly on both top and bottom. Once the rear axle has been lifted enough, reconnect the shocks. |
| 16 The last step in the whole spring install is to re-attach the quad-shocks. This may require some maneuvering of the rear axle to get them to fit. |
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| That's it! You're done with the spring install! Lower the car and look for any un-even sitting or anything unusual. If all is good, take 'er out for a spin real quick. It'll take a couple of days for the springs to complete seat, and some more time for them to sag to reach the complete drop. After a couple of days, be sure to get an alignment done, you'll need it. Enjoy! |
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