1993 Ford Mustang - Three-Step Program

Adjusting the ball joint mount effectively zero'd up the camber. To dial in a half degree of negative camber, the upper shock tower was moved inward using the AJE camber/caster plate. In some cars, it may be necessary to slot out the mounting holes to allow the camber/caster plate to achieve the desired amount of adjustment.

Road racers typically set the front tires to toe-out in order to help a car rotate in a corner. Conversely, Buck likes to set up drag cars with 1/8- to 3/16-inch of toe-in to prevent wandering, and to promote straight-line stability. To do so, he relies on a toe-in gauge from Longacre Racing Products. It features two adjustable pointers on each end that are positioned on a distinguishable part of the tire, which in this case was a parting line in the center tread. The gauge was then moved to the back of the tires, and lined up with the same mark to see how much the tires needed to be adjusted to achieve the desired toe-in.

Before adjusting the camber and ride height, the top of the tires protruded outward and rubbed on the fenders. After the adjustments, the front tires tucked nicely into the wheelwells and all rubbing was eliminated. Despite the weight penalty, we fitted our Mustang with 26x10x15 Mickey Thompson front radials as opposed to skinnies, since it will see a fair amount of street time.

Buck says if the front end of a car sits too low, it will have difficulty transferring weight to the rear wheels. He suggests raising the ride height just enough to prevent the tires from rubbing the wheelwells. Project Fox sat too low, so it was raised about an inch all around using the adjusters on the coilover assemblies. Using the camber/caster plate, the caster had already been set when the front suspension was originally installed, but Buck verified that it was still at 5 degrees positive by placing an angle gauge on the shock and spindle. Positive caster results in heavier steering, and improves straight-line stability. In a street or road racing application, Buck recommends a maximum of 2 degrees of positive caster.

Before adjusting the toe, Buck clocked the steering rack to make sure it was centered. To do so, he first turned the pinion all the way to the left, then all the way to the right to count the number of turns from lock to lock, in this case 3.5 turns. By dividing this number by two, he determined that 1.75 turns, in either direction, from full left or right lock effectively centered the rack.

Fox Mustangs use a "front steer" design, which means that the tie rods attach to the front side of the steering knuckle. The toe gauge revealed a half degree of toe-out, so the tie rods were shortened equally on both sides until dialing in 3/16-inch of toe-in.