What is everyone's opinion on this front end. I'm seriously looking at it right now and I've heard some positive and some negative. The positive is that the customer service is great and it fit great and the quality is second to none. The negative is that the handling really isn't there and the ride quality suffers. Any truth to this? I'm a long way off from deciding what to do with my front end, so I'd just like to get as much info as possible. I'm also considering a DVS front end swap with a late model cobra. I'd rather not though if the R&C is going to give me what I want.
I have driven a number of Mustangs with the Rod and Custom Mustang II front end installed. While these were not Mavericks, I found the ride to be quite good and the handling to be far supersior to the same car with the original suspension. I was looking at it from a "spirited driving" perspective. A mix of twisty roads and high speed runs. I hang out at Autoworks International in El Cajon quite a bit when time permits. As such I have seen quite a few different suspension setups installed. The R&C kits are some of the nicest and best designed kits I have seen. Autoworks sells this kit as well as several others. (Autoworks is also a reseller for the RRS line of suspension components. After seeing the Mustang and Falcon products from RRS and getting to drive one of the cars with these parts, I am planning to use the RRS setup.) The key to making these handle is proper selection of springs, shocks, swaybars and the amount of lowering involved. Also making sure to use a variable valve in the powersteering pressure side line to lower the line pressure down to the correct range for the power rack. (Most Ford power steering pumps are setup for to high line pressure which causes the car to feel "twitchy".) If you are going to lower the car more than the R&C kit offers, either step up to dropped spindles or go with the coilover setup. This allows you to keep the control arms centered in their designed arc of motion which makes for better handling and less bump steer.
Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. I was planning on doing the drop spindles. That's the only real way to lower a car in my opinon. Shorter springs normally just screw up the instant center of the suspension and negate any benefit of a lower center of gravity. I was also planning on using the manual rack. I've driven several cars with manual steer and it's really only a problem when you're parking. The Mav will have a lot of weight on it's nose. I need to find a clever way to weigh this enigne so I know exactly what kind of springs to get. I've researched the crap out of it online, but I've seen too many conflicting results. Plus my engine is only going to have an alternator and water pump so that will change the weight a ton. I was also going to spring for the adjustable coil-overs too. They're very useful in tuning and they look cool too!
ATO, I have the R & C front end w/ coil overs, adjustable ride height and dampening. My car is not on the road yet, so I can't give you any feedback on the ride quality. But I can say this front end is nothing but top quality. Everything fits great. They even gave me the mounts for the 4.6 dohc. Also, I dealt directly with R & C and their customer service and knowledge of the product was the best. Check out my pics on this forum in Member Galleries
