Project Fox: Team Z Suspension Upgrade
Written by Mark Keiser
Includes Gallery and Video
Austin, TX – Our 1993 Mustang project has had a recent increase in the horsepower department with the addition of a Vortech S-trim supercharger system. But the suspension has remained stock with maybe the exception of replacement shocks and struts. That means those old rubber bushings are pushing 20 years old now and if it was not for the relatively low miles of our project car there probably would not be any bushings left.
So we started with a call the Dave Zimmerman, the head honcho at Team Z Motorsports to see about some killer suspension upgrades. Dave has built cars for and helped racers such as Trace Meyer, Chris Tuten and Brad Edwards, not to mention his parts are installed from the factory on Ford’s Cobra Jet Mustangs. So Dave spec’d out the parts we needed for the front and rear suspension upgrades and got them shipped in no time.
For the rear we start with the Team Z solid spherical bushings to replace the worn out rubber bushings in the rear end housing. These bushings are CNC machined from high strength aluminum with quality bearings and they are designed to free up the suspension from binding.
From there we move on to the Team Z conventional double adjustable upper control arms. These are some of the strongest control arms on the market and provide for easy pinion angle adjustment. They are made of ¼ inch laser cut and formed steel for strength, and powder coated and zinc plated for corrosion resistance and appearance.
For the lower control arms we used Team Z’s double adjustable control arms that are built with the same strength and quality that you find in their upper control arms. These allow for quick and easy suspension adjustments and also allow you to use stock type coil springs. For now we have decided to hold off installing Team Z’s anti-roll bar.
These are the same rear control arms that have been as quick to sixty foot as 1.14 on a 275 drag radial and 1.12 and a 1.0X with a 28 x 10.5 slick.
We moved on to the front suspension parts and the base is the metal matrix tubular k-member. Team Z’s new Metal Matrix K-member Is made of both alloy steel and mild steel to make it lighter and stronger. This bolted right in with only a couple of modifications. The gussets on the frame rails to the rear of the k-member mounting flanges had to be trimmed so the k-member would lay flat on the frame rail. Dave also recommends a solid steering shaft to replace the factory part and also said some offset steering rack bushings may be required.
The brake line mount had to uninstalled to get the brake lines moved around the k-member mounting flange and then bolted back up. We also replaced the worn out stock motor mounts with the Team-Z solid drop motor mounts. Make sure to check your fan and other accessories have plenty of clearance with the motor in the lower position. For now Project Fox has a stock fan and the lower part of the shroud had to be clearenced. The radiator hose had to be adjusted to clear around the Vortech pulley and belt also.
Next we replaced the stock control arms with the Team-Z tubular control arms. All their A-arms are made from 4130 and are TIG welded. We use quality ball joints and Energy Suspension bushings for durability. They are finished with a tough powder coating. These do not have spring cups so you have to go with a coil over kit.
Team-Z uses the Strange coil over kit because of the quality of the parts. We used a twelve inch spring rated at 150 pounds. The struts were changed over to the Strange 10 way adjustable struts. The Strange coil over will not fit all struts, so be sure to check before ordering.
With the struts bolted back up to the spindle we start the install of the Team Z caster and camber plates. Made from alloy steel and laser cut, our new plates allow greater range of adjustment in caster and camber. They are zinc plated for corrosion resistance and quality appearance and provide all of the adjustment that you will ever need.
The final part to the full Team Z front suspension kit is the bump steer kit to keep the front end geometry correct. The sleeves are made for 6061 T6 aluminum bodies and 4130 molly hiem with Kevlar/Nylon race. Now off to the alignment shop and we are ready to hit the race track.
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www.teamzmotorsports.net
