Rear Ride Height adjusted up 2.5 inches

[SouthernGemini]

I'm finally getting this thread up! Back when I bought the car in July, I felt the rear was sitting too low.

Thanks to LVC, I adjusted the 'sensor piece' so that it would ride higher. I settled for 2.5 inch ride height increase and I think it looks much better.

Close up it looks like there is this huge gap b/t the tire and the wheel well wall but it may be the lens playing tricks. From a distance, the 'sit' is more uniform.

 

[todd2fst4u]

Looks a little high in the rear now. I'd lower it a 1/2 inch.

 

[slowmkviii]

In my opinion
It only needed to go up .5 inch
Than lower the front to match
Looks a bit 4X4 now.

 

[Right on the Mark]

It's "to dam high" LOL

 

[racecougar]

Are those 16" Cobra R's?

 

[chris2523]

i remember the for sale post.
they are 17s. the car also has cobra front brakes, another 17" indicator.

 

[racecougar]

The sidewalls just look really large for a ~26" tire.

 

[driller]

It's "to dam high" LOL

LOL... yeah, I would've lowered the front instead.

 

[keVIIIn]

First time I've seen someone "sensor raise" a mark viii. I'd drop the front down a bit and give it a raked look, as it is the front is way higher than the rear, looks goofy. What tires are on it? They look like. 50 series.

 

[thaywood]

+1^^^^

It's too high now. The front is higher than the rear too. Adjust the front sensors to lower it to match the rear and give it a nice "settled" look. I think they're set too high from the factory anyway. But that's just me. Yours looks 4x4-ish now.

 

[lobird91]

Those tires are gimongus....just sayin

 

[SouthernGemini]

As I look at it, walk by it ,etc, it is a bit too high for me as well and I need to tone it down a bit but as lobird91 said, the tires are big. The tires are ZIEX ZE912 235/55ZR 17's and the rims are basic 5 spoke. Brett said he found them at a swap meet for a good price, liked the style and bought them. He bought the round Cobra inserts that go in the center. The issue is the offset is wrong causing the fenderwall to rub the tire. Unlike my supercharged Crown Vic that had 1.25" spacers causing the wheels to come out too far and slightly rub the fenderwall, these rims are directly mounted to the spindle. The wheel needs to come in approx 1/2 inch. I wish I could 'shave' the mounting area. I took some pictures but need to post them. Give me a few days.

 

[keVIIIn]

I'm gonna guess you're hub swapped? If so you have a billion choices on mustang wheels in a vatiety of offsets..just find another set of 17" cobra rs with more offset and sell yours. Or change up the rim style all together.

 

[SouthernGemini]

Eating with family later today after all so here are the pics. Yes KeVIIIn, the car is hub swapped and I do have a large selection of wheels to pick from but would rather save the money and apply it to my tractor purchase so I can build my garage/car shop. I'd have to find a real deal. Brett put tires on about 3 months before selling and are in great shape. They are ZIEX ZE912 and are 235/55 ZR17.

As the pic shows, I can go 'in' about 1/2 inch before I hit the parking brake cable.

I toyed with the idea of having a machine shop 'shaving' the rims...

but the more I think about it, the more hassle it seems. It would need to be done perfectly, all four wheels. There is enough metal but just not practical.

I suppose for now I will just live with it and I may begin lurking on some of the Mustang/Tbird forums for the right wheel at the right price. I like the 5 spoke set up but I want something not a lot of people have; something unique.

 

[keVIIIn]

I hear ya on uniqueness, that's why I sold my cobra Rs in favor of a hub swap and 97 cobra wheels. Much different than the usual cobra Rs.

Don't forget you can take those little fender lip things off from the rear wheel arches, that might give you an extra cm or two of clearance since I noticed your car still has them on there.

 

[chris2523]

I hear ya on uniqueness, that's why I sold cobra Rs in favor of a hub swap and 97 cobra wheels. Much different than the usual cobra Rs.

i can appreciate that move. but even so, Cobra Rs aren't that common. especially in 18 inches.

 

[keVIIIn]

i can appreciate that move. but even so, Cobra Rs aren't that common. especially in 18 inches.

Yeah I like the way they looked but I didn't really like how heavy they were and the way they fit with how close they were to the spindles up front. The 17x8s with the 30mm offset should fit perfect, plenty of room inward and about the same clearance at the fender lip with the wider tires I bought.

 

[stang99x]

I love resurrecting old dead threads. The reason for resurrection??? When I built this car, the Cobra R wasn't very common and there was nothing like it anywhere around my area. (I saw some pictures of a member in the Kennesaw area with Bullit rims that look a lot like it) Then in the years that followed, everyone was doing it. When I did the Cobra hub swap the "instructions" that were out there were more like "guidelines" and left a great deal to the one fabricating to figure out on his own. The front end was a bit high as it had had a bunch of front end suspension parts replaced (by another mechanic as I was sidelined after back surgery) and at the point that Andy bought the car, I still wasn't fully doing anything major mechanical and had not made any adjustments. I would have lowered the front to match the back at some point, but recall Andy saying the car would rub on large dips in the road at high speed while he was driving. I hadn't experienced any rubbing during my travels, which had become extensive and were a large part of the reason I sold the car as it was relatively low mileage and I didn't want to run it up. I wish I still had it, as I absolutely despise the car I drive now.

 

[SouthernGemini]

Well Brett you will be happy to know that I drove it Sat night for the first time in 8 or 9 days and it started right up and ran fine. It is covered most of the time when not in use and I bought some oil and a filter which are waiting on my workbench in the event I feel like changing it. The car is well taken care of. ;-)

 

[stang99x]

Well Brett you will be happy to know that I drove it Sat night for the first time in 8 or 9 days and it started right up and ran fine. It is covered most of the time when not in use and I bought some oil and a filter which are waiting on my workbench in the event I feel like changing it. The car is well taken care of. ;-)

Glad to hear it man. One of my favorite sounds was on cold winter mornings when I would use the remote start so it would be warm when I left for work, I didn't have to go look and see if it was running cause I could hear it from my bedroom on the other side of the house. Sorry to hear the troubles you had with the front end parts. It really pisses me off that those parts failed in a year considering the small amount of mileage they saw. I have used that company and the parts they sell for the better part of a decade with few "known" failures. (I quote "known" as after repairing a customers car, if it did fail and they had it replaced again elsewhere I wouldn't know though I'm sure people would come back looking for warranty in that short a duration)

I was actually talking about the car with a customer the day I typed those posts which is why it dawned on me to come back and search you out. That seal repair in the back window looks good. I've actually been contemplating buying another Mark VIII. I've also been hunting hardcore for a set of the silver ingots that came with the CE's. At this point, I'm thinking it would be easier to buy a CE that had them with it than it will be to find a set separately.